Europe public transport needs 36% spending rise, report says

European public transport will need a 36% increase in overall annual expenditure from now to 2035 onwards, according to research by Arthur D. Little and POLIS.

The report said the sector currently accounts for 130 billion euros in annual expenditure but faces a growing funding gap as demand rises and environmental and resilience requirements intensify.

Arthur D. Little and POLIS said the required increase would include a 13% rise in operating expenditure and a 56% rise in capital expenditure.

The report attributed additional funding needs to network and service expansion, climate resilience, historic underinvestment and fleet electrification or decarbonisation. It said network and service expansion made up 60% of the need, climate resilience 32%, historic underinvestment 6% and electrification or decarbonisation 2%.

A representative urban-area model in the report estimated 1.83 billion euros in additional annual spending needs from 2035 onwards through to 2050.