LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 149 – 174, January 2021 
 
Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to 
Mobility and Equality Before the Law 
 
BRANKO KORŽE & IVANA TUCAK 
* 
Abstract As opposed to authors who strive to justify the right of 
access to public passenger transport services of citizens 
predominantly on the principles of justice deriving from social ethics, 
the authors of this article justify the right of such access on the human 
rights to mobility and equality before the law, as the rights based on 
international legal acts, whereas the principles of fairness are used to 
upgrade the human right to equality and prohibition of discrimination. 
Based on the rights to mobility and equality before the law, the 
authors justify an obligation of democratic states to introduce a law to 
provide for people an adequate access to public passenger transport 
services at the interurban and urban level. The theoretical findings 
established herein will serve as a basis to evaluate legal regulations in 
the selected states (the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of 
Croatia), and create proposals to change the same. 
 
Keywords: • human rights • mobility • equality before the law • 
public passenger transport • accessibility 
 
CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS: Branko Korže, Ph.D., Professor, University of Ljubljana, 
School of Economics and Business, Kardeljeva plošad 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, email: 
branko.korze@ef.uni-lj.si. Ivana Tucak, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Josip Juraj Strossmayer 
University of Osijek, Faculty of Law, Radićeva 13, 31000 Osijek,Croatia, email: 
itucak@pravos.hr. 
 
https://doi.org/10.4335/19.1.149-174(2021) 
ISSN 1581-5374 Print/1855-363X Online © 2021 Lex localis  
Available online at http://journal.lex-localis.press. 
150 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
1 Introduction  
 
Introduction presents the scientific problem of the article, its novelty, exploration of 
the problem, aim, objective, research methods). The issue of user access to public 
passenger transport services (hereinafter PPT services) has been studied in the 
scientific literature with regard to various criteria, including geographical, 
infrastructure, economic, location-based, utility-based, town-planning criteria 
(Geurs, Van Wee, Rietveld, 2006), etc. Numerous scientific discussions have also 
been held in the field of studying the meaning of user access to PPT services from 
the aspect of social and ecological externalities that are reflected in the reduced 
use of passenger cars, reduced emissions and noise, less congestions in traffic 
(Geurs, Ponce Dentinho, Patuelli, 2016). Their starting point is predominantly 
theories of justice (e.g. Van Wee, Geurs, 2011), such that some of them justify the 
right of citizens to access PPT services also on the theory of justice in relation 
with equality without explaining its legal meaning (e.g. Pereira, Schwanen & 
Banister, 2016). With the intention to justify the right of access to PPT services, 
Martens, along with analysing other theorists, focuses in particular on Rawls’ 
theory of (distributive) justice, and finds that that serves well as far as the 
distribution of primary goods is concerned. However, it is short of justifying the 
right of user access to PPT services, because its social dimension (to consider 
users’ personal circumstances, such as age, gender, etc.) is lacking. In relation to 
Dworkin’s theory of fair principles, Martens (2017: 68) emphasizes that Dworkin 
connects his theory of fairness with the concept of insurance schemes for the users 
of PPT services, and opines that it is acceptable to differentiate among citizens in 
the distribution of access to PPT services only if it is to the benefit of those in a 
worse economic situation.  This shortcoming is in his opinion to be remedied by 
the so-called “prioritarianism”, by introducing mitigating measures to ensure 
access in relation to the actual situation of an individual person (Martens, 2017: 
149). We believe that the theories of justice, in particular of those authors that 
connect them with the principle of equality, are more than necessary to justify the 
access of citizens to PPT services, especially to the benefit of those users who are 
subject to specific life circumstances (e.g. socially weak and/or those living in 
remote hill and mountain areas); as inhabitants who are otherwise not covered by 
the general standard of access applying to urban areas, and need to be ensured 
such access by special measures. Beyazit (2017) stems from justice as a basis to 
create equality before the law and discusses justice criteria in procedures to decide 
on investments in transport activities, which should contribute to improving the 
equality before the law and mobility. Hananel and Berechman (2016) ground the 
right of access to JPP services on the theory of social justice, by which fair 
distribution of goods is to be ensured, and establish that in the decisions thereof 
market criteria prevailed in the last decades under the influence of neoliberalism, 
which are contrary to social justice. In connection with the access to JPP services, 
Pereira, Schwanen and Banster (2017) state various theories of justice and, in 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
151 
 
relation to justice and equality, establish that there is no clear difference between 
these two concepts in the academic literature.  Due to a deficient conception of 
the human right to equality or equality before the law and positive discrimination, 
they themselves do not surpass the unclear conceptions established (Pereira, 
Schwanen and Banster, 2017).  
 
The topic addressed in this article is distinct from the aforementioned studies as it 
justifies the right of citizen (user) access to PPT services on legal bases, that is on 
the human rights (hereinafter HR or HRs) to mobility and equality before the law 
or positive discrimination. The authors depart from the aspect of the obligation of 
states, signers of international legal documents, to protect, respect, and remedy 
HRs violations. In this meaning, the states have to provide conditions for their 
citizens to be able to exercise their HR to mobility as part of their freedom and 
HR to equality before the law. PPT services are one of the relevant mechanisms 
to exercise the HR to mobility, some other HRs, and broad interests (objectives) 
of society. Based on the identification of HRs as a dynamic phenomenon whose 
substance is predominantly determined by the conditions of every social (state) 
entity, the authors justify the duty (obligation) of each individual democratic state 
to organize the PPT services in a manner that will be in compliance with the actual 
situation and the possibilities (ability) of the society (state). On that principle, the 
authors justify in a legal manner the right of different states to regulate standards 
of access (funding) at a different level. The legal right of a majority of citizens to 
access PPT services is in the authors’ opinion in accordance with the HR to 
equality before the law, whereas the right of users not being members of the 
majority is based on positive discrimination and fair principles as an essence of a 
law-governed state. Theories of justice are thus an immediate tool for systemic 
justification of positive discrimination measures, which in the authors’ opinion 
are not enough to legally justify and regulate the right to access PTT services, and, 
as already mentioned, are not the focus of this discussion. In the article, the authors 
limit themselves to bus public transport, which is the most appropriate to justify 
their positions, however, their findings could also be used to evaluate other forms 
of public passenger transport.  
 
The right of users to access PPT services justified by the HRs is the basis for 
testing if the access to PPT services in the selected countries is adequately 
regulated at the interurban and urban level. The findings obtained in the 
compliance test serve as the basis to formulate proposals that are to be submitted 
to the national legislatures.  
 
Descriptive and abstraction methods are used in the theoretical part of the article, 
whereas the methods of analysis and comparison are used in the empirical part. 
 
152 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
2 The right to mobility 
 
2.1 Systemic importance of human rights and freedoms in a democratic 
state 
 
In the anthropologic, moral, legal, political and broad social meanings, HRs and 
freedoms are one of the fundamental assumptions to understand modern 
economic, political and legal systems and processes. Human dignity is the basis 
which comprises the full scope of human existence, in all its manifestations, and 
is materialized through numerous HRs and freedoms (Lampe, 2010: 171). In 
principle, it is not allowed to limit these rights to a person as an individual, and to 
legal entities, being individuals joined in a collective body; the rights can only be 
limited to an extent that is strictly necessary for exercising the equal rights of other 
entities and for pursuing the public (social) interest. Following Smith, between 
individual and social interests there is no contradiction, but harmony (Senf, 2004: 
44). In compliance with the ratified international HRs conventions, each 
democratic state is obliged to ensure the respect and protection of HRs as a value 
of civilization obtained (Korže, 2014: 6). It is not sufficient that the state and its 
bodies only refrain from direct involvement in exercising the HRs, it is its task to 
take all the necessary steps to enable exercising of HRs (Lampe, 2010: 171). The 
respect and protection of HRs to which people as natural persons and associations, 
in which people are joined, are entitled are the conditions for optimal and long-
term stable economic and broader social development and the highest level of 
welfare in each democratic (state) community. It has to be emphasized that the 
exercise of HRs and freedoms should be in convergence with the exercise of the 
rights of others, such that mutual coexistence as well as successful social 
development are achieved. 
 
2.2 Legal sources from international documents on mobility and 
equality as human rights 
 
The General Assembly of the United Nations states in Article 1 of the Universal 
Declaration of Human Rights (hereinafter the Declaration)1 that all human beings 
are born free and equal in dignity and rights. On this basis, Article 7 of the 
Declaration provides that we are all equal before the law and entitled to the same 
legal protection. Article 2 stipulates that any discrimination is prohibited, and 
Article 13 of the Declaration determines that everyone has the right to freedom of 
movement, whereas in paragraph 2 of Article 21 it is defined that everyone has 
the right of equal access to public services in his or her country. The realization 
of the right to work from Article 23, the right to education written in Article 26 
and the right of everyone to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the works of art 
from Article 27, directly depends on the exercise of the right to mobility. The 
General Assembly of the United Nations in 1966 adopted the International 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
153 
 
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on 
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, by Resolution No. 2200 A (XXI). Among 
the political rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 
explicitly regulates the right to move freely in Article 12, and Articles 2, 24, 26 
and 27 provide that any discrimination concerning such is prohibited. In Article 
25 that Covenant ensures every citizen the right and opportunity to access public 
services in the country in equal terms generally. On the basis of the Declaration, 
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, determines 
a catalogue of human economic, social and cultural rights. By ratifying the 
Covenants, the signatory states committed themselves to enact HRs in their 
national legal systems, including the right to freedom and the right to mobility as 
part of it with relatively independent significance. The latter is of essential 
significance itself and simultaneously for exercising numerous other HRs listed 
in the Declaration and the mentioned covenants, such as the right to work, the 
right to education, economic and cultural rights, and other social HRs that are 
important for the development of individuals and the community as a whole 
(Korže, 2015b). Based on the international legal documents, the Slovene 
Constitution in Article 14 determines that in Slovenia everyone shall be 
guaranteed equal HRs and fundamental freedoms, and that all are equal before the 
law; Article 14 of the Croatian Constitution has the same content.2 Paragraph 3 of 
Article 71 of the Slovene Constitution imposes on the legislature the duty of a 
special promotion of the economic, cultural and social advancement of the 
population living in mountain and hill areas.  
 
In addition to the mentioned legal bases, the Republic of Slovenia and the 
Republic of Croatia as members of the EU are also bound to respect regulations 
adopted by the EU authorities in the areas that have been transferred to its 
exclusive competence when entering the Union.   
 
In accordance with Article 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European 
Union,3 EU member states are empowered to define PPT services as activities of 
general economic interest, that is as products or services for which permanent, 
secure, and uninterrupted production is in the public interest ensured by the state 
or local communities to satisfy the needs, when and insofar as such cannot be 
ensured in the market to an appropriate extent and under equal conditions and at 
accessible prices. Theory states the intensity of a public interest as a basic criterion 
for decision of the state or local communities to organize and carry out PPT 
services (Mužina, 1999: 79). 
 
154 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
2.3 Mobility as a human right and social phenomenon 
 
Mobility is an important component of human freedom. At the same time, it 
enables the maintenance and sustainability of numerous private and public 
interests. Therefore it has to be designed sustainably and should actually reduce 
traffic as well as meet the requirements of users for mobility in an individual state. 
The sustainable approach to the establishment of mobility requires solutions such 
that the use of resources will decrease along with the increase in mobility. Traffic 
is one of the main sources of air pollution and climate changes and thus mobility 
has to be environmentally acceptable, socially just, and at the same time should 
promote the development of economy. These objectives can be achieved by traffic 
policy measures such that the need for mobility is met, but the costs and collateral 
effects, risks and the use of natural resources are the lowest (Lampe, 2010: 300). 
Each democratic state has to establish mobility by mechanisms that will enable 
citizens to meet their requirements for free movement and be made possible to 
exercise all other HRs enabled by mobility, along with the protection of public 
interests. 
 
3 Public passenger transport as a relevant mechanism of mobility 
 
3.1 Public passenger transport as a collective form of enabling mobility 
 
It has been established in Section 2 that exercising the right to mobility is a 
significant part of human freedom and that mobility significantly enables the 
exercise of numerous other HRs such as the rights to work, education, health care, 
cultural goods, etc. As the state is obliged to create the conditions for exercising 
and protecting HRs, and simultaneously to provide beneficial externals in the field 
of environment, a rational use of natural resources and the organization of 
collective forms of mobility such as PPT services are necessary. The focus of 
collective provision of PPT services and the focus of HRs on individual well-
being bring to the fore a core concern of modern political morality, the relationship 
between social obligations and individual freedom (Augenstein, Lindahl, 2015). 
The competent state bodies have to consider the selection of means, the manner 
of meeting the requirements for mobility as well as the relevant facts. By means 
of an analysis of individual elements and all the elements together, the advantages 
and disadvantages of possible solutions have to be established so that the selected 
option can ensure efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable PPT services. Such an 
approach to the regulation of transport demands that the state organizes PPT 
services as public economic services, and that in doing so states are entitled to 
depart from the rules of competition, if so required by the public interest 
established on a legitimate basis (Repas, 2010). Therefore the state is obliged to 
define PPT services as a merit good (mixed public-private good) and to become 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
155 
 
actively involved not only in its organization but also performance, and exercise 
control over its implementation.  
 
3.2 Determination of the standards of access to PPT services on the 
human right to mobility 
 
Considering that most HRs are in their content conditioned by philosophic, 
economic, historical, moral, cultural and political traditions, the level of social 
development and the tradition of values of a certain community (Winston, 1989: 
539-543) in time and place, a full exercise of the majority of HRs can be 
predominantly ensured at a national level and determined with characteristics of 
individual communities. According to the described principle, the values and 
standards are relative when defining the content of an individual HR (Winston, 
1989: 540), which applies also to the standard of user access in individual 
democratic communities (social state). It means that every democratic state is 
obliged to supplement the protection of the HR to mobility such that PPT services 
are organizationally and functionally in line with its specific social circumstances. 
In the organization of PPT, the state is obliged to pursue various social 
externalities, and it is bound to organize access for individual categories of users 
on the principles of equality before the law and positive discrimination 
respectively, in a differentiating manner if needed. It has to adequately modify the 
“cost-benefit analysis” and follow the economic goals as long as it is not detriment 
to its social interests (Korže, 2015a).  
 
When determining the content, volume, and structure of PPT services, and if it is 
possible to use public funds to co-finance them (so far as this is necessary in the 
public interest -  Section 2.1), a democratic (welfare) state should, on one hand, 
start from the systemic concept and content of individual human, political, 
economic, and social rights and fundamental freedoms (Korže, 2012: 462) and, 
on the other hand, from its economic capabilities while taking into account the 
encouraging impact on economic growth and overall social development. The 
establishment of convergence between the two sides is a prerequisite to achieve 
the optimum social welfare in the field of PPT services. 
 
4 Justification of the access to PPT services on the human right to 
equality before the law   
 
4.1 Theoretical Defining of the Right to Equality 
 
The right to equality is the ´right of an individual to equality ensured both in the 
legislative regulation and the application of law,´ which ´together with the 
principle of a state governed by the rule of law and the principle of a social state 
156 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
´signify the implementation of the principle of justice´ (Šturm et al, 2002: 172). 
Equality as a social category refers to the ´equal value of a human being as an 
individual and member of human society as a totality´, from which what follows 
is ´equal dignity that in principle requires from social organization equal (legal) 
treatment of individuals´ (Flander, 2004: 48). Equality among people stems from 
the social evaluation of people as individuals, while legal equality is the equality 
among people in relation to legal norms, which are to be implemented on the basis 
of a political will (Mahnič, 2002: 357). By the concept of equality, we understand 
a matching between different objects, subjects, processes or circumstances in 
essential, however not all, characteristics. The comparison of the characteristics 
refers to quantity and quality; thus the principle of equality is crucially connected 
with the principle of justice as the essence of law (Korže, 2019). Theories that 
discuss the relation between equality and justice stem from different starting 
points and substantiate the existence of several types of justice. Schmid (2008) 
divides them into three basic groups: the theories of moral justice (e.g., the view 
of justice according to the Church’s teaching, Aristotle, Kant, Smith, Marx), the 
theories of utilitarian justice (e.g., the view of Machiavelli, utilitarian theorists), 
and the anti-utilitarian theories of justice (Rawls’ theory of fairness, egalitarian 
and non-egalitarian theories, communitarianism, and recognitions). Aristotel 
divides  theory of justice into the commutative justice of exchange and distributive 
justice. While commutative justice requires arithmetic equality, distributive 
justice is understood as proportion, thus as a medium arithmetic value between 
equality and inequality (Schmid, 2008). Justice needs to be enabled as a rule by 
the state, which must determine what is equal, and on the basis of such a criterion 
to carry out the distributive function needs to be established (Schmid, 2008). Also 
Kant’s theory stems from the concept of morality, however, his justice only exists 
in the justice of rules in conformity with special rules of particular cultures, thus 
we necessarily need a just legislature (Schmid, 2008: 69). In this sense, in Kant 
ethical and moral measures, the responsibility of societies and persons for justice 
are connected (Schmid, 2008). Following Smith, Bernd Senf (2004: 44) argues 
that between individual and social interests there is no contradiction, but harmony. 
According to utilitarian justice, what ´is considered just is what brings a benefit 
for the greatest number of people´, ´justice is maximization of the sum (or the 
average value) of benefits´. The individual is pushed to the edge, what is just is 
inequality or treatment of individuals with disdain when such is necessary for the 
interest or a majority or to maximize the happiness of many. The goal of utilitarian 
justice is not equality (Schmid, 2008). Anti-utilitarian theories of justice are 
developed on the basis of criticising utilitarianism; what unites them is a thinking 
that the rights of individuals cannot be limited by the reasons of common benefits. 
It is still necessary to take care of the welfare of a fellow-being and the society to 
which they belong, since only moral norms cannot protect equal rights and 
freedoms of the individual to the fullest extent. They differ in the conception of 
equality, which egalitarian views take as a goal of justice, while non-egalitarian 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
157 
 
views it as a by-product, and not as a goal (Schmid, 2008: 77). Schmid (2008) 
opines that “equal” and “just” cannot be paradigmatically connected and that it is 
not possible to “follow equality because of its being just,” not that “just treatment 
leads to greater equality.” They hold that “just” has different levels of meaning 
and that a thorough analysis of theories of justice shows that a connection between 
“just” and “equal” cannot be postulated. Justice is an open-ending concept, thus it 
is not possible to clearly and generally determine what is “just”. Derrida claims 
that justice cannot be thematised or objectivized, and that it is impossible to say 
this is just, even less I am just without betraying justice or even a right (Schmid, 
2008). Ethics in the process of normative regulation is a social force that forms 
the background in which everyday debates on majority or political decisions are 
held about what is to be “just”. “Justice” is generally not asserted through 
morality, which is here understood as a transcendental direction of individuals and 
groups, but on the basis of – always diverse sometimes even antagonistic – 
interests. Kušej thus holds that perhaps it is not reasonable to ask how much is the 
requirement of equality and thereby equal positions “just”, but should find the 
answer how to establish democracy as a form of government that always helps 
create majority interests considering thereby the interest of minority (Kušej, 
Pavčnik & Perenič, 1989). “Justice” in society activities always depends on 
majority as if a majority accepts justice as a manner of its operation, then it will 
be respected, otherwise not. Therefore, what is a fundamental question is the 
relation between the law and social values, which values can be legally protected, 
how they influence one another, and what is to be the relation between them. The 
discussion on that should necessarily include the issue of a relation between 
morality and law, the issue of ideology of law (Kušej, Pavčnik & Perenič, 1989: 
97), as justice is the criterion of lawfulness (Igličar, 2000). 
 
The authors of this article have established that full equality cannot be created 
while for equal protection of legal subjects it is necessary that their position is 
regulated in conformity with the criteria of justice. Peuer-Studer (2000: 27) has 
carried out the following axiom of justice: ´Persons need to be treated in view of 
standard X equally, if there are no reasons to treat them unequally, the reasons 
which cannot be reasonably refused´. In the mentioned sense, it is imposed on the 
legislature to regulate essentially equal states of facts equally, and essentially 
different ones in proportion to their difference unequally (Kranjc, 2002). 
According to Šadl (2002: 401), the basic question of the principle of equality is 
what should not be equated, while a legal issue refers to the question of when it is 
just to treat unequal equally. Concerning such, Šturm (2002:174) adds that it is 
equally unjust to treat unequal identically as treating equal differently. The 
principle of equality imposes on the legislature and those who implement legal 
norms that they should not differentiate between citizens arbitrarily, without a 
rational and actual reason.4 By distributive justice the equal protection and non-
discrimination of bearers of the HR to equality is ensured, which can be restricted 
158 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
as dictated by general (public) interests. As the authors stated, the right to equality 
needs to be separated from the right to equal protection, which in its practical 
exercise encompasses entitlements of legal subjects derived from the right to 
equality. From the right to equal protection follows prohibition against 
discrimination as a duty which requires from the addressees to refrain from 
treating legal subjects unequally based on unjustified reasons compared with 
others, since everyone is entitled to equal fundamental rights. Prohibition against 
discrimination “does not allow to the legislature to differentiate with regard to the 
ensuring, exercise, and protection of fundamental rights that would be based on 
personal characteristics of the individual or their social position” (Flander, 2004: 
70).   
 
In compliance with Radbruch, the general principle of equality obliges the 
legislature to regulate substantially equal cases in the same way and substantially 
non-equal cases in a different manner, considering their diversity and 
characteristics (Pavčnik, 1991: 29). The general principle of equality is therefore 
violated, when no valid reason arising from the nature of things and justifying 
legal distinction cannot be found, and therefore such a legal provision is arbitrary. 
The legislature is entitled to evaluate which actual statuses or life situations can 
be treated equally and which differently, but the principle of justice should not be 
violated and the acting arbitrary. The consequences of the adopted legal solutions 
(results) have to be studied in the assessment whether the principle of equality was 
violated. The principle of equality is violated, if the legislature’s distinction is not 
really and reasonably justified and when a legitimate objective is not pursued by 
the distinction. The legislature has to have an established methodology framework 
of argumentation used for the distinction. Proportionality should exist between the 
purpose and the means applied by which it would like to achieve the objective 
[16]. In compliance with the principles stated, the European Court of Human 
Rights prepared a test of general application in case of Lithgow (Lampe, 2010: 
455) with the aim to test discrimination; discrimination is concerned also in case 
when the state does not provide the required efficient means for the equal and/or 
non-discriminatory protection of the rights of individuals and associations of 
individuals. The admissibility of interference with equality is therefore tested by 
a usual test of arbitrariness. It is not necessary to demonstrate the necessity of 
interference due to the protection of rights of others (Decision of the 
Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia No. 146/VIII 2). Non-equal 
treatment cannot be arbitrary and discrimination is admissible, if it is justified, 
objectively and appropriately for the achievement of a desired objective. 
 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
159 
 
4.2 Theoretical Definition of the Concept of Positive Discrimination 
 
Positive measures do not mean a violation of the principle of equality and equal 
protection of legal subjects but are intended to exercise equal protection among 
them. An omission or refusal of necessary and appropriate adjustments, which are 
dictated by special circumstances, would thus interfere with the right to equal or 
non-discriminatory treatment (Šturm et al, 2011: 168). By such measures legal 
subjects as HRs bearers who due to objective reasons are in a worse position in 
relation to a majority, are positively discriminated against the majority, by which 
their position is improved and a higher level of equal protection is ensured in 
social relations (Pišek, 2010). Therefore, positive discrimination is a positive 
aspect of the principle of equality or equal protection (Mahnič, 2002:367). Flander 
(2004: 250) argues that what is understood by positive discrimination are 
situations in which a priority position of actually deprivileged social groups is 
established by institutional mechanisms, and the remedying of their existing 
(informal) inequality is thereby made possible. By such treatment of deprivileged 
groups, a social element is entered into the criteria of unjust equality and just 
equality, which supplements generally predominant political and economic 
criteria (Flander, 2004: 252). Between certain social groups and the measures of 
positive discrimination a reasonable proportion must be established (Flander, 
2004: 252-3). Only when equal opportunities for different social groups are 
ensured, is an integral-value oriented development of society as a whole and 
consequently a higher level of its moral and legal development made possible 
(Flander, 2004: 248). The stabilization and integration oriented system dimension 
of effects of positive discrimination should not encroach on the protection of the 
basic principles of a democratic and rule-of-law state (Flander, 2004: 254). The 
legislature’s evaluation of whether the conditions for positive discrimination of 
certain social groups or individuals should be carried out in conformity with 
justice, in the sense as discussed by the authors in the previous section. 
 
5 Respect of the principle of equality and positive discrimination of 
users in the access to PPT services 
 
The HRs to mobility and equality before the law or positive discrimination are, in 
conjunction with the principles of a state governed by the rule of law and justice 
as the essence of law, a foundation of legally regulating the access of citizens of 
a democratic state to PPT services. The authors further stated (3.2.) that the 
content of HRs is determined in line with the economic, cultural, historical, 
political, and other social conditions of an individual social community, which 
means that regulation of the access can quantitatively and qualitatively vary from 
country to country. The states mainly establish the standards of access to PPT 
services to all categories of users (Gabrovec, Kotar, 2006) on the “cost-benefit 
analysis” that corresponds to the traditional theory of equality pursuing the supply 
160 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
of the majority of population (distributive justice) and excluding users who are 
not included in the majority as, e.g., displaced citizens in hill and mountain areas, 
citizens of the islands. The exclusion of these categories of users from the general 
access to PPT services is permissible due to the natural conditions and economic 
reasons and is not contrary to the HR to equality. The exclusion of the stated 
category of users from the access to the PPT services can become inadmissible 
and contrary to the HR to equality, if the state does not regulate the access by 
special individualized mechanisms. Specific life circumstances in which they live 
dictate that the state positively discriminates them by special forms of access to 
PPT services. The objective of positive discrimination is two-fold, on one hand, 
these users should get the opportunity of exercising equality in the access to PPT 
services when compared to the users living in urban areas and, on the other hand, 
the populated hill and mountain regions should remain in the public interest. The 
access for these users should be regulated in line with the principle of justice as 
the essence of law (on the basis of the theories of justice), which however is not a 
special focus of this article. For suitable practical solutions the legislature should 
justify extra solutions on the basis of positive discrimination and in line with 
existing experiences (Solomon, Titheridge, 2009), as an addition to the integrated 
transport of school children, and transport of workers and somewhere also other 
users, or according to the model of prior announcement of the needs of users 
(advanced booking) “door-to-door”, which are organized by separately subsidized 
taxi services, or combine public transport with various types of commercial 
transport provided by either forestry personnel or other companies whose 
activities involve constant transport to individual mountain or hill areas (Korže, 
2015b). Only by such positive discrimination, in providing special approaches to 
the access to PPT services and additionally to financing them from public funds, 
can the state provide these users with the same starting position in the area of the 
access to administrative, healthcare, cultural, educational, recreational services, as 
well as to workplaces and purchasing, as provided to the other users in the state. 
 
6 A test of compliance of the regulation of user access to PPT services 
at the urban and interurban level in the Republic of Slovenia and the 
Republic of Croatia, with the prescribed legal regulation   
 
6.1  Legal regulation in the Republic of Slovenia 
 
The Road Transport Act 25 (hereinafter “Act”) determines the conditions and 
method of performing PPT services in the domestic and international road 
transport and the bodies competent for the implementation and supervision over 
the implementation of the Act (Article 1). The purpose of the adoption of the new 
Act was to eliminate unnecessary provisions, reduce or lower the conditions of 
carrier operation to minimum allowed standards, and to ensure effective 
supervision and sanctioning of foreign carriers violating the Slovenian regulation. 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
161 
 
This Act transposes into the Slovenian legislation Directive of the European 
Parliament and Council Directive 2006/1/EC of 18 January 2006 on the use of 
vehicles hired without drivers for the carriage of goods by road6 and Directive 
2003/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 July 2003 on the 
initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain road vehicles for the 
carriage of goods or passengers, amending Council Regulation (EEC) No. 
3820/85 and Council Directive 91/439/EEC, and repealing Council Directive 
76/914/EEC.7 Under Item 16 of paragraph 1 of Article 3, public transport is 
defined as »transport, which is under the same conditions available to all users 
and is carried out for commercial purposes«. Public passenger road transport is 
defined as transport that is carried out on certain routes, according to a 
predetermined timetable, price and general conditions of carriage that is either on 
an interurban or city line (Item 17 of paragraph 1 of Article 3). The Ministry 
responsible for transport is in charge of professional-technical, organizational, 
developmental and certain administrative functions in the field of transport of 
passengers and goods in domestic and international road transport and the 
provision of public services (Article 4). PPT in domestic road transport is carried 
out as a public regular service, special regular service, permanent non-regular 
transport, service on call, an occasional service, taxicab transportation and as a 
special form of transport (Article 44). 
A road PPT is, according to Article 45, traffic between bus stations and bus stops 
on a certain line, according to a pre-determined schedule, tariff and the general 
conditions of carriage that has to be adapted to people with disabilities. It can be 
performed only by bus and must be accessible to all passengers regardless of 
whether it may be subject to special reservation. Article 45 further prescribes that 
on certain lines and in certain periods due to a lower number of passengers regular 
PPT may be carried by transport vehicles, which in addition to the driver's 
seat have at least eight seats. The carrier has to operate under a registered 
timetable, price list, general conditions of carriage and the concession contract. 
The use of devices to overcome the physical and sensory disabilities (guide dogs, 
assistance dogs and other wheelchairs) should not be charged additional cost 
(Article 45). PPT services in domestic road transport can be carried out in the form 
of integrated public lines, special or other passenger transport (Article 48). 
Interruption and suspension of services concerning a line is prohibited under 
Article 49. As an exception, transport can be suspended or abandoned due to 
unforeseen or foreseen events if they occur and as long as the circumstances which 
cannot be predicted or avoided and whose consequences could not be averted 
continue to exist (Article 49). 
According to Article 50, the PPT with the exception of PPT in urban (local) areas 
and the special regular service, is ensured by the state as a mandatory public 
economic service. The state (government), on the basis of a public tender, defines 
162 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
concession zones or tendering lines, standards of access, standards of quality, 
tariffs, way of financing, other concession elements, and awards concessions to 
the most favourable providers (Article 50). For the provision of PPT, the system 
of a single ticket has been introduced and all carriers providing PPT services are 
included in it (Article 50). This service of a general economic interest is financed 
from the price of the service, the budget of the Republic of Slovenia, and from 
other sources related to the performance of PPT services (Article 52). The aim of 
PPT services as public economic services is to redirect the users of transport from 
personal cars to public means of transport. Special attention is devoted to the 
categories of passengers migrating daily, namely pupils, students, workers and 
passengers from demographically endangered areas (Article 52). 
 
Based on the study of the legal regulation of the PPT in Slovenia, the authors 
establish that in the area of interurban road transport in the Republic of Slovenia, 
mobility is at the normative level in conformity with the human right to mobility. 
The legislature regulated the access to PPT services as a public economic service 
selectively by separating the users, considering their essential characteristics, into 
different groups, such as pupils and students, slightly or severely physically 
impaired students, retired, service users beyond 65 years of age, users with a 
registered status of athlete (Article 114.b of the Act), and other categories of 
passengers daily migrating, such as workers, passengers from demographically 
endangered areas, as well as disabled and war veterans.  In this way, it regulated 
the access to line PPT services such that it treated the users being in an equal 
actual position according to essential characteristics equally, whereas those who 
are on the basis of the same in different actual positions differently; thereby it 
ensured for the users equality before the law in the sense of the exercise of the 
human right to equality.  The legislature authorized the Government of the RS to 
determine concession areas and lines of interurban PPT, standards of access and 
quality, tariff, and the way of financing (paragraph 2 of Article 50 of the Act). By 
the Regulation on the manner of implementing the public economic service of line 
public transport of passengers in internal road traffic, concession for this public 
service, and regulation of the system of a single ticket,8 the Government 
determined the manner of operation of the public economic service of line 
transport of passengers, the content and obligations of the public economic 
service, passenger rights, financing, the manner of granting concession and the 
supervision of its implementation.  In Annex 1 to the Regulation, the Government 
determined concession areas and interurban lines, in Annex 2 the access standards, 
and in Annex 3 the tariff. The manner and methodology of calculation of a full 
price for the subsidized ticket from the state budget and the price paid by the 
beneficiary, and the categories of remoteness, were following the authorization 
given in paragraph 13 of Article 114.d of the Act, prescribed by the Minister 
competent for infrastructure in agreement with the Ministers competent for 
education and labour and social matters, in the Rules on determining the prices of 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
163 
 
subsidized transport.9 The Government and Ministry for infrastructure regulated 
the standard of user access to the interurban PPT services on the basis of the 
following criteria: number of departures of the public means of transport on a 
route in a certain timeframe, considering the size of the settlement, the settlement 
where the seat of the municipality is and the number of potential passengers in a 
periodic migration (Article 8 of Regulation). In accordance with the legal 
authorization, the Government prescribed that the performers of PPT services 
should minimally meet Euro 4 standard as the minimal standard of quality as well 
as the provisions specifying which standards the performers of transport services 
have to fulfil in the field of ensuring cleanliness (Articles 20 and 21 of 
Regulation). The legislature enabled the municipalities and other interested parties 
to upgrade (improve) the access standards on their proposal on certain routes 
under the condition that the funding for the increased standard of access to these 
services is provided. The proposer has to provide the sources of financing to cover 
the costs incurred by the higher standard (Articles 8 and 9 of the Regulation).  
 
From the theoretical part of this discussion, it follows that the human right to 
mobility and equality before the law in the access of users to PPT substantially 
depends on the resources of a certain society (state) in time and place. This entails 
that the standards of access and subsidized prices is in the field of the legislature’s 
discretion provided such that they do not act arbitrarily. The authors establish that 
the legislature ensures the human right to mobility and equality before the law in 
an appropriate manner by regulating the access of line PPT services in the 
Republic of Slovenia. In evaluating the standards of access, the authors did not 
find arbitrary measures. However, we point to the question of constitutionality of 
the regulation which we did not examine despite certain doubts of the regulation 
in this direction.  The rights and obligations in a democratic state can only be 
regulated by the legislature by statute, and executive authorities can only be 
authorized to further implement the statutory provisions.  In the legal regulation 
of access to PPT services the legislature predominantly left the forming of the 
rights to the executive authorities of government, which could be problematic.     
 
With respect to the right to the access to PPT services of inhabitants living outside 
urban areas and those living in hill and mountain regions, which are in a special 
position in relation to the inhabitants of urban areas, the authors find that in Article 
57.b of the Act the legislature provided the possibility of introducing transport on 
call and, further, that such transports are organized in the framework of the 
economic public service of line passenger transport in internal road traffic. It also 
determines that these forms of transport can be organized also in the frame of the 
local public economic service of passenger transport, if the basic criteria 
determined by statute for that are met and if the competent PPT authority issues 
to them a special permit. The authors establish that the Slovene legislature did not 
regulate the financing of the right to access for the mentioned categories of users 
164 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
in accordance with their human right to positive discrimination, nor in conformity 
with paragraph 2 of Article 71 of the RS Constitution. The statutory provisions on 
their right are only of a programmatic character and do not ensure a legal basis 
sufficient for their exercise. The legislature should remedy the lack of regulation 
such that it defines, in statute, the conditions and criteria as mandatory bases to 
bind the executive branch authorities when prescribing in more detail the special 
forms of accessibility for the mentioned categories of inhabitants.   
             
The legislature of the RS left the regulation of the organization and method of 
carrying out the urban line PPT to municipalities. It is stipulated in Article 53 of 
the Act that the municipalities can specify the activity of urban line PPT as a 
public economic service (non-obligatory public economic service), whereas in 
urban areas having more than 100,000 inhabitants it is to be performed as a 
mandatory public economic service. The Act limits the performance of the urban 
line passenger transport to the area of an individual municipality, but if the needs 
for daily migrations of people to urban areas are justified these services are 
performed exceptionally; to a small extent they are performed also in the 
neighbouring settlements and if the municipality has obtained a license from the 
competent state authority. The legislature has imposed on municipalities the 
obligation to consider the volume of daily migrations and the size of gravitation 
area, interdependence of the urban and interurban line passenger transport, 
connections of the urban transport with other kinds of transport, and care for the 
rights of disabled persons when regulating the urban line passenger transport. The 
municipalities are competent to regulate the organization and performance of PPT, 
the standard of access to PPT services, offer, price policy, and a share of co-
financing services from the budget of municipalities, quality of the fleet (age of 
vehicles, share of emissions, share of low floor buses, etc.), and equipment of bus 
stops. The legislature specified the revenue from the sale of transport services to 
users and the funds from the budget of an individual municipality as the source of 
financing of carrying out urban line passenger transport (financing and/or con-
financing of the transport).    
 
The legislature gave local communities a legal basis to regulate local PPT, which 
resulted in inhabitants of different municipalities accessing to such services under 
completely different conditions.  Following the data of the Ministry of 
Infrastructure, any municipality can organize PPT services under their “own” 
standards that reflect their organizational, financial and political reality. In 
accordance with such regulation, the standards of inhabitants’ access to local PPT 
services are very different between the municipalities. Certain municipalities 
subsidize PPT entirely, to a full price, such as the Municipalities of Koper, Kranj, 
Nova Gorica, while some municipalities cover only part of the ticket price from 
the municipal budget. Individual municipalities, such as Koper, Dol, and Škofja 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
165 
 
Loka, subsidize transport also through additionally established interurban lines. 
What the municipalities also entirely differently regulate is also the access of their 
inhabitants to PPT service on call, as there is no common legal foundation for 
such (Ministry of Infrastructure, 2019). Thus, we find that the regulation of the 
user access to PPT services at the local level in the legal order of the Republic of 
Slovenia does not meet the conditions of protecting the HRs to mobility and 
equality before the law. To ensure the equality before the law of inhabitants with 
respect to local PPT services, the legislature should enact standards or at least 
basic criteria on the basis of which local communities would determine the 
standards in consistency with actual geographical, demographic, and social 
circumstances. In such a manner a minimal standard of the access to PPT services 
for the inhabitants of all municipalities in the Republic of Slovenia will be created, 
which is now completely different. Apart from the minimal standard of access, 
the legislature should enact a uniform manner of financing local PPT services, 
either by prescribing for all the local communities the same percentage of co-
financing from local budgets, or by enacting appropriate co-financing from the 
Republic of Slovenia budget to con-finance the tickets of inhabitants of those local 
communities who are in a worse economic situation. 
 
6.2  Legal regulation in the Republic of Croatia 
 
On 27 April 2018, the Croatian Parliament adopted the Road Transport Act 
(hereinafter “Act”)10 in urgent procedure resulting from the burning issues which 
the road transport in Croatia had been facing as the most important segment of the 
transport system. Beside the need for regulation of the road transport of passengers 
and cargo prior to tourist season, the Government justified the urgent procedure 
with the need to resolve the issue of unprofitable lines and a lack of transport 
connections in rural and sparsely populated regions in Croatia (Government of the 
Republic of Croatia (a), 2018:4-5). By adopting the new Act, the Republic of 
Croatia embraced the acquis communautaire in the field of road passenger 
transport. For Croatia, of particular relevance in this light was Regulation (EC) 
No. 1370/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2007 
on PPT services by rail and by road and repealing Council Regulations (EEC) Nos 
1191/69 and 1107/7011 amended by Regulation (EU) 2016/2338 of the European 
Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2016 amending Regulation (EC) 
No 1370/2007 concerning the opening of the market for domestic passenger 
transport services by rail (hereinafter Regulation)12 (Government of the Republic 
of Croatia, 2018 (a): 4).  
 
In the new Act, public transport is defined in the same way as in the equivalent 
Slovenian law, i.e. as a passenger transport available under the same conditions to 
all users, which carriers perform for commercial gain (Article 4, paragraph 1, item 
18; cf. Article 3, paragraph 1, item 16 of the Slovenian Act). Road passenger 
166 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
transport is arranged as a regular service, special regular service, shuttle service, 
occasional transport, transport by taxi, special forms of transport and a new form 
of transport called microtransport. The legislature determined the conditions that 
a transport undertaking has to meet, the conditions that a vehicle has to fulfil, and 
the supervision over the performance of the activity. Regular public road 
passenger transport (javni linijski prijevoz) is defined as passenger transport 
provided by a car with a tachograph (category M1), minibus (category M2) and 
bus (category M3), all in line with pre-defined lines, service timetables, prices and 
General Transport Terms and Conditions. Regular public road passenger transport 
is deemed as “a public economic service appearing as a public good, the 
performance of which is ensured by the Republic of Croatia in the public interest” 
(Article 4, paragraph 1, item 19). In terms of relevant provisions of PPT, a single 
ticket system has been introduced, just like in Slovenia, which allows passengers 
to use PPT services provided by different carriers (Article 4, paragraph 1, item 20; 
cf. Article 50 of the Slovenian Act). 
 
Regular public road passenger transport can be provided as communal 
(komunalni), regional (županijski) or interregional (međužupanijski) passenger 
transport (Article 32, paragraph 2). Pursuant to the Public Utilities Act, communal 
passenger transport is considered a utility (Article 24, paragraph 1, item 4; 
Kemeter, 2018)13 comprising public passenger transport within zones defined by 
the local self-government concerned (Article 25, paragraph 4; Kemeter, 2018). 
The legal ground for its organization refers to a contract between an road transport 
operator and the local self-government concerned, which should be based on a 
decision of the representative authority of local self-government on communal 
transport, relevant laws and provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 (Article 
33, paragraph 1 of the Act; Kemeter, 2018).  
 
The new Act has substantially changed the previous regulation of regional 
passenger line transport. The previous regulation was not satisfactory due to line 
unprofitability resulting from mass emigration and demographic issues in some 
parts of the country, particularly in Slavonia, Baranya and Syrmia. The crisis in 
that part of the country culminated in February 2018 when despite the fact that 
many lines were co-financed by the state itself, and local and regional self-
government, Arriva company terminated 72 bus lines (Aničić, 2018) which put in 
jeopardy the transfer of pupils, students and workers to their schools, faculties and 
workplaces. The emerged situation, as highlighted above, was regarded as one of 
the Government’s reasons for requesting adoption of the Road Transport Act in 
urgent procedure from the Croatian Parliament. In accordance with the new Act, 
regional passenger transport is based on Regulation (EC) No 1370/2007 
(Government of the Republic of Croatia (a), 2018:4). On the ground of an analysis 
of passenger transport demand and supply from other transportation branches, the 
competent administrative authority of regional self-government determines “a 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
167 
 
network of regional passenger transport lines within its area of competence for the 
purpose of conclusion of a public service contract” (Article 33, paragraph 5). 
Interregional line transport (međužupanijski linijski prijevoz) is depicted as 
“public road passenger transport between bus stations or bus stops in two or more 
counties” (Article 4, paragraph 1, item 28). It can be organized as express or direct 
passenger line transport based on a permit issued after the harmonization of 
service timetables by the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure (Article 
4 paragraph 1 item 28; Article 33 paragraph 4). According to Article 38 paragraph 
1 of the Act, providing transport services may be temporarily suspended in the 
event of force majeure. 
 
One of the key novelties of this Act is definitely introduction of a new form of 
transport called microtransport (Article 4 paragraph 1 item 26; and article 50; 
Mudrić, 2018; Kemeter; 2018). This represents one of the major Government’s 
ways of combating the geographical isolation of sparsely populated parts of 
Croatia. It is defined as public passenger transport by passenger car (class M1) or 
minibus (class M2) in regions suffering from a lack of organized public passenger 
transport and low demand for such (Article 4, paragraph 1, item 26), particularly 
in rural and sparsely populated areas (Article 50, paragraph 3). Organization of 
microtransport requires a prior decision of the representative authority of local 
self-government (Article 50, paragraph 2; Kemeter, 2018). The Act also permits 
organization of microtransport in areas with organized public passenger transport 
on days when such is not available, e.g. during school and national holidays 
(Article 50, paragraph 11). Microtransport is performed pursuant to an agreement 
concluded between a contracting authority and a contractor (operator) in 
accordance with the decision of the competent local self-government unit (Article 
50, paragraph 4) on the need for such transportation and the manner of bearing 
appertaining costs (Article 50, paragraph 6). It may be arranged that a contract on 
providing microtransport services has the character of a public service contract 
(Article 50, paragraph 9). 
 
As one of the solutions to the issue of the economic feasibility of public passenger 
transport lines, the legislature has come up with a new regulation of integrated 
transport, the target goal is feasible, efficient and high-quality PPT (Article 53; 
Kemeter, 2018). Integrated PPT “comprises interrelated PPT services within a 
specific geographical area with a unique information service, a single ticket, i.e., 
a tariff system and a single timetable” (Article 52, paragraph 8). Those services 
can be provided in the area of one local or regional self-government unit or “in 
the area of several local and/or regional self-government units in a specific pilot-
area” (Article 54). An operator and a local or regional self-government unit appear 
as the parties to a contract on providing integrated PPT services. Conclusion of 
such a contract requires prior consent of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and 
Infrastructure (Article 55, paragraph 1). The contract is made for the purpose of 
168 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
defining an area, i.e. integration pilot-area, transportation line network, obligation 
for providing the respective public service, quality standard, remuneration and 
obligation for delivering service providing data (Article 56). “The PPT service 
providing obligation” is a claim made by the competent authority in order to 
ensure performance of transport by the operator who would not provide transport 
on such a scale and without compensation if only their commercial interests were 
taken into consideration (Article 52, item 4). Otherwise, providing this service of 
general (economic) interest would be improbable (Article 52, item 4).  
 
The Ordinance on Providing Regular Public Road Passenger Transport14 sets 
forth, among other things, the procedure for concluding contracts on providing 
transport as a public service (Article 1). Pursuant to Article 11, paragraph 1 of the 
Ordinance, for the purpose of compensation of costs incurred through providing 
public services of general economic interests in public passenger line transport, a 
regional self-government unit and the City of Zagreb enter into a public service 
contract in compliance with Regulation 1370/2007. Furthermore, local self-
government units enter into a public service contract to compensate the same costs 
too (Article 11, paragraph 2). An annex to a public service contract may be aimed 
at enlargement of the line network and an increase of the public service quality 
(Article 11, paragraph 5). Regional self-government units and the City of Zagreb 
or several regional self-government units, if a public service is provided on their 
territory, launch a call for tenders, which should in the end result in a contract 
award (Article 12, paragraph 1) based on Regulation 1370/2007 or relevant public 
procurement provisions (Article 12, paragraph 3). Paragraph 4 of Article 12 
prescribes exceptional situations in which a public service contract can be 
concluded without a tendering procedure. This service of a general economic 
interest is financed through respective charges, from the budget of the Republic 
of Croatia and from the budget of local self-government units, regional self-
government units and the City of Zagreb (Article 16). 
 
The transfer of schoolchildren, disabled persons, passengers seeking medical 
assistance and commuters is considered a special regular service (Part IV. B of 
the Act). The Act contains no special provisions on co-funding school and college 
transport costs, as it is the case in the Republic of Slovenia (Article 114 of the 
Slovenian Act). Nevertheless, the Government of the Republic of Croatia, through 
its Ministry of Science and Education, co-finance school transport costs in areas 
covered by public passenger line transport (Croatian Chamber of Economy, 
Osijek County Chamber, 2017:53). The Government is currently implementing a 
programme of co-funding high school pupils’ transport costs and the investment 
in the programme is gradually increasing. Namely, in the school year 2018/2019, 
the investment was increased by 22% comparing to the previous year 
(Government of the Republic of Croatia (b), 2018). In line with the Government’s 
decision on the criteria and manners of covering high school transport costs for 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
169 
 
the school year 2019/2020, made in August 2019, the Ministry of Science and 
Education will cover 75% of inter-municipal (međumjesnog) public transport 
costs to regular high school pupils whose place of permanent and temporary 
residence is located more than 5 km from their school.15 The Ordinance on the 
Conditions and Manner of the Exercise of the Right to Financial Support for 
Partially Covering Transport Costs, Provided to Full-Time Students with 
Disabilities is also in force.16 
 
Through its Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds, the Government 
has co-financed transportation of residents of islands since 2001 (Ministry of 
Regional Development and EU Funds, n.d.). The Islands Act regulates the right 
to supported public road transport on islands (povlašteni javni otočni cestovni 
prijevoz) (Article 31).17 Public road transport fares for lines connecting the 
mainland with islands or connecting two or more islands and fares for lines 
connecting places on one island will be adapted to transportation costs in a way 
that the former shall not be more expensive than those for public road transport 
covering the same distance in an appertaining regional self-government unit 
(Article 31, paragraph 1). The following islanders are entitled to free public road 
transport on islands: children under eight, pupils and students, pensioners, persons 
over 65, disabled persons and persons accompanying them (Article 31, paragraph 
2). Beside the residents of islands, the same right is enjoyed by those attending 
school or studying on islands and those living in residential and nursing care 
homes (Article 31, paragraph 3). Special transfer privileges are provided to 
residents of hill and mountain areas. According to the Act on Hill and Mountain 
Areas, natural persons residing in hill and mountain areas are, based on a special 
identity card, mountain card (Article 26, paragraph 1),18 entitled to privilege 
public transport fares within a respective county (Article 26, paragraph 2). 
 
Disabled persons are facing particular problems in public transport. As one of the 
signatories of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), 
Croatia is obliged to undertake appropriate measures for ensuring them an access 
to transport as well as to other services and public premises, both in urban and 
rural areas, and on equal grounds with the rest of the population (Article 9, 
paragraph 1 of the Convention; Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2017).19 
In compliance with the General Commentary of the UN Committee on the Rights 
of Persons with Disabilities No. 2 (2014), the state is bound to provide additional 
funds for ensuring disabled persons an access to public and private transport 
(Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2017). The Croatian National Strategy 
for Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 2017 – 2020 puts 
the emphasis on mobility and accessibility in shaping an inclusive society 
(Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2017). In accordance with the Strategy, 
local self-government units shall participate in providing disabled persons with an 
access to public road transportation (Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 
170 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
2018: 21). They are obliged to prepare local strategies and programmes for 
ensuring equal opportunities to this category of people and to appoint coordinators 
for implementation of the Strategy (Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 
2018: 21). Pursuant to the Public Utilities Act, communal (komunalni) transport 
is regarded as a utility, which means that it is for the most part managed by local 
and regional self-government (Government of the Republic of Croatia, 2017).  
 
Based on the study of the legal regulation of the PPT in Croatia, the authors 
establish that the Republic of Croatia lawfully regulates PPT and provides users 
with an access to PPT services at a normative (declaratory) level by respecting the 
HR to equality. PPT services have to be accessible to all users under equal 
conditions and without discrimination (Article 34). By adopting the new Act, the 
Republic of Croatia has enacted a series of new legal solutions, among which the 
shift from the system of authorization (dozvola) for performing regional passenger 
line transport to a new form of performing transport as a public service based on 
a public service contract between an operator and a regional self-government unit 
should be highlighted (Government of the Republic of Croatia (a), 2018:3). Since 
this is a new Act, it is too early to discuss the efficiency of the new institutions. 
However, regarding some category of people, particularly disabled persons, it is 
clear that the current situation is far from being satisfactory.  
 
In her 2018 annual report, the Croatian Ombudswoman for Persons with 
Disabilities warned about the issues related to the mobility and inability of 
disabled persons to get involved in everyday activities, resulting from a lack of or 
inadequate availability of public transport services adapted to their needs 
(Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 2018: 204). The lack of transport 
services is particularly evident in smaller places, rural areas and on islands 
(Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 2018, paragraph 21.2.1). The report 
sheds light on the fact that the disabled persons living in those areas often have no 
possibility to use transport services. Transportation problems particularly affect 
Slavonia, Baranya and Syrmia. Following numerous complaints received by her 
subsidiary in Osijek after its opening in November 2018, the Ombudswoman gave 
a recommendation to all Slavonian counties (Osijek-Baranya, Brod-Posavina, 
Virovitica-Podravina, Vukovar- Syrmia and Požega-Slavonia) to engage in 
improving the current condition (Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 
2018: 30). She stressed the importance of ensuring mobility and transport for 
persons with disabilities and children with developmental disabilities by local and 
regional self-government as well as the importance of organizing free city and 
intercity transport by specially adapted vehicles (gradskog i međugradskog 
prijevoza) (Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities, 2018: 21). Pursuant to 
the recommendations, all local and regional self-government units need to analyse 
the needs of persons with disabilities within their areas of competence, define 
priorities in cooperation with civil society organizations or individuals, draw up a 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
171 
 
local strategy and provide financial funds for its implementation (Ombudsperson 
for Persons with Disabilities, 2018: 30).  
 
7 Conclusions 
 
In line with the human rights to mobility and equality, the basic standard of PPT 
services and accessibility of users in urban areas to them has to be regulated on 
interregional, regional, and municipal (local) levels in every state uniquely 
(uniformly) –  (local communities should actively participate in the systemic 
regulation of the PPT organization and accessibility of users to PPT services). The 
state has to positively discriminate the users being excluded from the majority 
(displaced in hilly and mountainous areas) by systemic measures, so that it 
organizes access to PPT services for them in accordance with the theories of 
justice, in particular of those authors that connect them with the principle of 
equality, so that access is adjusted to their actual living conditions.  
 
The regulation of organization and financing of regional (interurban) and local 
PPT services in the Republic of Slovenia is in accordance with human rights to 
mobility and equality only on an interregional level, but not on the local levels 
(the legislative authorities are divided between the state and local levels, which 
causes different standards and accessibility to local PPT services between users 
living in different municipalities). In the Republic of Croatia there is inadequate 
access to PPT services in rural and sparsely populated regions, which is not in 
compliance with the human right to mobility. With respect to the right of disabled 
persons and children with developmental disabilities to public transport, the 
current situation is far from being satisfactory. The lack of transport services for 
this category of people is particularly evident in smaller places, rural areas and on 
islands. By adopting the new Act, the Republic of Croatia has enacted a series of 
new legal solutions, among which the shift from the system of authorization 
(dozvola) for performing regional passenger line transport to a new form of 
performing transport as a service of general economic interests should be 
highlighted. 
 
 
172 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
Notes: 
 
 
1 Adopted and declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December 
1948 with Resolution No. 217 A (III). 
2 Consolidated text, Off. Gaz. RC, Nos 56/90, 135/97, 113/00, 28/01, 76/10 and 5/14. 
3 Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Official 
Journal of the EU, C 326/01, 26 October 2012. 
4 U-I-18/02 (2003), Item 12. 
5 Off. Gaz. RS, Nos. 6/16 – consol. text and 67/19. 
6 OJ L 33. 
7 OJ L 226. 
8 Off. Gaz. RS, No. 29/19. 
9 Off. Gaz. RS, Nos. 56/16 and 7/20. 
10 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 41/18. The Act was amended in 2019, Off. Gaz. RC, No. 98/19. 
11 OJ L 315. 
12 OJ L 354. 
13 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 68/18, 110/18 and 32/20. See also Kemeter, 2018. 
14 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 116/19. 
15 Odluka o kriterijima i načinu financiranja troškova javnog prijevoza redovitih učenika 
srednjih škola za školsku godinu 2019/2020, Off. Gaz. RC, No. 81/2019.    
16 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 23/2015. 
17 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 116/18. 
18 Off. Gaz. RC, No.118/18. 
19 Off. Gaz. RC, No. 42/17. 
 
 
References: 
 
Aničić, L. (2018) Slavonci i Baranjci neočekivano pred novim problemom. Ukinute 72 
autobusne linije - kako do škole, studija, posla?, Glas Slavonije, 7 February 2018, 
available at: http://www.glas-slavonije.hr/355319/4/Ukinute-72-autobusne-linije---
kako-do-skole-studija-posla (August 5, 2019). 
Augenstein, D. & Lindahl, H. (2015) Global Human Rights Law and the Boundaries of 
Statehood, In: Kochenov, D., De Burca, G. & Williams, A. (eds.) Europe's justice deficit. 
(Oxford: Hart), pp. 153-164.  
Beyazit, E. (2011) Evaluating Social Justice in Transport: Lessons to be Learned from the 
Capability Approach, Transport Reviews: A Transnational Transdisciplinary Journal, 
31(1), pp. 117 - 134. 
Croatian Chamber of Economy, Osijek County Chamber (2017, September) Stanje 
gospodarstva Osječko- baranjske županije. Izvješće za 2017. godinu, available at: 
https://www.hgk.hr/documents/stanje-gospodarstva-obzrujan-201759ef01f2cf62d.pdf 
(October 11, 2019). 
Flander, B. (2004) Pozitivna diskriminacija (Ljubljana: Fakulteta za družbene vede). 
Gabrovec, M., Kotar, M. (2006) Izdelava standardov dostopnosti do javnega potniškega 
prometa in splošnih prevoznih pogojev za avtobusne prevoznike: končno poročilo 
(Ljubljana: Agencija za promet). 
Geurs, K.T., Ponce Dentinho, T. & Patuelli, R. (2016) Accessibility, equity and efficiency, 
In: Geurs, K. T., Patuelli, R. & Ponce Dentinho, T. (eds.) Accessibility, Equity and 
LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
173 
 
Efficiency: Challenges for Transport and Public Services (Cheltenham, UK, 
Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar Pub), pp. 3-8. 
Geurs, K.T., Van Wee, B. & Rietveld, P. (2006) Accessibility appraisal of integrated land-
use transport strategies: methodology and case study for the Netherlands Randstad area, 
Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 33(5), pp. 639 – 660. 
Government of the Republic of Croatia (2018a, April) Prijedlog Zakona o prijevozu u 
cestovnom prometu, s konačnim prijedlogom Zakona, Zagreb, available at: 
https://sabor.hr/sites/default/files/uploads/sabor/2019-01-18/081406/PZE_327.pdf 
(September 10, 2019). 
Government of the Republic of Croatia (2018b, August 23) Vlada dodatno rasterećuje 
roditelje povećanjem sredstava za sufinanciranje troškova javnog prijevoza 
srednjoškolcima, available at: https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/vlada-dodatno-rasterecuje-
roditelje-povecanjem-sredstava-za-sufinanciranje-troskova-javnog-prijevoza-
srednjoskolcima/24311 (November 1, 2019). 
Government of the Republic of Croatia (2017, April) National Strategy for Equalization of 
Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities 2017 – 2020, Official Gazette RC, No. 42/17, 
available at: 
https://mdomsp.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/Vijesti2018/National%20Strategy%20for%20
Equalization%20of%20Opportunities%20for%20Persons%20with%20Disabilities%20
2017%20-%202020.pdf (September 23, 2019). 
Hananel, R. & Joseph Berechman, J. (2016) Justice and transportation decision-making: 
The capabilities approach, Transport Policy, 49, pp. 78-85, 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2016.04.005. 
Igličar, A. (2000) Pravo in družba (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba). 
Kemeter, D. (2018) Obveze jedinica lokalne samouprave prema Zakonu o prijevozu u 
cestovnom prometu - nove obveze komunalnom/prometnom redarstvu, Informator, 
6527, 18 June 2018, available at: https://informator.hr/clanci/obveze-jedinica-lokalne-
samouprave-prema-zakonu-o-dlpgc (September 15, 2019). 
Korže, B. (2012) Sistemske podlage za opredelitev obsega javnih dobrin v tržno socialni 
državi, Proceedings of the 19th Days of Slovene Public Administration, September 20-
21, 2012, Ljubljana. 
Korže, B. (2014) Visokošolsko izobraževanje kot mešana javno-zasebna dobrina, Javna 
uprava, 50(3-4), pp. 5-26. 
Korže, B. (2015a) Regulatory reform of the public passenger transport system according 
to the European Union regulations, Zbornik Pravnog fakulteta u Zagrebu, 65(2), pp. 263-
280.  
Korže, B. (2015b) The Right of Displaced Inhabitants in Dispersed Settlements to Special 
Regulation of Accessibility to Public Passenger Road Transport Services, Podjetje in 
delo, 41(8), pp. 1623-1636. 
Korže, B. (2019) The Right of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises to Positive 
Discrimination in Free Market Competition, Danube: Law, Economics and Social Issues 
Review, 10 (4), p. 321-346, https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0017. 
Kranjc, J. (2002) Načelo enakosti: meje in možnosti, Javna uprava, 38(3), pp. 313-337. 
Kušej, G., Pavčnik, M., Perenič, A. (1989) Uvod v pravoznanstvo (Ljubljana, ČZ Uradni 
list RS). 
Lampe, R. (2010) Pravo človekovih pravic (Ljubljana: Uradni list). 
Mahnič, P. (2002) Enakost in enakopravnost, Javna uprava, 38(3), pp. 357-372. 
174 LEX LOCALIS - JOURNAL OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT 
B. Korže & I. Tucak: Justification of the Citizens’ Right of Access to Public 
Passenger Transport Services by the Human Rights to Mobility and Equality 
Before the Law 
 
Martens, K. (2017) Transport justice: designing fair transportation systems (New 
York/London: Routledge). 
Ministry of Infrastructure (2019) Odgovori na vprašalnik za preverjanje pravne ureditve v 
praksi (Ljubljana: Ministry of Infrastructure).  
Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds (n. d.) Poticanje otočnog javnog 
cestovnog prijevoza, available at: https://razvoj.gov.hr/o-ministarstvu/djelokrug-
1939/otoci/poticanje-otocnog-javnog-cestovnog-prijevoza/144 (September 15, 2019). 
Mudrić, M. (2018) Novi Zakon o prijevozu u cestovnom prometu i novi sustav uređenja 
autotaksi djelatnosti, Informator, 6540, 17 September 2018. available at: 
https://informator.hr/clanci/novi-zakon-o-prijevozu-u-cestovnom-prometu-i-novi-
dmkzs (October 12, 2019). 
Mužina, A. (1999) Aktualna vprašanja določitve in izvajanja lokalnih javnih služb, 5. dnevi 
javnega prava, 7–9 June 1999, Portorož.  
Ombudsperson for Persons with Disabilities (2018) Izvješće o radu Pravobranitelja za 
osobe s invaliditetom 2018, available at: 
http://posi.hr/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Izvje%C5%A1%C4%87e-o-radu-
Pravobranitelja-za-osobe-s-invaliditetom-za-2018.-godinu-1.pdf (October 10, 2019). 
Pauer-Studer, H. (2000) Autonom leben: Reflexionen űber Freiheit and Gleichheit 
(Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag). 
Pavčnik, M. (1991) Argumentacija v pravu (Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba). 
Pereira, R., Schwanen, T. & Banister, D. (2017) Distributive justice and equity in 
transportation, Transport Reviews, 37(2), pp. 170-191. 
Pišek, T. (2010) Pozitivna diskriminacija (Maribor: Faculty of Law in Maribor). 
Repas, M. (2010) Konkurenčno pravo v teoriji in praksi (Ljubljana: Uradni list RS). 
Schmid, T. (2008) Enakost in pravičnost: med seboj povezana pojma? Socialno delo 
47(1/2), pp. 65-85.  
Senf, B. (2004) Die blinden Flecken der Ökonomie (München: Gaucke Verlag). 
Social Work Study Centre of the Faculty of Law of Zagreb (2009, December) Socijalni 
položaj osoba s invaliditetom u Republici Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, available at: 
https://mdomsp.gov.hr/UserDocsImages/zgrbac/Socijalni-
polozaj_osoba_s_invaliditetom_u_Republici_Hrvatskoj.pdf (October 13, 2019). 
Solomon, J., Titheridge, H. (2009) Setting accessibility standard for social inclusion: some 
obstacles, Proceedings of the 41st Universities Transport Studies Group (UTSG) Annual 
Conference, 5-7 Jan 2009, London. 
Šadl, U. (2002) Izhodišča načela enakosti, Javna uprava, 38(2), pp. 395-410. 
Šturm, L. (ed.) (2002) Komentar Ustave Republike Slovenije (Ljubljana: Fakulteta za 
podiplomske državne in evropske študije).  
Šturm, L. (ed.) (2011) Komentar Ustave Republike Slovenije: dopolnitev – A (Kranj: 
Fakulteta za državne in evropske študije. 
Van Wee, B. & Geurs, K. T. (2011) Discussing equity and social exclusion in accessibility 
evaluations, European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research, 11(4), pp. 350–
367. 
Winston, M. E. (1989) The Philosophy of Human Rights (Belmont: Wadsworth 
Publishing).