ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with public transport in border regions. The focus is on the Ems-Dollart Region (EDR) in the Dutch-German borderland, but the results tend to be more general in character. The EDR territories on either side of the border are similar in an economic sense. In such a situation, open borders are likely to have little positive impact on exchange and development. In public transport, openness is indicated by little regulation, large corporations, but no monopolies, and a large degree of integration. Public transport has been strongly changed by the respective national governments in the past decades. There has been decentralisation and deregulation, with continuing disparities between the two countries discouraging the creation of cross-border networks. The demand for cross-border public transport is quite modest, but this may increase if institutional differences between the two countries decrease considerably.
