Efficient Methodology for Assessment of Targets and Policy Measures for Sustainable Mobility Systems

Abstract

The development of transport policy measures to reduce negative environmental impacts and social costs is crucial for decision makers and traffic researchers seeking ways to decrease transport demand (mostly passenger car) and congestion levels. This paper proposes a methodology for testing optimal public transport (PT) to passenger car (PC) usage ratios in order to reduce negative environmental impacts and external costs as a part of social costs by implementing proposed transport policy measures. The effects of different city transport policies on the total transport demand of PC and PT during morning peak period in Novi Sad, Serbia, were tested through a traffic macroscopic simulation procedure. Traffic flow distribution outputs were used to estimate external costs and pollution emissions in proposed current situation scenarios. The results of this study enable the development of sustainable transport strategies through identification of different combinations of mobility management measures that would produce desired outcomes.

Keywords:

• environmental assessment
• external cost assessment
• sustainable transport strategies
• transportation modeling
• transport policy measures

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted as part of the Serbian Ministry of Science and Technological Development scientific projects: 36024—Transport System Integration Models and 36021—Global Challenges: Effects on Transportation Planning and Traffic Management in Cities; and in Vojvodina: 114-451-2273/2011—Models of Sustainable Transport Development in Vojvodina.

Notes

¹General term for measures that result in more efficient use of transport resources.

²Only buses operate in the Novi Sad public transport system.

³Elasticity is defined as the ratio of the percentage change in one variable to the percentage change in another variable (i.e., elasticity of − 1 implies that an increase in, for example, price by 1% produces a decrease in demand by 1%).

⁴Global Warming Potentials, expressed as a factor of carbon dioxide representing the relative measure of how much heat a greenhouse gas traps in the atmosphere.

⁵PT enterprise in Novi Sad has a fleet with 65% standard vehicles with 70–100 sps/veh and 35% articulated vehicles with 110–160 sps/veh. All PT vehicles are equipped with Euro 1 standard engines.

*positive values represent the monetary benefits of the scenario.

*positive values represent the emission benefits of the scenario.

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/ujst.