Nordic Public Transport 2014

I kveld hadde jeg gleden av å ønske velkommen til "Nordic Public Transport 2014". som vertskap på vegne av Oslo og Akershus. Den 11.-13. juni arrangeres Nordic Public Transport 2014 i Oslo. Konferansen som kombinerer de to nordiske kollektivtrafikkonferansene Nordisk Lokaltrafikk og InformNorden har i år fått tema: Nye trender som krever nye løsninger.

Her følger min "Welcome address " til deltakerne på årets konferanse:

"I have the honor of welcoming you to Oslo and Akershus. We are proud host of the Nordic Public Transport Conference 2014.

Have a look at the magnificent vista of Oslo and Akershus. Our landscape is beautifully filled with colours – in shades of green and blue. With several cities, rich landscape and a vast population, Oslo and Akershus is a diverse area. On the Oslo fjord we have ferries that are interconnected with busses, trams, metro and even trains are taking advantage of the possibilities in our area.

One of the key factors behind our public transport success is an unprecedented focus on achieving seamless intermodal passenger transport, regardless of transport mode and administrative borders. By establishing at common public transport authority Ruter in 2008 Oslo and Akershus now have a easy-to-use fare and ticket system that are fully intermodal, an understandable rout map and paired whit reasonable fares. These have been our recipe for success.

The result is that more people are traveling by public transport - from 2007 to 2013 we have 36 % more passenger trips and fewer c ar trips. In the same period the population grew by 13 %. On a normal day there are more than one million public transport trips in Oslo and Akershus.

We have set the direction for the public transport network with a clear differentiation between transport modes. In Akershus busses are made up of main routes devoted to non-rail connected areas combined with local routes providing supplementary coverage. At operational hubs, the local busses connect with the rail network and main bus routes. In Akershus in 2013 the success of this policy was visible in the string growth in train trips by 7 % and a more moderate growth in local buss traffic by 2 %.

We are gathered here these two days to share our successes and learn from the mistakes. Our area has benefited from a lot of best-practices - like long term and predictable planning and to prioritize practicability of public transport.

As delegates you have an impressive program for the next two days, and I am sure that you will strengthen the cooperation and facilitate effective joint solutions to make the future of public transport even better.

Thank you and enjoy your stay!"