ITF Presents Azerbaijan’s Urban Transport Reforms as a Case Study
The International Transport Forum (ITF) has published a new research report entitled Demand Management to Facilitate Efficient Urban Transport. Against the backdrop of global urbanization, the report projects that, if current trends continue, vehicle kilometres travelled in urban areas will increase by 69% between 2025 and 2060, while transport demand, measured in passenger-kilometres, will rise by 81%. In this context, the report makes extensive reference in various sections to the urban mobility reforms implemented in Azerbaijan, particularly in Baku, in recent years.
Transport Coordination Council – A Unified Governance Model
In the section dedicated to multi-level coordination, the report presents the Transport Coordination Council, established by Presidential Decree in 2023, as an example of institutional coordination in Azerbaijan. The report highlights that this mechanism establishes a unified decision-making framework among operators, regulatory authorities and planning bodies, ensuring that bus, metro, rail, micromobility and pedestrian infrastructure are planned not separately, but as integral components of a unified urban mobility system. As a result of the Council’s activities, decisions aimed at expanding the bus fleet, developing the metro network, modernising rail services, and improving first- and last-mile connections at transport hubs have been coordinated.
“Public Transport” Targeted Budget Fund – An Example of Sustainable Financing
In the section dedicated to the long-term financing of urban transport, the report cites Azerbaijan’s “Public Transport” Targeted Budget Fund as a specific example. The Fund’s model envisages allocating a portion of revenues from road taxes, as well as revenues that may be generated in the future from road-use charging mechanisms that could be introduced on urban roads, to the financing of public transport. The ITF considers this practice an example of directing revenues generated through transport policy instruments towards sustainable mobility.