Restructuring the Lebanese Railway and Public Transport Authority (RPTA): From losing operator to effective regulator

The Lebanese Council of Ministers has recently endorsed a plan for the reform and organization of the Land Public Transport Sector (LPTS). The plan implies a new role for the government: it would cease being just a loss-making service provider and become the planner and regulator of the sector under a new strategy. The strategy would aim at creating the enabling environment and conditions that allow and ensure the existence of sufficient, affordable and efficient transport services provided by several private-sector operators functioning under competitive conditions. Thus, the existing autonomous Railway and Public Transport Authority (RPTA) will be restructured to serve as the effective regulator, its bus operations will be corporatized (for possible eventual privatization), and all existing private sector service providers will be regulated. Following a brief overview of the problems of the sector and the components of the reform and organization plan, this paper focuses on developing options for the restructuring of the RPTA to carry out its new role.