The formerly socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe have
observed profound political and economic changes because the demise of
Communism within the late 1980s and early 1990s. Each country features
its own particular good reputation for transformation to some freer,
more democratic, more market-based society. The timing and particular
circumstances from the revolutions in each country vary. To this day,
there are considerable differences among countries within the extent
that their political systems are fully democratic and just how
market-based their economies are. Thus, it’s kind of risky to generalize
relating to this group of diverse countries.
Without exception, however, every formerly socialist country in
Central and Eastern Europe has a minimum of moved toward greater
democracy and greater market orientation. In each and every country,
that political economic shift has produced a corresponding transport
revolution. The obvious indicator of this revolution may be the dramatic
development in levels of private car ownership and employ, and a
corresponding decline in public places transport use. The modal transfer
of passenger transport is reflected in most countries by similar
alterations in goods transport, with substantial shifts from publicly
managed rail transport to privately operated and operated trucking
firms. As the increasing reliance upon roadway transport had already
begun during the old age of the socialist era, the movement toward
market-based capitalism greatly accelerated it, prompted by striking
alterations in government transport policies. Indeed, a vital thesis of
the overview is the fact that policy changes were accountable for
virtually all of the enormous changes seen in Central and Eastern Europe
from 1988 with the 1990s, demonstrating how crucially policies affect
every factor of our transport systems.
This review concentrates on three Central Countries in Europe for
detailed analysis: the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. We include
the former East Germany, whose political, economic, social, and
transport systems dramatically changed after German reunification in 1990. Those four formerly socialist countries possess the most reliable
long-term number of transport statistics, enabling better analysis of
the transport systems, travel behaviour. Moreover, they’re typical of
developments in other Central and Eastern Countries in Europe as well,
with many transport trends finding yourself in the same direction
whether or not the magnitudes vary from one country to a different. This
overview is restricted mainly to urban passenger transport, although we
briefly note developments in long-distance passenger travel and goods
transport too.
Pictures of old trams in Prague:
more about public transportation:
In each & every country, that political economic shift has produced a corresponding transport revolution.
ReplyDeletecouriers