Six years ago Carolina Camén defended her dissertation “Using contracts to manage services: A study of contracts in public transport”. Now, the results and thoughts on the importance of the design of the contracts are becoming a part of the policy and guidelines for the entire transport industry in Europe.
UITP, Union Internationale des Transports Publics, is an international non-profit public transport association with over 1400 members, companies and organizations in 96 countries around the world. In February, the Organising Authorities Committee and the Marketing Committee of UITP held a meeting in Manchester, United Kingdom, where those who work mainly with contract issues to increase quality met with marketers from the industry.
Carolina Camén, researcher in Business administration at CTF, Service Research Center, was invited to the meeting to present research on how Public Authorities, operators, and customers can participate in the contract process. She also held a workshop where 50 participants discussed and came up with various suggestions on how contracts can be used as tools for increased customer satisfaction, attractiveness and efficiency in public transport.
- It was an honor to be invited to this international meeting and by an organization with such impact on the design of public transport in major parts of the world. Here, decision makers at an international level participated with industry professionals”, says Carolina Camén.
The meeting was organized by the Organising Authorities Committee of UITP, which among other things have worked on proposals for policy and action plans for increased quality and efficiency in public transport. One of the points in the action plan relates to the design of contracts: “Designing contracts to foster trust”. The purpose is to move from today’s more formal contract, often focusing on how to handle disagreements between the parties, to contracts that foster mutual trust and provide the conditions for a more flexible and customized approach. And here, is where the proposals largely are based on Carolina Caméns research.
- Out of a researcher’s perspective it is great that results from a Swedish context can be implemented internationally”, says Carolina Camén.
A decision on the draft policy will hopefully be made at the UITC member meeting in June.
