Reduce Car Usage Research Articles

The Influence of Ring Roads on Traffic Characteristics in Urban Cities

Constructing ring roads is a traditional approach to alleviating traffic congestion in urban areas and enhancing road capacity. However, this solution is frequently inefficient in the long run. This study investigates different strategies for managing traffic congestion in urban areas and evaluates their efficacy. The text examines three situations where various methods were employed to address traffic congestion issues. These strategies are categorized into three distinct categories. The initial concept encompasses substantial engineering interventions, such as the establishment of ring roads, the creation of new roadways, and the enlargement of preexisting roads. Many cities are implementing push-and-pull strategies to optimize existing capacities and promote environmentally friendly transportation alternatives, thereby reducing car usage. These strategies include promoting public transportation, cycling, and walking, as well as modifying urban land use patterns to minimize the need for people to travel. These methods are successful in delivering long-lasting transportation solutions. Nevertheless, more than push-pull strategies are needed to adequately address traffic congestion, necessitating extensive engineering interventions to expand road capacity, particularly in cases of severe traffic in urban areas. The integration of these methods is categorized as the third principle. The utilization of ring roads also gives rise to numerous novel challenges, particularly in metropolitan areas. The predominant issue lies in the unregulated expansion of houses (urban sprawl) and inadequate public transportation. The problems identified of significant magnitude include Interconnectivity between different regions, the point where ring roads intersect, accessibility to housing, settlement amenities, and social challenges. The study determined that the third concept to tackle traffic congestion could be the most efficient approach for constructing ring roads in urban areas. To address the difficulties involved in the construction and development of circular roads, it would be beneficial to establish an organization that facilitates coordination among all stakeholders involved in the development of ring roads right from the outset. Urban Planning Directorates at the governorate level are responsible for carrying out this work in urban cities. In addition, rigorous enforcement of laws is also crucial for achieving desired goal.

Social inequalities hamper pro-environmental mobility intentions in Europe

Promoting pro-environmental mobility, such as walking, cycling, reducing car usage, and using public transport, can improve population health and create sustainable environments. However, accessibility of resources and socioeconomic status, along with environmental awareness, can affect these behaviors. To explore the impact of socioeconomic status and resident place on awareness and active mobility, we analyzed data from the Eurobarometer 2019 survey (n = 27,498 individuals aged over 14 years) using structural equation modeling. We focused on the association between socioeconomic status (subjective social class, education, economic issues) and community size (rural, small urban, large urban areas) with pro-environmental awareness and intentions in the European Union. Pro-environmental awareness partially mediated the relationship between socioeconomic status and intentions for pro-environmental mobility, such as using car alternatives, reducing unnecessary car trips, and improving public transport. Socioeconomically disadvantaged groups (with low education, social class, and economic issues) reported lower awareness and intentions, while community size had minimal influence (0 < β < 0.1). Moreover, a social gradient in pro-environmental active mobility intentions was observed across European countries. These findings highlight the need for public health policies to address social and economic inequalities and promote environmental awareness to encourage alternative active mobility options among disadvantaged individuals.

A Review of the Promotion of Sustainable Mobility of Workers by Industries

The evolution and growth of cities present considerable challenges to the promotion of sustainable mobility, namely in commuting trips. In the present and recent past, many industries and companies of the economy’s productive sector have had to move as far as possible from urban areas, to minimize the impact of their activities on people’s health and quality of life. In more dispersed and low-density territories, working and residential areas are very far from each other, and there is typically poor public transport service and a lack of cycling networks for commuting purposes. This scenario encourages the use of private automobiles, not only as a necessity but also often as an obligation, making the mobility system nearly unsustainable. Therefore, it has become clear that companies can play an important role in promoting more sustainable mobility by reducing car use on commuting trips and by offering employees clean and more efficient transport alternatives to promote workers’ well-being and quality of life. Through an extensive literature review, a selection of scientific articles in the last 13 years was analyzed and discussed. The results highlighted that the location of industrial areas, the supply of public transport, the usage of active modes, and shared mobility systems are key factors to reduce car usage in workers’ commuting trips. Therefore, any sustainable mobility strategies that companies adopt will minimize the respective negative externalities, helping promote more environment-friendly ways of transportation, accessibility, social equity, and inclusion in workers’ communities. This justifies the need and urgency for the development of specific sustainable mobility plans oriented for companies/industries, instead of addressing this as just another element of a conventional urban mobility plan. Since this mobility represents a high volume of trips, repeated according to very regular patterns, it must be sustainability-oriented, allowing the improvement of system, trip, and vehicle efficiency.

Exploring the aspects of MaaS adoption based on college students’ preferences

Mobility as a Service (MaaS) aims to provide a seamless mobility solution by combining several transport services into a single platform. The research on MaaS is rapidly evolving, but so far limited attention has been paid to some of its features. In this study, the aspects related to MaaS are collected, and latent variables are analyzed based on a survey conducted among college students. Structural equation modeling (SEM) is applied to identify the relation between the aspects of MaaS packages, the intention to adopt MaaS, and the attitudinal variables. It turns out that young users prefer to receive a wide range of routing-related information, but environmental and health effects are not among the most wanted factors. The participants are mostly interested in using application platforms for booking, paying by bank card online, and using QR codes for ticketing. The results show that technology readiness is closely linked with user preferences. Furthermore, it is highlighted that those respondents who choose advanced aspects are more inclined to adopt MaaS. However, it seems that users are not willing to reduce car usage because of using MaaS. The findings are useful for MaaS operators when developing MaaS applications since based on the travelers’ perspectives, the potential adoption of a MaaS application can be maximized.

Densification of single and two-family houses considering green space and mobility

The question of future energy-efficient creation of living space is becoming more and more important in many cities due to limited space availability and simultaneously increasing settlement pressure. Against the background of the desired space, resource and energy efficiency, cities are steadily-focusing on internal development and densification. In order to encourage a sustainable urban development, the existing densification potentials need to be mobilized by addressing the owners directly, to convince them for the measures to mobilize the given potentials. Therefore innovative GIS methods and databases are used within the research projects “BONSEI!” and “BONUS” in order to detect these potentials. Following is a gradually constructive consultation that helps house owners, depending on their needs and wishes, to find potential construction actions to increase the living space within their parcel. The research project “BONUS” further tackles problems and concerns, which come with densification, by maintaining high quality green spaces and at the same increase the usage of sustainable forms of mobility and try to reduce car usage within the districts.

Cars in Latin America: An exploration of the urban landscape and street network correlates of motorization in 300 cities

Car use creates significant externalities for urban residents worldwide. City characteristics such as the configuration of the urban landscape and street network likely influence the use and attractiveness of automobiles, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas such as Latin America. The understanding of factors associated with motorization can inform planning measures to reduce car usage, and to promote healthier, safer, and more sustainable urban lifestyles. We harmonized official passenger vehicle data from 300 cities with >100,000 inhabitants in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, and we calculated urban landscape metrics from satellite imagery and street network metrics from OpenStreetMaps. Analyzed cities had an average of 273.3 cars per 1,000 residents in 2015 and showed an average car rate increase of 30 % between 2010 and 2015. We used negative binomial regression to examine the association between car rates and urban landscape and street network characteristics, and linear regression to examine the association between the same characteristics and car rate increases. Car rates in the 300 cities analyzed showed a partial positive association with development fragmentation, and a consistent positive association with urban form complexity and circuity of the street network. In addition, the increase in car rates between 2010 and 2015 showed a negative association with population density. Implementing regional policies to reduce development fragmentation, to promote compact urban forms and less circuitous street networks may help reducing motorization in Latin American cities. Special attention needs to be paid to low density areas, where the increase in vehicle rates has been more pronounced.

Equity implications of electric bikesharing in Philadelphia.

Bikesharing is an affordable mode of transportation and a potential tool to reduce car usage in cities. However, in many cities, bikesharing seems to be used mostly by affluent populations. Indego, Philadelphia’s bikeshare, embraced the promotion of equity as part of its primary goals. While previous measures were not adequate for that cause, Indego decided to integrate e-bikes into its system to promote usage among current non-users. In this study, I examine how the integration of e-bikes influences Indego’s usage in disadvantaged areas. For that purpose, I combined official publicly available data using spatial analysis methods. Furthermore, I used random forest and spatial negative binomial regression to examine factors associated with shared bicycle and e-bike usage in Philadelphia. The findings show that e-bikes increase the overall usage of Indego, specifically in disadvantaged areas. In these regions, the users use shared e-bikes for commute, leisure, and other utilitarian purposes, while in the rest of the city, users use e-bikes mainly for commuting. I conclude that the integration of e-bikes was successful in promoting bikesharing usage in disadvantaged areas.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Transport Modes and Mobility Behavior: Analysis of Public Discourse in Twitter.

This study proposes a framework to analyze public discourse in Twitter to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on transport modes and mobility behavior. It also identifies reopening challenges and potential reopening strategies that are discussed by the public. First, the study collects 15,776 tweets that relate to personal opinions on transportation services posted between May 15 and June 15, 2020. Next, it applies text mining and topic modeling techniques to the tweets to determine the prominent themes, terms, and topics in those discussions to understand public feelings, behavior, and broader sentiments about the changes brought about by COVID-19 on transportation systems. Results reveal that people are avoiding public transport and shifting to using private car, bicycle, or walking. Bicycle sales have increased remarkably but car sales have declined. Cycling and walking, telecommuting, and online schools are identified as possible solutions to COVID-19 mobility problems and to reduce car usage with an aim to tackle traffic congestion in the post-pandemic world. People appreciated government decisions for funding allocation to public transport, and asked for the reshaping, restoring, and safe reopening of transit systems. Protecting transit workers, riders, shop customers and staff, and office employees is identified as a crucial reopening challenge, whereas mask wearing, phased reopening, and social distancing are proposed as effective reopening strategies. This framework can be used as a tool by decision makers to enable a holistic understanding of public opinions on transportation services during COVID-19 and formulate policies for a safe reopening.

Factors affecting bike-sharing system demand by inferred trip purpose: Integration of clustering of travel patterns and geospatial data analysis

Cycling is a sustainable form of transportation that can reduce car usage and benefit both individuals and society. Bike-sharing systems (BSSs) help to position cycling as a daily transportation option and have been widely established in many countries. Previous studies have investigated the association between urban environmental factors and BSSs’ demand to promote the broader use of BSSs and determine whether demand is affected by various factors. However, research on the effects of the urban environment on BSS demand according to the trip purpose (e.g., commuting and leisure) is rare due to the difficulty in understanding users’ trip purposes. In this regard, recent advancements in big data technologies make massive BSSs trip data available to the public, which is useful for in-depth analyzing BSS travel patterns and inferring the trip purposes. This study thus analyzes to what extent demand is affected by urban environmental factors for different trip purposes, focusing on Seoul Bike, through the integration of clustering users’ travel patterns and analyzing geospatial data affecting demand. By observing trip data, BSS trips were clustered into short-distance travel for utilitarian purposes and longer-distance roaming for recreational purposes. The utilitarian trips were more affected by the large floating population and high land-use mix, and they were more concentrated during the rush hours in the crowded areas, while the leisure trips were more concentrated in secluded residential areas and were close to the waterfront. This study can contribute to establishing plans to increase the demand for and optimize the operation of BSSs.

Modeling car ownership and use in a developing country context with informal public transportation

Car ownership and use is a main contributor to the deterioration of air quality in cities and to global warming. There is thus a pressing need to understand their determinants in this era of increasing demand for mobility. This paper studies car ownership and use decisions in a car-dominant developing country context, and quantifies the effect of public transportation availability on these decisions. A discrete–continuous modeling framework that estimates car ownership and use simultaneously is presented. People’s latent attitudes towards public transportation and the private car are also assumed to influence these decisions. The model is applied to the case of Lebanon, a developing country characterized by a high car ownership rate, a high percentage of trips made by car, and an informal public transportation system. Five policy scenarios involving potential improvements to the public transportation system, land use densification, or increase in fuel taxes were tested. The findings show that the current public transportation accessibility level has a minor impact on car ownership, but none on car usage. Only if major improvements to the public transportation services are enacted would a decrease in car ownership and usage be achieved. In such a case, model outcomes show that car ownership will be reduced in households with two cars by 5.88% and usage in general will be reduced by 15.22%. As a result, emissions and fuel consumption will be reduced by around 15%. Densification of zones outside Municipal Beirut is also a promising strategy for reducing car usage.

Cycling as a means to improve the health and Wellbeing of both locals and visitors of national parks

ABSTRACT The cause of numerous illnesses are obesity, anxiety, and hypertension. Physical activity reduces the higher risks of factors associated with various cardiovascular diseases. Cycling is a prominent type of physical activity. Locals, as well as visitors, can perform cycling. It is important to motivate locals and visitors coming to National Parks to reduce car usage and enhance bike usage; this can be achieved by highlighting the associated health benefits and reduced risk of diseases. Past research has identified many methods to promote cycling usage by highlighting its advantages, such as reducing the effect of multiple diseases e.g. all-cause mortality, cancer mortality, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity morbidity. This research, via literature review, identifies the health and wellbeing benefits. Additionally, it proposes a few strategies (healthy streets, kilometre allowances, and cycle superhighways), along with an implementation approach, to promote cycling within and around National Parks.

Delivering the goods: executing sustainable transport policy through urban planning in Merseyside (2001–2010)

ABSTRACT Integrating transport and land use policies is a key objective in pursuing sustainable transport strategies seeking to reduce car usage. Such integration is taxing as the two developed into separate disciplines with differing cultures. These issues come to the fore during planning execution: the implementation of sustainable transport policies through the planning system. Such implementation processes prove complex and concern fit between policy intervention and practice context. In this paper, we explore these implementation issues using an integration framework employed on a longitudinal case study of Merseyside during the twenty-first century’s first decade.

Investigating the interconnectedness of active transportation and public transit usage as a primer for Mobility-as-a-Service adoption and deployment

BackgroundWith the advent of Mobility-as-a-Service packages to reduce car usage and (by extension) greenhouse gas emissions, it is crucial that researchers and practitioners consider mutual determinants and outcomes that link the adoption of multiple alternative modes. This study therefore investigates the joint usage of active travel (walking, cycling, bike-sharing) and public transit (bus, rail) modes with respect to personal and situational contexts. MethodsOnline survey data (n = 826) were collected across six Midwestern U.S. states using Amazon MTurk. Respondents indicated their average weekly usage of eight travel modes across three trip purposes so that multimodality could be assessed. Several psychological constructs were extracted via (a) the stages of change framework, used to indicate willingness to adopt new behavior, and (b) confirmatory factor analysis conducted on Likert scales rooted in theories of community, identity, norms, personality, and well-being. A multiple-indicators multiple-causes structural equation model is then employed to investigate the process of adopting a modality style that incorporates active and transit modes. ResultsThe model confirms that compatible physical and social contexts, as well as navigational skills and openness to learning, are key primers of multimodalism. However, a path juncture stemming from neighborhood support for mobility innovation illustrates a potential polarity in outcomes between individuals and communities. In addition, the stage of active mobility adoption is linked to identity and norm activation, offering further guidance on what influences readiness for change. ConclusionsThe seamless integration of mobility services is critical to matching the convenience and comfort of the private vehicle; understanding potential pathways to sustainable mobility, though, requires analyses and interventions that are driven by well-being outcomes and grounded in rigorous psychological frameworks. The research findings offer practical guidance for identifying intervention opportunities to be linked with MaaS enrollment while demonstrating the need to illuminate how mobility might relate to social cohesion, identity expression, and various sources of satisfaction.

Spatial associations of dockless shared e-scooter usage

In this study, we explore the usage of e-scooter sharing services in Austin, Texas over about a six-month period. The study is based on trip records of all the shared e-scooter operators in Austin and includes trip start and end locations. We use both analysis of trip patterns and spatial regression techniques to examine how the built environment, land use, and demographics affect e-scooter trip generation. Our findings show that people use e-scooters almost exclusively in central Austin. Commuting does not seem to be the main trip purpose, and usage of e-scooters is associated with areas with high employment rates, and in areas with bicycle infrastructure. People use e-scooter sharing regardless of the affluence of the neighborhood, although less affluent areas with high usage rates have large student populations, suggesting that students use this mode of travel. Implications for planners suggest that better bicycle infrastructure will facilitate e-scooter usage, college towns are a ready market for e-scooter sharing services, and e-scooters may be a substitute for some short non-work trips, reducing car usage, and benefiting the environment.

What are the factors and needs promoting mobility-as-a-service? Findings from the Swiss Household Energy Demand Survey (SHEDS)

Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is a service that supports customers’ transportation needs by providing information and ticketing for a multitude of transport modes in one interface; thus, buy potentially fostering multimodality and public transport, it represents an important lever to reduce negative transportation impacts such as emissions and congestion. By means of an online survey conducted in Switzerland, we try to understand potential user needs as well as factors that would motivate the use of MaaS. Comparing the openness to use MaaS for specific trip purposes like commuting and leisure activities, we find the lowest level of openness for commuting and the highest for weekend leisure trips. Intention to reduce car usage was positively related to openness to MaaS in commuting. On the other hand, factors that positively influence openness to using MaaS for leisure activities include a higher education degree, experience with carsharing and the use of transport-related climate policy announcements directly affecting consumers. These findings suggest focusing specifically on either commuting or leisure activities when designing policy measures.

Malaysian Urban Residents’ Readiness to Reduce Car Usage and their Perception on Non-Motorised Facilities.

The research in this paper tries to establish the readiness of urban residents’ in Malaysia to minimize the car usage and their inclination to use non-motorised transport, such as cycling and walking, as alternatives to using a car for commuting. This study also tries to measure the perception of the residents regarding the existing scenario of walking and cycling infrastructure facilities provided in their cities. The data used in the study was collected through a survey in three cities, namely-Shah Alam, Batu Pahat, and Putrajaya, as a representation of the main cities in Malaysia. The results produced suggested- the majority of the population was not ready to give up travelling via car and take up cycling and walking in lieu of it. The causes listed for “refusal” of reducing the car usage included hot weather, surrounding safety concerns and undesirable pedestrian and cycling infrastructure conditions. The research explored that attitude, lifestyle and high level of dependency on cars are crucial factors dictating the travel behaviour, which is the reason why residents refuse to shift to sustainable and environment friendly options of travel. The research also suggests that these three cities need to improve and uplift their walking and cycling infrastructure facilities, especially in terms of provision of cover and shade, connectivity, design and maintenance and cleanliness to motivate the urban residents to minimize usage of the cars and take up walking and cycling instead.

Mobility management at Politecnico di Milano: New infrastructures and behavioural change

Transportation has significant and long lasting economic, social and environmental impacts, making it one of the main challenges to be addressed by policy makers, public managers and scholars worldwide. For Universities, students and staff transportation represents one of the largest impacts on the environment and society, since in many cases it represent a noticeable share of urban traffic. A wide literature is available on the policies that support reducing car usage and improve the environmental and social sustainability of commuting to University. This paper presents the situation in the Politecnico di Milano, recorded through mobility surveys carried out in 2015 and 2017 to investigate the key issues and design possible solutions. The aim of this study is to share the set of actions and activities planned to improve the current mobility patterns of the Politecnico di Milano in favour of more sustainable means of transport. The main strategies will be the redesign of the campuses and the new infrastructure to be installed, together with the promotion of sustainable behaviours among the whole University population thanks to various activities in the framework of the ‘Città Studi Campus Sostenibile’ initiative. A special mention will be given to the ‘Vivi.Polimi’ project, which aims to improve the liveability of the Politecnico spaces, and which will give sustainable mobility a new impulse. Indeed, the planned measures include the reduction of the parking spaces inside the historical main campus while providing new infrastructure targeted at the promotion of alternative means of transport, like increasing the number of bike shelters to encourage active mobility or installing new charging stations for electric cars.

Sustainable energy opportunities in localised food production and transportation: A case study of bread in the UK

Re-distributed manufacturing (RDM) is of high economic and political interest and is associated with rapid technological, environmental, political, regulatory and social changes in the UK. RDM of food raises opportunities and questions around the local nexus of food, energy and water. Considering these together can provide opportunities for rationalising resource utilisation, production, and consumption while contributing to shared prosperity between business, society and natural ecosystems. This paper concentrates on the energy–food aspects of the nexus for RDM by focusing on the case study of bread manufacturing and transportation in the UK. A detailed analysis of the energy requirements and environmental impacts of centralised bread production and transportation compared with localised options for re-distributed bread manufacturing is undertaken. This is achieved by building on existing literature and developing a series of bread-energy system configurations to model energy usage and green-house gas (GHG) emissions at the large (centralised), medium and small scales.Results from the analysis indicate that energy use and emissions can in some instances increase as a result of losing economies of scale through downscaling bread manufacturing. However, the analysis shows that overall energy use and emissions along the bread supply chain are dominated by transportation stages. Thus, RDM opens up new opportunities for reductions in overall energy consumption and emissions, for example by using low carbon vehicles for the transportation of bread and flour at the medium and small scales. Major energy use and emission reductions could also be achieved by reducing car usage if more consumers buy in local bakeries.The configurations also consider energy use for various bread wastage conditions. Assuming that buying more frequently in local bakeries only the bread that is consumed helps avoiding bread wastage, this would lead to reduced bread purchasing and bread manufacturing, which translates to reductions in energy use and emissions in the modelled configurations.Existing data demonstrate that there is a wide diversity across different manufacturing sites in the energy use and associated emissions per loaf of bread produced. The study highlights the opportunities for improvement in the sector if plant move towards the best available manufacturing technologies and practices, and this may be more practical for smaller scale operations. Two hypothetical bread production scenarios show that a greater share of the UK’s bread being produced locally could result in a reduction in overall energy consumption and emissions.

Views on Public Transport and How Personal Experiences Can Contribute to a More Positive Attitude and Behavioural Change

To reduce car usage, several strategies are needed, one of which focuses on social psychological factors. The aim of this study was to predict and explain bus usage using the theory of planned behaviour and the transtheoretical model of change in a sample of 983 residents. The study also evaluated the effect of providing a group of regular car users (n = 34) with a free travel pass, to be used on busses and trains in the region. A regression analysis showed that the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) explained 26% of the variance in intention to use the bus, increasing to 59% when past behaviour was added. The use of the free travel pass resulted in a more positive attitude towards bus usage, with a large number having either changed or having started to change their behaviour. When the same people were contacted three months later, 50% still used public transport. The conclusion is that negative attitudes and travel habits can be altered by experience. Although, a reduction of car use can only be achieved if several measures are implemented that make car driving less attractive and sustainable modes of transport more attractive.

Public Awareness towards Sustainable Transportation in Shah Alam, Malaysia

This paper studied the awareness of an urban population to use sustainable vehicles and their readiness to reduce car usage. Data were collected through a survey of 384 vehicle users in Shah Alam, Selangor. Results suggested that the majority were not ready to consider cycling and walking as alternatives. About to environmental awareness, the majority showed their awareness of the dangers of motor vehicles towards the environment. However, they refused to use more sustainable mode oftravelling. Among other reasons provided as “refusal” regarding of sustainable vehicles,applicationwas hot weather, surrounding safety factor and inefficient public transport services.Keywords: Sustainable vehicles; environmental awareness, travel behavioureISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning &amp; Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. http://dx.doi.org/10.21834/ajbes.v3i11.109