Social dimensions to the public transport system in Kyiv

Olena Dronova

doi:10.7163/eu21.2020.39.1

Abstract

This paper focuses on distinctive features of accessibility, passenger flow and sustainability as regards public transport in Kyiv, Ukraine. In investigating the impacts of a transport system on city-dwellers a key concept is accessibility. The analysis included here identifies clear patterns to the individual factors that influence commuting time. Since the city’s system of public transport is underdeveloped, the main underlying factor is the presence of metro lines. An analysis of the metro passenger-traffic system confirms the persistent presence of territorial disparities in the city’s transport network. Furthermore, levels of safety, environmental friendliness and comfort experienced gain reflection in a low level of consumer confidence in the city’s transport system, as well as its limited sustainability. Priority measures by which the current situation might be improved are therefore discussed.

Highlights

In all countries, the sustainable and effective operations of systems of public transport represent key factors favouring harmonious socio-economic development
Kyiv has to manage without controls on traffic flow, with routes unregulated and non-integrated and with adjacent areas and public spaces transformed into car parks, to the detriment of the environment, and with expecting priority decisions to be taken by municipal authorities
Work on urban public transport as a mobility tool encouraged our adherence to the centre-periphery concept, with considerations of transport accessibility in Kyiv resting on the assumption that the city centre is important as a key location for core businesses and related activities and opportunities

Summary

Introduction

The sustainable and effective operations of systems of public transport represent key factors favouring harmonious socio-economic development. Transport systems in Ukrainian cities and elsewhere offer citizens from different places (including areas needing to be seen as “remote” for one reason or another) access to places of work and study, and to various services They act as a factor affecting the social, economic and environmental aspects of people’s lives. In the context of social-spatial exclusion these authors defined access as the ability to negotiate space and time so as to accomplish practices and maintain relations that people consider necessary for normal social participation (Cass et al, 2005) As they focus on public passenger transport, Geurs and van Wee (2004) define accessibility as the extent to which land-use and transport systems enable groups of individuals to reach activities or destinations by means of modes of transport (Geurs & van Wee, 2004). Kyiv has to manage without controls on traffic flow, with routes unregulated and non-integrated and with adjacent areas and public spaces transformed into car parks, to the detriment of the environment (e.g. thanks to pollution), and with expecting priority decisions to be taken by municipal authorities

Approaches and methods

Findings

Conclusion