For a more transformational zero tariff debate (original) (raw)
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Journal of Sustainable Urban Mobility, 2023
The core question of this text is whether the current intensified debate on zero tariff in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consequences of its management, and of inflation resp. rising energy and food prices especially due to the Ukraine war offers possibilities to strengthen the idea and concept of zero tariff as a transformational instrument. The analysis of the discussion and literature on practical zero tariff experiences shows that the challenge is to target the debate on the long term, focusing upon the predictability of positive outcomes as an issue of public health. The focus must be on socially and ecologically sustainable mobility, on the development of public transport and the strong relativisation of the car as a means of satisfying mobility needs.
A review of the transport sector: Notes from the post-COVID-19 era
2nd International Conference, Intermodal Transports: Innovations in Planning, Management, Business Development & Decision Making. Alexandroupolis, Greece, 12-15 October 2021., 2021
The transport industry is one of the fundamental development pillars of all socioeconomic systems nowadays. This article aims to examine whether the current pandemic crisis of COVID-19—which significantly repositions all socioeconomic dimensions—accelerates developments, especially in the transport sector. This introduction investigates critical perspectives from the history of transport, ending up with the trends that (seemingly) existed before the current crisis. The primary finding corresponds to the acceleration caused by COVID-19, especially in trends related to increased digitalization and the need for investment in new infrastructure across the world. Also, the de-carbonization and the rise of the “prosumer” (the individual who consumes and produces value simultaneously) are accelerating forces in the transport industry.
Car-Free Initiatives from Around the World: Concepts for moving to Future Sustainable Mobility
This paper analyses more than 200 ‘car-free’ city initiatives, from 95 different cities around the world, aimed at refocusing car-based transport and urban planning towards sustainable transport and as a strategy to create more liveable places. The initiatives were analyzed and classified in terms of their rationale or objective, scale and level of implementation. Six key underlying objectives were identified for the initiatives: i) reduce car use attractiveness by making it more inconvenient and costly, ii) increase the attractiveness of sustainable modes and integrated transport systems by making them more convenient, iii) revive social functionality of streets, iv) reduce environmental impacts of transport, v) promote sustainable housing developments and vi) rationalize freight operation. This research illustrates how transport supply is strongly shaped by policies and how transport demand is driven by people’s aspirations but also as a response to the context set by the provided transport supply. The analyzed initiatives highlight the need for multidimensional sustainable transport strategies to overcome car-dependency and to achieve wider sustainability goals. The research underscores the role that technology has in enabling both changes in supply through new types of mobility, but also changes in demand, especially as a platform for social movements to organize and create the critical mass that enables cultural shift. The studied initiatives make evident that in the context of a technology-intensive future mobility, aspects like electric cars, or even automated cars, if conceived in the same socio-technical system as current cars, contribute only marginally to liveability in cities.
Infrastructure, Tariff and Legal Action: How to Achieve a Climate-Friendly Transport System
2011
Transportation absorbs about 70% of oil consumption in EU countries. The burned fuels by the field of transport are composed by 96% of oil. Energy efficiency of road and air traffic has also to be improved. But across Europe transport environmental impacts reductions should be made necessarily through a transfer of traffic from the car, lorries and aircraft to train, ship, and non motorized two-wheelers. Indeed the former are the largest producers of greenhouse gases, while the latter are more environmentally and climate friendly means of transport. An ecologic goal on the environment must be set, reaching an annual increase of 1% of modal split in favour of more sustainable means of transport. Legal, infrastructure and tariff measures have to be proposed, in addition to technical measures (reduction of traffic, growth of vehicles' energy efficiency, reduction of travelled distances, improved logistics, etc.). While legal measures refer to possible law limits in terms on fuel consumption and CO 2 Keywords emissions due to European traffic, infrastructure measures can be distinguished on the basis of the concerned territory. On the one hand there is the city, where it seems appropriate that we move using more secure and environmentally friendly intermodal chains. On the other hand fundamentally there are the suburbs, where investments in new transport infrastructures may be contradictory in terms of climate protection. Tariff measures express the already established concept of "who produces pollution, he pays". So the external costs generated by different modes of transport have to be progressively turned over to users. Energy consumption, environmental impacts, sustainable transport, environmental protection measures, clean and bio-fuels, road pricing, infrastructural and regulatory measures. * Corresponding author **** Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. † † † † Source: [12]. § § § § In Italy mobility management is applied by the professional figure of "mobility manager", prescribed by the Ministry Decree on "Sustainable mobility in urban areas" of 1998.
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2020
To make society more sustainable, cleaner transportation technologies, such as zero-emission vehicles and sustainable mobility, are being investigated, promoted, and supported by different policy measures. The emphasis of this paper is determining the zero-emission vehicle features that can influence specific policy recommendations; this understanding can boost zeroemission vehicle use as a potential cleaner transportation technology among different consumer segments in different EU member states. A customer-oriented study of over 1500 Slovenians, Spaniards, and Poles revealed the most relevant zeroemission vehicle-purchasing features are: (a) vehicle price and (b) fuel economy. The percentage of potential zero-emission vehicle buyers is said to rise to 80% should the price of electric cars decrease and fuel price increase accordingly, i.e. by 30% and 50%, respectively. Concerning the car price, Slovenian and Polish consumers' preferences are similar, and 40% of them (and up to 85% of Spaniards) would consider buying one if the price drops by 25%. Women in all three studied countries are more interested in zero-emission vehicles than men are. Different policies should be used in Poland, where people are not as interested in zero-emission vehicles as Spanish and Slovenian consumers are. Customer segmentation in all three groups pointed out that Poland has the highest share (19%) of "No-green" consumers, whereas Spain has the highest share (60%) of "Go-green" consumers, i.e. consumers who would consider buying a zero-emission vehicle in the foreseeable future.
A social perspective on sustainable transport policy: A case study on car road pricing in Austria
Integrated Assessment, 8 (2), 107-126, 2008
The current transport system in industrialised countries is far from being sustainable, partly due to the negative impacts of motorised indi- vidual transport. Car road pricing would present a policy instrument to reduce the transport volume and to change the modal split. However, its eects go beyond the transport system itself and influence the dierent dimensions of sustainability, especially the social dimension. In the present paper the impacts of dierent car road pricing scenarios in Austria are discussed. It aims to present the operationalisation of the social dimension and its significance in relation to the other dimensions of sustainability, often represented by a trade-o. Results concerning the impacts of car road pricing on the Austrian population are discussed with regard to the feasibility and acceptance of such a measure. Dierent options to overcome the negative acceptance of road pricing or to reduce the trade-os are suggested.
Tariff as a Tool for Financing Public Transport in Cities
Scientific Journal of Silesian University of Technology. Series Transport
The aim of the article is to present the role of public transport and its financing methods, with particular emphasis on the role of transport tariffs in Poland. Tariffs in collective transport, in addition to its financing functions, that is, covering the cost of services, are increasingly fulfilling the functions of shaping the desirability of public transport, thereby supporting the city's competitiveness as a whole, both in relation to its residents and people who have jobs in the city or are guests/tourists. The article hypothesises that third generation tariffs are financial tools that allow cities to manage local finance more effectively and affect the competitiveness and appeal of public transport. The research process used methods of critical analysis of literature, induction and deduction, logical inference and economic and financial analysis.
Emerging Agendas in Research, Policy and Practice, 2021
Despite the importance of a transition from car use to more active and public transport and an adequate knowledge base for taking action, the pace and scale of change globally has been inadequate to protect health, particularly from the effects of climate change. While the active transport research agenda has rightly broadened beyond behaviour change to include wider physical environments (infrastructure), in most jurisdictions this has not translated into major shifts in investment. We argue that the politics and macroeconomics of the status quo of automobility act as major barriers to mode shift and remain under-researched. Building on previous political economy and public health research and using Aotearoa New Zealand as a case study we tease out the mechanisms by which the politics and economics of the status quo affect what is experienced on the ground. From there, we suggest a research agenda that could be used to increase our understanding globally of the barriers to active t...
Automobiles and Socioeconomic Sustainability
Transfers, 2017
This article argues for the establishment of a Mobility Bill of Rights. That the current car system is not sustainable in environmental terms has been much discussed in academic circles and is increasingly accepted in wider society, as reflected by governmental attempts at reform. The current trend for remodeling this car system largely involves the substitution of petrol/diesel for potentially more ecologically sound methods of powering the vehicles such as electricity. Attempts to reach environmental sustainability in this manner do little to impact social or economic sustainability and thus will fail to address the triple bottom line. Rather, reliance on automobiles in the present vein may continue trends for mobility-related exclusion. To tackle this, we need a debate on how the transport needs of ordinary people can be met.