II. Introduction

This report is the second part in a series of two reports which investigate the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on local public transport (LPT), the ways in which governments have provided emergency support and what this has meant for workers and users. The first report (Part I) focuses on the experience of countries in the Global North, in particular Europe and North America. This report (Part II) focuses on LPT systems in the Global South.

As can be seen in more detail in Part I, in countries in the Global North, trade unions, public transport authorities and public transport operators have been calling on national governments to provide emergency funding to cover losses faced by LPT systems since the start of the pandemic. While not without problems, this support has been relatively forthcoming, provided in multiple rounds. In many countries there is also a growing recognition of the importance of developing sustainable funding models and increasing investment in LPT infrastructure and operations as part of a green recovery.

The situation facing LPT systems in the Global South is more complex for several reasons. Macroeconomic constraints, including a slower pace of recovery, high levels of sovereign debt and debt serving requirements and the need to maintain hard currency reserves constrict the ‘fiscal space’ governments have to invest in relief and recovery efforts. In addition, the fragmented and informal nature of LPT services make supporting and strengthening these systems difficult. These issues are treated in more detail in the body of the report.

This report seeks to contextualise the financial impact of the pandemic on LPT, government support and the experience of LPT workers in the Global South within these structural challenges. It also provides recommendations as to what needs to be achieved at both the macroeconomic and local levels in order to make LPT funding and LPT systems sustainable. Like the Part I, it takes a social justice approach, which stresses that the goal of strengthening LPT services should be to combat economic and social inequality.

The report is divided into seven sections. Following this introduction, Section II reviews the financial impact of the pandemic on LPT services in the Global South. Section III looks in detail at the macroeconomic constraints faced by governments in the Global South and the role of international financial institutions (IFIs) in both addressing and contributing to these constraints. Section IV looks at several examples of national government support measures for LPT systems and how these have been largely insufficient and unequal modes and forms of service. Section V is devoted to a discussion of the experience of informal LPT services and workers during the pandemic, while Section VI looks at how the World Bank has sought to support select LPT systems during the pandemic, focusing on the two important examples of Morocco and Colombia. The final section makes recommendations based on the findings of this research.

A separate document, Principles for sustainable and socially just LPT funding during the pandemic and beyond, brings together the recommendations from both Parts I and II. The two reports and the principles document can be read together for a global perspective.