This paper tries to evaluate the productive performance of transit systems in major European cities. It makes intermodal and intercity comparisons, and identifies economies of density, vehicle capacity and higher vehicle speed as essential factors in performance. The results suggest that streetcars do not fill a significant gap between buses and underground rail.

The study examines competition between privately and publicly owned booking centres in the Swedish taxi market by studying technical efficiency, and breaking down technical efficiency into managerial and organisational efficiency. The main results are that a large amount of technical efficiency exists and that no direct relationship between technical efficiency and type of ownership can be found.

British ports provide a “laboratory” of mixed ownership enterprises. This paper applies stochastic frontier models to test the relative efficiency of public compared with private enterprises. The finding is supportive of the view that efficiency gains from privatisation may be limited if the change involves the transfer of ownership from the public to the private sector only.