Contribution to the methodology for transport policy impact assessment on road transport of goods

Road transport of goods is facing many challenges that threaten the productivity, efficiency and quality of service provided. Having in mind the economic relevance of road transport, these challenges deserve due care and attention by the public sector, as well as appropriate transport policy measures to eliminate or mitigate their effects. The subject of this dissertation covers the elements of the transport policy and the decision making process governing their implementation in international road transport of goods. The main objective is to define a methodology to support the decision making process in carrying out a transport policy, with an emphasis on the development of the transport policy elements related to international road transport of goods and stakeholders' participation. In the opening segment of the dissertation, the focus is on the description, discussion and classification of the basic terms pertaining to a) strategic transport planning and the elements of a resulting national transport policy document, and b) the process of policy making. A comparative method has been used to analyze strategic transport policy documents of European countries, whereas the policy instruments of relevance to international road transport of goods have been identified and arranged in a systematic order by empirical comparison. The research resulted in a specific methodology to assess the impact of a transport policy with a successful effect on international road transport of goods, and described the phases of the procedure in a general case. The methodology has been defined by a compilation method and modelling. The methods to analyze the situation and stakeholders, and to identify, select and rank the international road transport of goods subsystem problems were presented. The focus then shifts to the definition of objectives and criteria for the selection of instruments to achieve them. Further, a framework for the system of indicators has been set, along with the selection procedure for individual indicators taken from the literature and a modified, complex indicator adjusted to the use in international road transport of goods. A detailed description follows of the developed model for the impact assessment of transport policy instruments on international road transport, involving multi-criteria ranking by means of Analytic Network Process. The prospect of implementing the defined methodology and model has been demonstrated and proven by the example of inter