The theme of this thesis was authority planning in public transport in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. The thesis was commissioned by INIT GmbH. The primary aim of this thesis was to figure out what kind of possibilities and challenges public transport authorities face in competitive tendering, contracting and cooperation with operators. An additional aim was to survey and compare authority planning in above mentioned countries, look for similarities and differences between these three countries.

The research was made by interviewing competitive authorities: six in Finland, three in Sweden and two in Denmark. The main topics during these interviews included competitive tendering, contracting and co-operation with operators. Material was also gathered by studying the legislation, the internet and literature in the field, and received from INIT GmbH.

There were significant differences between Finland, Sweden and Denmark in authority planning in public transport. In most Finnish cities and regions competitive tendering has just started or is starting. The knowledge of competitive tendering is slowly rising and an awareness of the importance of quality on the demands of the contracts is slowly increasing. Finland still has a long way to reach the level of the two other Nordic countries. Sweden and Denmark have been using competitive tendering for more than twenty years. Their knowledge is of a high level and quality is already now a very important part in public transport contracts.

Now and in the future quality may be more important in Finland as well, although economic recession may slow down this development, because of a scarce investment on public transport. However, when reporting and technological developments improve, the quality and the level of public transport in Finland shall improve. In Denmark and Sweden quality might rise to come as important as price in contracts in near future.