Transportation Planning: A Comparison Between Moroccan and Spanish Decision Making Process

Abstract

Morocco's urban transport sector was characterized until recently by major institutional, regulatory, and operational weaknesses, as a result, public transport systems still perform poorly and are not responsive to the changing demands of the population. In this area, the planning of transport systems (in the context of the overall development of urban regions) takes an increased significance. The Government has thus embarked on a broad program of activities aimed at systematically addressing sector issues, particularly the structural issues that are at the core of the current inefficiencies. In fact, it is important to understand the functioning of decision making processes with respect to transport planning.In order to do so, a comparative study of Moroccan and Spanish decision making processes is done. The paper deals with the differences and similarities of Moroccan and Spanish decision making process in transportation infrastructure planning following the issues cited in Procedures for Recommending Optimal Sustainable Planning of European City Transport Systems (PROSPECTS) Decision Makers' Guidebook (DMG). We have compared the two cases against each other with respect to these issues to identify examples of good practice for the Moroccan case.