Przegląd Geograficzny (2016) vol. 88, iss. 4
National road carriers in Visegrad Group (V4) countries – Part I
Przegląd Geograficzny (2016) vol. 88, iss. 4, pp. 441-467 | 
Full text
doi: https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2016.4.2
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is analyse 25-years of organisational-ownership transformation involving the national road carriers in Poland (PKS), Czechia and Slovakia (ČSAD), and Hungary (Volán). Included in this issue, Part I of this two-part work embraces the origin and development of the national road carriers in question, the legal frameworks and conditions underpinning their privatisation, and the characteristics of the transformations affecting haulier enterprises engaged in the carriage of freight by road. Part II, which will appear in issue 2/2017 of Przegląd Geograficzny, will focus on the transformations involving bus and coach companies in the Visegrad Group (V4) countries. A common feature of all the national carriers involved in road transport has been the co-occurrence within one public-service entity of both passenger traffic and the carriage of freight. This feature in fact placed enterprises of this kind in a disadvantageous position in comparison with those engaged in carriage that are commercial companies dedicated to a narrow group of customers connected with one branch of the economy. Another common feature is an origin in the late 1920s or 1930s that reflects a reaction of state railways joined by rapidly-arising competition from private road transport. The processes leading to the establishment of the different national road carriers were also similar in the countries of the group. A somewhat analogous situation can be observed in many restructuring processes within about 40-years of the centrally planned economies. The first period of ownership transformation in V4 countries can be regarded as chaotic ‘grass-roots’ privatisation involving companies engaged in freight carriage at the most. Disadvantageous experiences resulting from uncontrolled ‘grass roots’ privatisation initiatives (taking over fortunes and customers) have caused the privatisation processes to be placed within certain frameworks. The structure of national road transport companies was very much differentiated at the outset. Some countries like Slovakia have separated freight and passenger traffic completely, while others introduced a mixed variant. In fact, the situation in Poland was the resultant of both solutions: on the one hand there are companies engaging in the carriage of freight, while on the other there are also bus/coach companies likewise involved in goods traffic. Each of the V4 countries has taken a different approach to ownership transformation, though some processes can be observed in all countries, while others only in single countries. The involvement of staff in these processes has been different. In Poland alone, there was a special ‘path’ by which crews may buy into privatised companies. A somewhat similar solution involving worker participation has also been applied in Hungary, too. The restructuring and privatisation of freight transport in each country involved the application of different solutions. Thus, in Poland and Slovakia, numerous companies engaged in freight transport have been established. In Czechia and Hungary such companies have also been present, rather as an exception than a rule. However, complete separation of freight and passenger traffic has not proved to be a great success, since a majority of the freight companies, even the ones that have been privatised, have been closed down. This is the case in Poland, where an intermediate, multi-year stage of freight carriers existing as single-personality Treasury companies could be observed. Privatisation started much later there than in other V4 countries, but in 2015 only single independent companies engaged in the carriage of freight existed – a circumstance that speaks against such a process.
Keywords: prywatyzacja, deregulacja, przewoźnicy drogowi, PKS, CSAD, SAD, NAD, Volan, Grupa Wyszehradzka, geografia przedsiębiorstw
[z.taylor@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
[ariel@twarda.pan.pl], Institute of Geography and Spatial Organization Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51/55, 00‑818 Warszawa, Poland
Citation
APA: Taylor, Z., & Ciechański, A. (2016). Narodowi przewoźnicy drogowi w krajach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej – część I. Przegląd Geograficzny, 88(4), 441-467. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2016.4.2
MLA: Taylor, Zbigniew and Ciechański, Ariel. "Narodowi przewoźnicy drogowi w krajach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej – część I". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 88, no. 4, 2016, pp. 441-467. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2016.4.2
Chicago: Taylor, Zbigniew and Ciechański, Ariel. "Narodowi przewoźnicy drogowi w krajach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej – część I". Przegląd Geograficzny 88, no. 4 (2016): 441-467. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2016.4.2
Harvard: Taylor, Z., & Ciechański, A. 2016. "Narodowi przewoźnicy drogowi w krajach Grupy Wyszehradzkiej – część I". Przegląd Geograficzny, vol. 88, no. 4, pp. 441-467. https://doi.org/10.7163/PrzG.2016.4.2