Transport and communication in municipalities and county authorities, 2003

NOK 50 million of the total increase in gross working expenses were used on the provincial roads, and NOK 480 million was used on the commercial modes of transport.

A gross working expense of NOK 1,470 per inhabitant were spent by the "average county" in the transport and communication sector in 2003. The span was from 650 kroner in both Vestfold and Østfold to 3,185 in Sogn og Fjordane.

Low production

NOK 5.0 billion of the total gross working expenses in the counties was used on purchasing services from the transport operators in 2003, an increase from 2002 of NOK 400 million. NOK 2.9 billion were used in gaining services from the scheduled bus transport operators, compared to NOK 2.6 billion in 2002. Little more than NOK 830 million was used on suburban railways and urban tramways. This was an increase of 11 per cent from 2002.

A little decline in the number of passengers

Exclusive transport by rail, 388 million passengers were transported by commercial modes of transport in 2003 compared to 385 million in 2002. Most of these travels were in Oslo and the fewest were in Finnmark, with 156 million and three million travels respectively. Also measured by the number of travels per inhabitants, Oslo was the dominating county with 298 travels per inhabitant in 2003, a decline from 307 in 2002. The average figure for the country as a whole constituted 85 travels, i.e. almost one travel every fourth day.

63,000 kroner per kilometre provincial road

Nordland was the county with the highest gross working expenses with NOK 189 million to the provincial roads in 2003, an increase of 10 million from 2002. NOK 73,000 made up the working expenses per kilometre provincial road in Nordland compared with the average figure for the country of NOK 63,000 kroner. Akershus was on top with NOK 91,000 in gross working expenses per kilometre provincial road in 2003. The lowest figure per kilometre road was in Hedmark with NOK 39, 000 used in 2003.

NOK 370 per inhabitant

Measured per inhabitant the counties' total gross working expenses to the provincial roads constituted on average NOK 370 in 2003. Sogn og Fjordane was the county with the highest amount, NOK 1,064. The lowest expenses were in Østfold and Akershus, NOK 168 and 208 respectively per inhabitant.

Decline in investments to the provincial roads

NOK 744 million were the total gross investments in the provincial roads in 2003. This amount was on same level as 2001, but was a decline from 2002 of 11 per cent. The most extensive investments in 2003 were carried out in Rogaland with NOK 74 million kroner.

Local roads

The total gross working expenses in all municipalities in the transport and communication sector constituted NOK 3.2 billion in 2003, an increase of about NOK 40 million from 2002. 95 per cent of these expenses were spent on the local roads. The total gross investments in the road sector come to NOK 1.7 billion in 2003, an increase by almost NOK 160 million from 2002.

The municipalities are responsible for the illumination along the national and provincial roads in addition to the illumination along the local road. NOK 502 million were spent on illuminating these roads, an increase in expenditures of four per cent from 2002.

Almost 11 800 kilometres, or 31 per cent of the local roads, had a speed limit of 40 km/hour or less. The number of marked parking places in connection to main roads into a town constituted 19,000 in 2003.

The figures presented in this article represent only a small contribution of the statistics in the area of transport and communication statistics. More details can be found on http://www.ssb.no/kostra .

Tables:

• Table 1 The transport and communication sector. Some main and key figures, by county. 2003