Comparative analysis of passenger transport sustainability in European cities

Abstract

Sustainable development in its three dimensions -economic, social and environmental -has become a major concern on an international scale. The problem is global, but must be solved locally. Most of the world's population lives in cities that act as centres of economic growth and productivity, but which -if they develop in the wrong direction -can cause social inequalities, or irreversibly harm the environment. Urban transport causes a number of negative impacts that can affect sustainability targets. The objective of this study is to propose an analysis of sustainability of urban passenger transport systems based on available indicators in most cities. This will serve to benchmark the practices of different cities and manage their transport systems. This work involves the creation of composite indicators (CI) to measure the sustainability of urban passenger transport systems. The methodology is applied to 23 European cities. The indicators are based on a benchmarking approach, and the evaluation of each aspect in each case therefore depends on the performance of the whole sample. The CI enabled us to identify which characteristics have the greatest influence on the sustainability of a city's transport system, and to establish transport policies that could potentially improve its shortcomings. Finally, the cities are clustered according to the values obtained from the CIs, and thus according to the weaknesses and strengths of their transport systems.

Impacts of the economic crisis on household transport expenditure and public transport policy: Evidence from the Spanish case

“…Some of the measures that were applied because of the crisis were intended to improve efficiency. They could therefore be appropriate even under normal conditions, in the absence of a crisis (Alonso et al, 2015). These measures generally target sustainability and the environment by reducing transport intensity and car dependency and by promoting public transport and bicycle use.…”

Analysis of destabilizing factors of internal sustainability of urban public passenger transport

“…У сучасних роботах [4][5][6], присвячених дослідженню сталості міського транспорту, акцентується увага на реалізації технічних заходів щодо зниження негативних наслідків його роботи (використання альтернативних транспортних засобів, удосконалення технічних засобів управління дорожнім рухом і т. п.).…”

Evaluation of Alternatives to Integrate Special Transportation Services for People with Movement Disorders

“…), incomes, origin/destination points, safety using the service, motorization level, inclusive service planning. The negative effects of PT (and transport in general) on the environment are as follows: the effect of vehicle carbon dioxide, CO2, emissions on climate change and the effect of other vehicle emissions that cause air pollution leading to negative health effects (Alonso et al, 2015). Environmental public transport sustainability indicators should be considered to decrease negative impact to the environment promoting public transport service and trying to attract all possible customers.…”