Public Management: Demonstration of the Importance of

Privatization of Public Services to the Development of Urban Public

Transportation based on Information Technology

Rui Gan

Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K.

Keywords: Privatization, Public Transportation, Information Technology.

Abstract: To effectively improve the operational efficiency of the urban public transport system, save the public's

transportation cost, and improve public transport service quality, the United Kingdom has adopted the strategy

of privatization of public services based on information technology. Based on the model analysis of the

British public transport system, this paper argues that privatization of public services based on information

technology is of great significance in the urban public transport system and discusses the possible impact of

privatization of public services based on information technology on the Chinese public transport system and

its enlightenment.

1 INTRODUCTION

Urban public transport in the UK has a long history

and has been fully regulated since 1930. In 1985, the

conference passed a transportation law that required

bus companies to be privatized and the government

to delegate management and management to

enterprises to operate on commercial principles. The

act spurred innovative competition better to adapt

public transport services to the needs of passengers

and generate revenue (Holland, 2000). Under the

socialist market economy in China, the partial

introduction of privatization of urban public

transportation can perfect the deficiency of traditional

public transportation. This paper argues that the use

of market economic regulation to manage public

transportation can improve public service efficiency

by opening the market and encouraging competition

to improve the efficiency of public transportation to

reduce the cost of government operation. The

functions of government institutions can also be

transformed into financial assistance, project

management, supervision and implementation,

quality control and coordination development.

Finally, this paper offers suggestions for public

transportation services in China (Lo, Lam, Wong and

Leung, 2010).

2 THE BASIC FORM OF URBAN

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

PRIVATIZATION

The basic form of public service privatization has

changed from monopoly to cooperation, which

means that the government and the private sector are

contractual partnerships with separate ownership and

management (Wise, 1990). The government delivers

public services through private sector investment and

participation, reduces operating costs and improves

public satisfaction. The private sector manages and

makes profits in the process. Finally, the people will

have a better experience in service reform and healthy

market competition. Thus, the government is the

ultimate owner of urban infrastructure, while the

private sector is the business partner. Because the

government ultimately represents the interests of the

people of the country, it must monitor and regulate

the behaviour of the private sector to make it

consistent with the purpose of public service

(Treheux, 1992).

Gan, R.

Public Management: Demonstration of the Importance of Privatization of Public Services to the Development of Urban Public Transportation based on Information Technology.

DOI: 10.5220/0011153200003437

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis (PMBDA 2021), pages 64-68

ISBN: 978-989-758-589-0

3 BRITISH PUBLIC TRANSPORT

SYSTEM BACKGROUND

The effective operation of London's public transport

system is based on integrated policy and planning.

Buses, trams, light rail and train commuter services

are all operated by private companies, and

commercial competition allows them to keep costs

low while providing a quality service to passengers.

It is worth noting that these private companies have

contracts with Transport for London, while train

commuter services have contracts with the UK

government and operate under these contracts. These

contracts specify in detail what services are to be

provided (Holland, 2000).

Transport for London's primary responsibilities as

the public sector regulator of private sector operations

is to determine bus routes and stops, the spacing of

light rail services and the evening hours of the

Underground; to install wayfinding signs and require

operators to provide real-time traffic information; to

set fares, provide maps and marketing campaigns,

build interchanges; and to identify new rail lines or

extend existing lines. It is also responsible for setting

fares, providing maps and marketing, building

interchanges and deciding on new lines or extending

existing ones. Very importantly, Transport for

London has overall responsibility for managing

London's major road network and developing bus

priority schemes and traffic management plans

(Holland, 2000).

4 THE MAIN BENEFITS OF THE

PRIVATIZATION OF URBAN

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

4.1 Government Brings in Private

Sector Construction Funding

The private sector can provide a certain amount of

construction funds to make up for the lack of

construction funds from the government sector

(Baker, 2001). The government's lack and pursuit of

construction funds was the initial motivation for

privatisation. The increase in urban population has

led to an increase in urban transport loads, and the

expansion of urban public transport requires many

construction funds. Therefore, the involvement of the

private sector can be an excellent way to help the

government raise funds.

4.2 The Private Sector Provides High

Services at Low Prices

The private sector can provide more efficient urban

transport services at a lower price (Baker, 2001). Due

to the phenomenon that public transport is dominated

by one company, employees' work is relatively stable,

which leads to decreased employees' enthusiasm, low

efficiency and inability to serve the public effectively.

At the same time, the public sector and the urban

traffic organization is usually conducted by different

government rules and regulations and limited

inflexible take measures suited to the development of

market economy, it also makes the price controls, and

private enterprises in order to be able to get the

recognition of the masses is the pursuit of service

quality and efficiency, we can let the crowd at a lower

price to enjoy a better service (Bond, 1998).

5 DATA FOR PRIVATIZATION OF

PUBLIC TRANSPORT IN THE

UNITED KINGDOM

Figure 1: The bus route of London (Source: Transit Map).

Britain has one of the best road safety records in the

world. They have taken a series of measures to

continuously improve public transport safety, among

which the British public transport system is a typical

example. Take the bus system in the UK, which is

successful privatisation of public services. The

government oversees the design of bus routes, flights

and prices, and the quality of operations. Private bus

companies apply for specific operations through

bidding. If the scheme works well and the quality of

service is high enough, they can get airline operators.

In 1986, the British government deregulated most of

the local bus industry, cutting subsidies and

privatising many bus companies. As a result, the UK's

Public Management: Demonstration of the Importance of Privatization of Public Services to the Development of Urban Public

Transportation based on Information Technology

unit cost of public transport has been significantly

reduced, as has cross-subsidy and operational

practice innovation. Between 2013 and 2018, the

UK's total number of public transport passengers

remained around 8.3 billion. Data show that

traditional buses are still the preferred way for

passengers to travel by public transport. The perfect

public transport system makes traditional buses one

of the essential choices for passengers. In 2018, 4.8

billion trips were made by ordinary buses in the UK,

with passengers travelling 27.4 billion kilometres.

London's public transport system is the largest

globally, with 17,000 stations and 700 lines. Nearly

7,000 buses pass in and out of London every

weekday, carrying 2.2 billion passengers in 2018 (Gu,

2014).

6 BUA RIDE SYSTEM MODEL

Figure 2: Google-based bus ride system (Source: Google

Map).

Bus arrivals in the UK are shown via Google Maps'

bus routes system. Using GPS and universal packet

radio services, Google Maps shows people all the bus

routes to their destination and when they arrive

(Puranik, 2021). Users only need to open Google

Maps on mobile devices, enter the destination and

click route planning, click the 'bus' button at the top,

select the preferred mode of transportation and route,

and scroll to find the transportation options and time

to complete the planning (Hlaing, Naing and Naing,

2019).

Figure 3: How GPS works (Source: Federal Aviation

Administration).

On the downside, there is no way to track the

location of buses in real-vtime, which also leads to

delays in location situations, such as traffic

congestion, unexpected delays, irregular vehicle

scheduling times and other events. So Google could

use GPS to perfect its tracking system for delays and

safe roads (Shalaik, Jacob and Winstanley, 2012).

Therefore, GPS is still the tool recommended in

this paper to achieve real-time bus positioning. GPS

is used to locate the real-time route of the bus to

determine whether there will be delays.

𝑓





𝑣𝑣



𝑣∓𝑣



𝑓

Figure 4: The formula of Doppler effect (Source:

Equivalence of the Doppler effect, relativistic Doppler

effect and scattering effect).

Bus companies in the UK have developed a

strategy: they equip bus drivers with walkie-talkies to

communicate with each other and the company at all

times. Not only that, they have installed electronic

screens at many significant stations that bus

companies and passengers can use to see how many

buses and passengers are running. In this way, it is

convenient for passengers to decide which bus, but

also convenient for bus companies to decide how

PMBDA 2021 - International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis

many buses to send at any time, to avoid the

disadvantages of not having enough buses during

rush hours and too many buses during rush hours (Gu,

2014). Finally, according to the Doppler effect, the

speed limit and position of the driver are judged. It is

a phenomenon that when the wave source and the

observer have relative motion, the frequency of the

wave received by the observer is not the same as that

sent by the wave source. Drivers' operating

companies will monitor activities with a mobile

speedometer to ensure that drivers drive according to

regulations. Traffic police emit ultrasonic waves with

known frequencies to move vehicles and measure

reflected waves' frequency. The speed of vehicles can

be known according to how much the frequency of

reflected waves changes. A monitor equipped with a

Doppler speedometer sometimes mounted above the

road, takes a picture of the vehicle's license plate

number while measuring the speed and automatically

prints the measured speed onto the picture (Chan,

1970).

7 THE IMPORTANCE OF

PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEM IN CHINA

As China develops and progresses, the transport

needs of its citizens and the lagging development of

its public transport system have led to severe

challenges for the country's public transport system.

Due to factors such as road conditions and the number

of vehicles, the government's investment in

conventional public transport is yielding less and

fewer results, while large scale rail transport, such as

the metro, is a substantial investment, has a long

construction cycle and has demands on the city.

Therefore, high-capacity, universal public transport

systems with low investment, short construction

cycles and ease of management mean that public

transport systems have relevance and a need for

improvement in China (Liu and Ceder, 2015).

8 THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF

BRITISH PUBLIC TRANSPORT

SERVICE TO CHINA

A combined public-private model can better facilitate

development. In China's socialist market economy,

the Chinese government focuses on protecting

national industries and the interests of the people.

However, the government's introduction of private

enterprises in urban public transport can improve the

efficiency of the entire transport system, making the

existing public transport model better and ultimately

creating a virtuous cycle of public transport trends. In

regions where private enterprises are relatively

developed, some private enterprises can be

introduced to operate public transport institutions to

reduce the government's financial burden and inject

confidence into the public transport service industry

(Wang et al., 2018). Of course, private enterprises

should be monitored by regulatory bodies to prevent

the interests of the public from being compromised.

For example, the government should ensure the

effective use of existing buses, facilities and staff

skills to ensure the continuity of passenger services.

Generally speaking, private bus companies have

limited capital and weak technical skills to undertake

large-scale passenger transport tasks or build

extensive transport facilities. Secondly, state-owned

bus companies should operate the most efficient peak

hour bus routes in densely populated urban areas.

Private bus companies should be considered for less

dense and less efficient suburban bus routes during

off-peak hours for contracting to take full advantage

of their low costs and operational flexibility. Such a

strategy may be in the best interests of the public and

private sectors and passengers (Gormley et al., 1989).

To ensure the quality of public services, the

government has also established a mandatory exit

mechanism for private bus companies. If their service

quality is poor, accidents are frequent, and passengers

complain, the government should punish them by

eliminating substandard operators and replacing them

with new ones to ensure good service (Gormley et al.,

1989).

9 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, by exploring the public transport

system in the UK, this paper argues that under the

conditions of China's socialist market economy, the

privatisation of urban public transport can, to a

certain extent, compensate for the shortcomings of

traditional public transport. Therefore, the

government's introduction of advanced information

technology can improve the quality of public

transport services, thereby increasing the efficiency

of public transport and reducing operating costs.

Public Management: Demonstration of the Importance of Privatization of Public Services to the Development of Urban Public

Transportation based on Information Technology

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