The paper explores how the executive responded to public perceptions of the public transport crisis in Berlin (2009/2010). This paper analyses the Berlin Government’s regulatory response and explores to what extent this response reflects the public debate on the causes of S-Bahn crisis and corresponding solutions. The paper uses the theoretical framework of cultural theory. The public perception and debate of the crisis matters for how the regulatory response develops. In empirical terms, the paper uses media content analysis to map public perceptions regarding the causes and possible remedies of the crisis. A preliminary analysis suggests that regulatory responses are characterized by “hunting around” of the executive between different worldviews, which partly results from the failure of the executive’s strategy to blame the service provider.
