Der öffentliche Personennahverkehr

Topic of this habilitation thesis is the liberalization of local public passenger transport, especially by busses. Starting from the paramount importance of traffic in regards to the theory of the state, in the first part of the work at first passenger services, goods traffic and communication are systemized from the legal point of view. In that way the subject of examination is delimited. Subsequently the reference of different sectors of traffic to public interest is depicted because this plays a central role in the liberalization of the different sectors. Then these liberalizations are described and by that the circumstances of this market opening are examined. Various constitutional questions and questions concerning the theory of state arise, as e.g. questions concerning the limits of the permissibility of communal economic activities. The second part of the work deals specifically with liberalization of public passenger transport by busses. In Austria the intended market opening affects structures that have ever since shown monopolistic features. After a historic survey of the development of the public passenger transport the communitarian legal basis are presented. Subsequently market access according to Austrian law, which since the year 2000 has been pursuing a step-by step liberalization of public passenger transport by busses, is compared to the European legal guidelines. One specific feature of this work is that it does not depict liberalizing secondary law, how e.g. this lead to market opening in the fields of telecommunication or energy supply. It is rather depicted how also communitarian law that does not directly aim at liberalization can lead to market opening. In this context, not only constitutional and administrative questions arise in the field of public law but also especially questions concerning the theory of state. Within the communitarian law the main emphasis lies on the community freedoms, state aid law and antitrust law as well as on services of general public interest. The results of this work lie on different fields. E.g. the state`s responsibility for securing sufficient services of public passenger transport in case of liberalization is pictured as well as various incompatibilities of national organisations respectively the relevant legal provisions. Ultimately the necessity for an amendment in regard to the Austrian law becomes clear. Even though the liberalization of the public passenger transport by busses affects a large variety of subjects, in Austria it has until now more or less not been dealt with. Monographic works are missing completely. Therefore this work fills a gap that has been existing for years.