Samorząd wojewódzki jako organizator kolejowych regionalnych przewozów pasażerskich

The importance of good organisation of public transportation is on the rise because city and local authorities are aware of the fact that it is a proof of their residents’ quality of life. Railway – a subsector of the transport industry – perfectly serves its purposes in regional and agglomerative transportation. Additionally, it does not contribute to the environmental destruction. At the beginning of economic transformation, Polish railway was in a very poor condition. Real changes took place at the turn of the century. The aim of these changes was to restructure the enterprise of Polish National Railways (Polskie Koleje Państwowe). With the arrival of the decentralisation of our country, provincial self-governments have received new competences, e.g. the organisation of regional railway passenger traffic. In less than two decades of dynamic changes, which were subject to strict regulations of railway transportation, several new operators emerged on the market. One of the most important events consisted in making the Regional Transportation (Przewozy Regionalne) – the most significant Polish passenger carrier – subject to the authority of provincial self-governments. Individual provinces – due to their diversified geographical, social and economic conditioning – have accomplished their objectives in various ways. Some of them have appointed their own transportation companies, some other cooperate only with the Regional Transportation. The completion of transportation tasks is most often commissioned to provinces as an act of entrusting. The maintenance of specific railway lines is rarely awarded by tender. Importantly, the perception of railway transportation has undergone unprecedented change by dint of significant organisational and financial effort put by provincial self-governments into maintaining railway connections, renovating the rolling stock and modernising the infrastructure. Railway has ceased to lose passengers, contrarily – it has regained them. Moreover, financial situation of the Regional Transportation, whose majority shareholder is the Agency of the Growth of Industry (Agencja Rozwoju Przemysłu), has become stable. The EU policy supports the modernisation and development of the Polish railways, e.g. thanks to the EU financial means it is possible to carry out essential transportation projects. Appreciating all the actions of regional self-governments in terms of the organisation of regional railway transportation in Poland, one cannot ignore areas with insufficient offer. Therefore, all entities responsible for railway transportation are expected to put a lot of effort into its further improvement. key words: egional passenger traffic, provincial self-government, railway transportation, public services ISSN 1426-5915 e-ISSN 2543-859X prace komisji geografii komunikacji ptg