Local Government, The Hostage or Playmaker in Competition Between Modes of Transport: Examples from Local Freight Transport in Lower Silesia

The chapter presents the relationship between rights and responsibilities of local government in the planning of the transport system in the subordinate region, and competition between transport modes, especially land transport, road or rail. Rights and responsibilities of local government in the planning of the transport system in the subordinate region stem from laws on local government. Competition between modes of land transport derived from the principles of the Law on freedom of economic activity and the progressive liberalization of access to the transport market of the European Union countries. This gives rise to conflicts of service operators in the region. Local government may then have the choice of how to reconcile sustainable transport strategies in their territory and the desire to shape the transport of environmentally friendly behavior by generating instruments to internalize external costs of transport. This chapter provides examples of the decisions in these cases of the local government from Lower Silesia in Poland.