Ariel Ciechański

Deregulation in Polish Rail Transport

Abstract A phenomenon new to the Polish situation—the deregulation of rail transport—is presented. Despite its primarily legal nature, deregulation also implies various economic, socio‐political and spatial consequences. The relatively short period over which partial deregulation of public transport in Poland has been in effect (i.e. since 2000) ensures that the issue has not been taken up by Polish geographers as a research field. However, it has been of interest to Polish economists. Deregulation is a phenomenon of primary importance, with direct implications for the character, quality, type, intensity and spatial differentiation of transport (including freight and passenger traffic) within the market economy. This paper, therefore, presents the impact of the recent changes in the legal system (as regards deregulation) on the current pattern of railway connections of the major carriers. As the majority of these originate beyond the Polskie Koleje Państwowe (Polish State Railways) Group, they can be said to be independent of the main former state carrier.

What Happened to the National Road Carrier in a Post-Communist Country? The Case of Poland's State Road Transport

Abstract The purpose of this article is to seek to reconstruct the ownership transformation involving Polands State Road Transport (PKS) companies passed through after 1990. Data collected from various sources (above all the Internet) were used to establish the degree of advancement of the transformation processes. Despite the passage of 18 years since the new economic reforms were launched, privatization processes are not well advanced. State ownership remains dominant, in the form of Treasury companies as well as state‐owned enterprises. Privatization processes have encompassed fewer than half of all firms, the most popular form taken (in about a quarter of all analysed cases) involving leasing by workers. This would seem of major interest, attesting as it does to the greater activity of some workers teams, as well as the passive role of the state in privatization processes. A much smaller number of firms (26) have been purchased by external investors, the only important international concern among these being Veolia, which had taken control of 11 PKS companies as of mid‐2006. By and large, it is the firms carrying passengers or passenger and goods that are in a much better situation, as opposed to the companies that are commodity‐carriers only. The majority of the latter have collapsed, or have undergone the kind of privatization that involves simultaneous shutdown. Mixed passenger and goods carriers have had to reduce their level of activity in commodity transport.

Organizational and Ownership Transformation in Poland’s Urban Transport Companies

Abstract This paper seeks to reconstruct the organizational and ownership transformation involving Poland’s urban transport that companies passed through after 1990. Data collected from various sources (above all the Internet, including the Bulletins of Public Information) were used to establish the degree of advancement of the transformation processes. Despite the passage of nearly two decades since the new economic reforms were launched, the privatization processes involving enterprises of municipal origin are not well‐advanced. There is not a single private company among the organizers of urban transport. Instead, an absolute domination of budgetary‐sphere entities may be noted. Furthermore, there are seven transport municipal unions. Among the operators (carriers) public ownership remains dominant in the form of single‐person local authority companies, local government companies, municipal union ownerships, municipal companies as well as budgetary units. Privatization processes have encompassed fewer than 10% of all operators in the form of companies with foreign participation, workers’ companies and companies with Polish non‐public sector participation. Moreover, in 20 localities urban transport is supplied by multi‐trade municipal services enterprises (as of end‐2008). Thus, transformation processes, though started earlier than in the case of Poland’s State Road Transport coach companies, are much less advanced.

Współpraca touroperatorów z pozalotniczymi przewoźnikami pasażerskimi w Polsce = Cooperation of tour operators with non-air passenger carriers in Poland

Zarys treści. Poza transportem lotniczym (patrz: Taylor i Ciechański, 2015a, b), w obsłudze zorganizowanego ruchu turystycznego w Polsce, ważną rolę odgrywa transport samochodowy. W artykule przedstawia się największych przewoźników drogowych, w tym firmy wykonujące połączenia „antenowe” i w miejscu destynacji, a ponadto pozostałych przewoźników obsługujących polskich touroperatorów (statki wycieczkowe, promy, koleje). Rola tych przewoźników w polskiej turystyce jest jednak niewielka w porównaniu z przewoźnikami lotniczymi i autokarowymi1. Słowa kluczowe: przewoźnicy drogowi, statki wycieczkowe, promy, koleje, turystyka zorganizowana, touroperatorzy, Polska.