Sustainable Transport Policy Research Articles

How Does Transport Policy Cope with Climate Challenges? Experiences from the UK and Other European Countries

Transport is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Some European countries have adopted comprehensive “sustainable transport” policies, in which climate change is addressed. This paper looks into how sustainable transport policy frameworks deal with climate change challenges in three countries: the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. In particular, the focus is on the role of follow-up and monitoring systems to keep the policies on track. For the United Kingdom, a critical analysis is made of strengths and weaknesses of the policy monitoring regime. The analysis shows that the monitoring approach, while ambitious, has suffered some deficits that may have weakened the role of the high-level strategies. Current efforts to strengthen the system are discussed.

Selling sustainable mobility: The reporting of the Manchester Transport Innovation Fund bid in UK media

This paper examines how complex transport projects are reported in the media using the Transport Innovation Fund bid for Greater Manchester as a case study. It demonstrates how projects are simplified and distorted in the media in a systematic way. Such distortion is explained by a scheme’s perceived newsworthiness, its complexity and the contemporary nature of news media production. The paper has implications for future research in this area and the implementation of sustainable transport policy. It urges transport professionals to both better understand, and engage directly with, the media if they are to maximise the benefits of efforts to shape travel behaviour.

Reforming the Air Passenger Duty as an Environmental Tax

In light of the UK Coalition Government's announced intention to reform Air Passenger Duty, this article examines the design flaws which render it an inadequate environmental tax. By identifying the misconceived consequences and environmental inefficiencies of this blunt instrument, the need for reform is shown to be overdue. Specific reform proposals are set out for a per-plane tax able to affect behaviour in a manner more closely linked to environmental objectives, including the UK's sustainable transport policy.

Sustainable Urban Transport in Pakistan: An Institutional Analysis

The study of transport institutions in Pakistan indicates that transport solutions are primarily a matter of the export of knowledge from the developed to the developing world, mainly driven by international development institutions. This transfer results in a mismatch of transport policy with local needs. The aim of this article is to explain this mismatch in urban transport capacity in Pakistan. By applying the theoretical framework of path dependence, the article explores how urban transport solutions in Lahore become locked-in over time as a result of weak institutional capacities in local institutions. The article concludes that the institutional field in path dependence requires full treatment for institutional change to occur in order to develop sustainable urban transport policies in Pakistan.

Understanding Transport Demand Management and Its Role in Delivery of Sustainable Urban Transport

Outdated notions of transport demand management (TDM) as a collection of vaguely related initiatives are constraining the true potential of the concept. This paper explains how TDM is far more effective when it is framed as a philosophical approach that in time is likely to become a cornerstone of sustainable urban transport systems. A new paradigm internationally recognized as TDM is emerging in transport planning. This new paradigm embraces under its umbrella concepts commonly referred to as mobility management, smarter choices, and active travel management. Transport professionals worldwide have been collaborating to update the understanding of TDM as a philosophy that underpins the approach to improving the sustainability of transport. A review of TDM internationally demonstrated the importance of combining a number of key aspects to an effective strategy. Key to the successful transfer of sustainable urban transport policies is integrating the TDM philosophy into urban transport planning, as well as the daily management and operation of transport services and infrastructure. The paper presents a powerful policy tool developed to assist with this process of integration, the Mobility Enhancement and Trip Reduction Index to Aid Comparison (METRIC). METRIC is used internationally to benchmark comparative progress on the implementation of TDM.

Traffic Control: Current Systems and Future Vision of Cities

This paper summarises the results from a questionnaire-based survey and follow-up discussions with traffic operations staff of various cities in the world. The questionnaire asked cities about their currently employed control systems as well as about their organization’s vision for the future. Data collected include details on traffic management techniques employed, if network monitoring is carried out and if yes, how, as well as about details on the traffic control centre itself. Efforts were further made to collect data on the city background such as population density, modal share and traffic safety which forms the basis to understand why particular solutions were chosen. The answers demonstrate some issues with definitions which are believed to exist not just in our data set but in many of the commonly referred to statistics. The results further show differences between cities as well as common issues and problems that need innovative solutions in the future for sustainable transportation policies. As several cities are currently in the process of defining longer-term strategic plans with similar goals the paper proposes that development of comparable evaluation measures helps municipal traffic managers to better select between available technical solutions.

The impact of governance modes on sustainable transport – the case of bus transport in Greater Manchester, UK

'Sustainable transport' has become a priority for transport planning and policy making around the world. Sustainable transport plans often promote efforts to shift passengers from private cars to other modes such as public transport. However, the actual success of such efforts is likely to depend on how the transport sector is organised and governed. In this paper, we study the impacts of new public management (NPM) reforms in the British local transport sector on the attraction of passengers to buses. Britain is an interesting example since high level sustainable transport policies have been pursued in a deregulated context. We focus on bus transport in Greater Manchester as the case in point. First, we study the effects of the NPM reforms on modal shift. We find that the reforms generally have contributed to a decline in bus passengers, while some reform elements have made positive contributions. Second, we apply theoretical notions of 'governance modes', to examine whether the strengths and failures of 'market', 'hierarchy' and 'network' governance respectively can help to explain the results we observe. We find that these concepts are particularly useful to clarify the conditions under which public transport can attract travellers.

Environmental Efficiency Model Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and Its Application to Environmentally Sustainable Transport Policies

To realize environmentally sustainable transport (EST), it becomes more and more important to reduce the environmental load from the transport sector while maintaining the level of mobility. Because mobility policies often conflict with environmental ones, policy decision makers need to find a way to solve the exclusiveness between these two policies. This study attempts to apply the concept of ecoefficiency, originally proposed by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, to tackle the dilemma between urban mobility and environmental load in cities in both developed and developing countries. This study proposes a new model, the environmental efficiency (EE) model, which expands the concept of the data envelopment analysis cost-efficiency model. This new model aims to measure the efficiency of energy consumption at a given level of mobility in each transport system by incorporating some feasible conditions. In addition, the model can find multiple sets of frontier cities that are the most efficient among homogeneously developed cities. Consequently, the proposed method contributes to providing each city with a feasible transport energy consumption goal. Moreover, a panel analysis was carried out to examine temporal changes in environmental efficiency. Finally, the effects of some EST policies implemented to raise efficiency are simulated on the basis of the EE model, including modal shifts in a city, technological innovations to improve the intensity of energy consumption in cities, and the emissions trading scheme between cities in developing and developed countries. The method is confirmed to be a useful tool for the establishment of more plausible targets for transport energy-saving policies.

The role of land use and psycho-social factors in high density residents' work travel mode choices: implications for sustainable transport policy

Imperatives to improve the sustainability of cities often hinge upon plans to increase urban residential density to facilitate greater reliance on sustainable forms of transport and minimise car use. However there is ongoing debate about whether high residential density land use in isolation results in sustainable transport outcomes. Findings from surveys with residents of inner-urban high density dwellings in Brisbane, Australia, suggest that solo car travel accounts for the greatest modal share of typical work journeys and attitudes toward dwelling and neighbourhood transport-related features, residential sorting factors and socio-demographics, alongside land use such as public transport availability, are significantly associated with work travel mode choice. We discuss the implications of our findings for transport policy and management including encouraging relatively sustainable intermodal forms of transport for work journeys.

Achieving Sustainable Mobility in Developing Countries: Suggestions for a Post-2012 Agreement

In December 2009, countries meet in Copenhagen to establish a new global climate agreement. This article links the need for reducing transport-related greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries with the current international climate negotiations. Arguing that a sustainable transport approach requires comprehensive policy packages, it assesses the suitability of current climate negotiation proposals in promoting sustainable transport. The project-based approach under the current climate regime incentivises neither comprehensive sustainable transport and mobility policies, nor sufficient numbers of local projects. Current proposals to increase efforts by developing countries, to reform the Clean Development Mechanism, and to create new emission trading mechanisms are promising but still have to overcome several obstacles. One obstacle involves how to properly assess the impact of actions while maintaining streamlined procedures. The authors conclude from their analysis that the best way forward would be to establish an international mitigation fund with a dedicated transport window financed by industrialised countries. This fund would enable developing countries to implement national policies and local projects. Developing countries would outline low-carbon development strategies, including a sectoral strategy for low-carbon transport.

Durabilité et subsidiarité : un conflit de principes au sein de la politique commune des transports ?

Dans son Examen à mi-parcours du livre blanc publié en 2006, la Commission européenne estime que la réalisation d’une politique durable des transports au sein de l’Union passe par l’adoption « d’une panoplie plus vaste et plus souple d’instruments d’action » 3 . Parmi ces instruments figure le principe de subsidiarité, qui consiste à remettre à l’échelon le plus pertinent les décisions dans les domaines, comme celui du transport, où l’Union européenne partage des compétences avec les États membres de l’Union. Mais, parce qu’il a une formulation ambiguë, ce principe peut être vu comme un moyen soit de limiter le pouvoir décisionnel de l’échelon communautaire dans les domaines de compétence partagée par rapport aux échelons national, régional ou local, soit d’accroître ce même pouvoir. Or, dans un cas comme dans l’autre, la question de la compatibilité entre la subsidiarité et la durabilité se pose. En effet, d’un côté, on peut douter de la capacité des échelons situés en dessous de l’échelon communautaire à disposer de la vue globale et à long terme que requiert la mise en place d’une politique durable des transports ; de l’autre, on peut s’interroger sur l’aptitude de l’Union à prendre de manière totalement désintéressée des décisions qui engagent le bien-être de ses concitoyens.

Exploring senior officials’ policy beliefs regarding sustainable transportation

This study examines the policy beliefs of officials involved in developing and implementing sustainable transportation policies. It is found that officials tend to have stronger beliefs in the success of policies that impact less on personal freedoms of the public, and in particular, in policies that attract public support than force options upon them. It was also found that policy beliefs are positively related to officials’ seniority.

Enhancing Appraisal Methods to Support Sustainable Transport and Land Use Policies

This paper reports on the results of the part of the DISTILLATE programme which looked at the process of appraisal and how this affects UK local authorities. Initial surveys suggested that local authorities were concerned that formal appraisal methods represented a barrier to the implementation of more sustainable land use and transport schemes. Their concerns included some of the technical aspects of appraisal and the weight given to some elements, the applicability of techniques to small schemes and some types of measure as well as the ability to assess the distributional impacts of proposals. Responding to these concerns, the project looked in more detail at the reasons for these concerns and at the use of appraisal within the political process of decision making. It developed a simple, transparent technique for analysing small schemes and two methods for assessing the distributional impacts of proposals, both on individuals and agencies. Finally it developed guidance from first principles on the specification of appraisal processes.

Improved Partnership Working for Local Authority Transport Planning

Diverse perspectives need to be brought together to facilitate the organisational delivery of more sustainable transport plans and policies. This necessitates close-working partnerships and good cross-sector learning. This paper looks at the rationales for design of, and anticipated roles for, two tools to assist this process: one a guide to cross-sector and intra-organisational partnership working written specifically for local authority transport practitioners; and the other an online framework within which practitioners can better identify and utilise other products from the research programme. Whilst grounded in UK research and experience, the lessons learned are generic to the European context. The paper also investigates the success of DISTILLATE’s own interdisciplinary approach and relates this to the literature, in particularly to the idea of ‘double loop learning’ by which individuals and organisations (research and practitioner) can acquire the new knowledge necessary to make the step-change towards more sustainable transport systems and practices. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of this for supporting decision-making more widely in the field of transport and infrastructure.

Integrating Sustainable Transport Measures into the Clean Development Mechanism

While the number of projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is expanding rapidly, there currently are relatively few transport projects in the global CDM portfolio. This article examines existing CDM transport projects and explores whether sectoral approaches to the CDM may provide a better framework for transport than the current project‐based CDM. We ask: Would a sectoral approach to the CDM promote the structural change and integrated policymaking needed to achieve sustainable transport policy, making it hence more desirable than the framework of the current project‐based CDM? We conclude that it is possible to design sectoral transport activities within clear project boundaries that fit into a framework of a programmatic or policy‐based CDM. Although we are able to ascertain that transport policy research yields several modelling tools to address the methodological requirements of the CDM, it becomes apparent that sectoral approaches will accentuate transport projects’ problems regarding high complexity and related uncertainties. The CDM may need new rules to manage these risks. Nonetheless, sectoral approaches allow the scaling up of activities to a level that affects long‐term structural change.

A Sustainable Transport System and Travel Choice Adaptation of the Disadvantaged in Hong Kong

This paper investigates the interactions between the coping travel behaviour of the disadvantaged and policies for a sustainable transport system in Hong Kong. The concepts of quality of life, a sustainable transport system and coping behaviour are reviewed. The construction of an effective sustainable transport system depends on transport policy makers understanding individual travel behaviour and providing a wide range of adaptation choices to help individuals to overcome mobility constraints. In-depth interviews were conducted in 1996 to ascertain the travel behaviour of the disadvantaged, the results of which indicate that to cope with socio-economic and land-use constraints, the respondents choose opportunities that are in close proximity to living neighbourhoods, taking cheaper slower transport modes and using nonmortorised modes to non-work activities, working women chose employment opportunities that close home to care for children. Some respondents remained in long-term unemployment rather than seeking distant employment to save travel costs. The results should help the government to formulate sustainable transport policies for Hong Kong.

Sustainable local land use policy: rhetoric and reality

This study examined trends in population redistribution and residential land use changes in northeast Scotland during 1988 to 2003. We utilised a geographical information system (GIS) tool to bring together data from interrelated sources and to analyse population settlement and land use changes at detailed spatial scale. This analysis revealed that substantial land conversion had taken place in the region; particularly conversion of agricultural lands to built-up and residential areas. It also drew attention to policy conflicts, discrepancies between policy rhetoric and policy implementations. More specifically, it was shown that substantial farm land conversion had taken place in suburban areas and rural Aberdeenshire with little change in the size of derelict land in Aberdeen City. The reason given for this was that it was costly to rehabilitate and reuse derelict lands and this conflicted with the objective of providing affordable housing in the City region. The implication of this study is that if the declared policy objectives of integrated and sustainable land use and transport policies are to be achieved, then local authorities may need to cooperate to minimise conflicts between economic and environmental objectives.

Institutional integration for sustainable transportation policy in Canada

In recent years, many Canadian urban areas have witnessed a rapid population and economic growth thereby putting sustainable transport and urban form at the forefront of planning initiatives. As a result, the development of strategic transport plans and long-range visioning exercises has become a priority for most cities. Still, proper appraisals of these plans along with funding and implementation have lagged behind. Reasons for this lag can be attributed to the lack of constructive interactions between actors in the decision-making process and of common grounds for policy evaluation. This paper proposes to assess the extent of institutional integration in the appraisal, funding, and implementation of transport policy. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with planners and policy-makers pertaining to the three levels of government (municipal, provincial, federal) in Canada. The survey discussed the existing process for funding and evaluation of transport policy and its associated pitfalls as well as the desired state of policy appraisal. Results show low institutional integration among the three levels of government and weakened regional visions within most urban areas in spite of an increased sensitization of decision-makers and the public regarding the importance of achieving society's goals of sustainability and equity.

Urban Transport Policy Transfer in Central and Eastern Europe

European Territorial Cooperation is one important context in which partners from across the whole of Europe meet and learn from each other. Naturally, the involvement of partners from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries in this process is increasing as a consequence of the expansion of Europe, particularly the accession of ten new EU member states in 2004, and two more in 2007. Various examples can be found where CEE countries are seeking to catch up politically and economically by drawing lessons from policies in more developed countries. The uncertainties of policy-making in some of these countries have made policy transfer a particularly attractive option, as politicians see it as the quickest solution to many problems without having to reinvent the wheel. This paper focuses on international policy-transfer and lesson-drawing, looking specifically at how urban transport concepts and ideas have been transferred from Western Europe to two CEE countries. In these cases, the social and economic situations in the “borrowing” and “lending” countries are very different. So too, are the institutional frameworks. As a consequence, successful policy transfer is much more complex than mere copying or emulation. The paper argues that large-scale institutional transformations are neither feasible nor desirable to produce results that benefit cities in CEE countries. Small initiatives with straightforward, comparatively short-term outcomes and moderate budgets often work better and keep momentum going for further steps towards more sustainable urban transport policies and programs.

Sustainable transport policy

Sustainable transport policy