Evaluating greenhouse gas emission of transit agencies: A case study of Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The objective of this research was to map out the greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint of Ontario transit agencies. A system-by-system GHG emissions model was developed to determine which transit agencies are low, medium, or high emitters based on the metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emitted from mobile sources. A score card was created based on four preliminary indicators: (1) CO₂e per passenger, per revenue vehicle kilometer; (2) CO₂e per passenger, per service area density; (3) CO₂e per vehicle, per revenue vehicle kilometer; and (4) CO₂e per vehicle, per service area density. This score card provides a relative metric to compare the GHG emissions of different transit agencies which can be used as an audit standard for quantifying comparative CO₂e reductions. The results indicated that one-third of transit agencies operate in the “A” grade range, while the remaining agencies received grades of “B” to “E”; thus, demonstrating the potential for utilizing Green Funds in different jurisdictions to advance technology and ridership solutions aimed at GHG emissions reduction to achieve climate change objectives.

Keywords:

• Carbon pricing systems
• greenhouse gas modeling
• report card
• transit agencies

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ontario Public Transit Association (OPTA) and Mitacs Elevate under grant number IT09492.