1. Sustainability Aspects of
Urban Public Transportation
Dr. J.N.Jha
Department of Civil Engineering
Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College
Ludhiana

2. Index
 Introduction
 Sustainability
 Changing Urban Pattern
 Worldwide Motorization & Urbanization Trends
 Automobile Dependency and Urban Transit
 Sustainable Transportation Indicators
 Implication of Sustainable Transportation
 Criticism of Sustainability and Sustainable
Transportation

3. Cont…….
 Can Transit Ensure Sustainability
 Role of Technology Innovation
 Conclusion
 References

4. Introduction
 Sea Change in Surface Transportation:
Horse drawn street railway to Underground heavy rail
line
 What is the motivation of this Sea Change?
 Answer:
Desire of user to find faster and more reliable form of
transportation (Which was available at that time)

5. Cont….
 Predominance of Automobile is the result of this
motivation
 Advantages
i) Unprecedented mobility level
ii) Personal Freedom
 Disadvantage
i) Paid little attention to Social and Environmental
sustainability

6. Cont…..
 National Academy of Engineering (NAE 2000)
Automobile Ranked as 2nd greatest engineering
achievement after electricity
 How ranking is decided?
Impact on quality of life

7. Cont….
 Rapid motorisation raises serious concern about the
sustainability of transportation system (Developing
world).
 Developing world :
Poorly maintained vehicle
Slow moving traffic
Expanding urban boundaries making work trips
excessively long and expensive (Poor)

8. Sustainability
 U.N. World Commission on Environment and
Development (UNWCED 1987):
A sustainable condition for this planet is one in which
there is stability for both social and physical systems,
achieved through meeting the need of the present
without compromising the ability of future generation

9. Cont….
 Themes sustainable development (2004)
Sustainable development is the achievement of
continued economic development without detriment
to environmental and natural resources

10. Cont….
 MOST (1999)
The goal of sustainable transportation is to ensure
that environment, social and economic considerations
are factored into decisions affecting transportation
activity

11. Cont….
 Transportation and Research Board (1997)
Sustainability is not about threat analysis,
sustainability is about system analysis, specially it is
about how environmental, economic and social
systems interact to their mutual advantage or
disadvantage at various spaced-based scales of
operation

12. Range of issues covered
(Sustainability)
 Main issue of sustainable transportation (World Bank,
1996)
 Economic and Financial
(cost effectiveness of the system)
 Environmental
(pollution, land use, energy consumption, wild life)
 Social
(safe and adequate service to all segment of society)

13. Changing Urban Pattern
 Changing urban pattern provides important lesson
e.g. India
 Cities in India grew around urban core(1980) in
successive layers of high density concentric rings
 Leapfrogging pattern (1990) due to all weather roads
and single family dwelling unit
[Leap frog: Game in which players vault (arched roof)
with parted legs over others bending down]

14. Cont….
 Result of leapfrogging phenomenon
Urban sprawls uncoordinated ribbon developments
along major highway corridors deep into rural
agricultural areas.
 Automobile oriented metropolitan expansion:
Attractive way of life who wanted space and less
crowded environment

15. Cont….
 Large infrastructure cost
 High commuting time and cost
 Congestion
 High dependency on automobiles
 Air pollution and other environmental problems
 If not addressed properly can threaten the economic
productivity, environmental sustainability and social
well being of nation.

16. World wide Motorization and
urbanization Trends
 Motorization and urbanization-A world wide
phenomenon
 Urban population –Increasing much faster
rate than total population
 Growth in automobile-Soaring compared to
automobile fleet growth

17. Developing Countries
 Vehicle growth
Increasing at a higher rate than the gross
national product (GNP)
Increasing at a much higher pace than the
annual growth in GNP per capita
 Explosion of urban population growth
Creating an increasing number of mega cities
(>10 million inhabitants)

18. Cont…
 Lagos (Nigeria) and Dhaka (Bangladesh)
Urban population expected to increase by
50% by 2010
Ranked 3rd and 6 th most populated cities in
world
Now half of the population is urban
By 2030 60% world population will be living in
cities (UNCHS 2001)

19. Cont….
 Motorization goes hand in hand with
urbanization
 Rapid motorization and urbanization many
environmental risks
 Can seriously jeopardize the sustainability of
cities

20. Cont….
 Risk and problems much greater in
developing countries
 Overwhelming scale and speed of
urbanization compared to available resources

21. Automobile Dependency and
Urban Transit
 Automobile dependency increasing at a rapid
pace in developing countries
 In 1980 in India automobile transformed from
a recreational vehicle into most popular mode
of transportation
 Middle class welcomed enthusiastically
Maruti 800 and other affordable models

22. Cont….
 Urban dwellers were dissatisfied with the
public transport system
 Reason- Unresponsive and obsolete
 In 1990’s automobile became the mode of
transportation

23. Cont….
 Public transport relegated to secondary
means conveyance left for people who do not
have the access to automobiles
 Lack of rapid transit option in many cities
 Transit fleet consists of buses often stuck in
traffic

24. Cont….
 To improve travel speed public opted for
motorized vehicles if they can afford
 In Seoul automobile ownership increased 33
fold in 30 years
 In 21st centuries cities in India is seeing:
Rapid urban population growth

25. Cont….
 Rising personal income
 A general willingness of the public to have travel
choices
 Decrease in transit level of service
 Urban Sprawl (Spread out in straggling fashion)

26. Cont….
 Some deliberate measures to curb the growth
of automobiles through pricing and other
measures (Taken by some countries)
 Singapore best example for this effort

27. Cont….
 Ownership and use of automobile in
Singapore continue to grow despite
centralized planning and strong government
control
 Attraction of private vehicles over public
transportation is overwhelming
 Level of urban transit service needs dramatic
improvement to attract travelers

28. Sustainable Transportation Indicators
 Evaluation of Sustainability : By a set of
measurable indicators
 Selection of indicators influences result
analysis
 Important to avoid confusing goals and
objectives

29. Cont….
 Goals: What society ultimately wants
 Objective : Things that help in achieving goals
but are not end in themselves
 Decision makers: Focuses on easy to
measure impacts and objectives while
overlooking more difficult to measure impacts
and goals

30. Cont….
 Conventional Transport Indicators
 Simple Sustainability Indicators
 Comprehensive Sustainability Transportation
Indicators

31. Conventional Transport Indicators
 Roadway level of service: A higher rating is
considered better
 Average traffic speed: Assumes higher is
better
 Parking convenience and price: Increased
convenience and lower price is better
 Crash rates per vehicle mile: lower the better

32. Simple sustainability Indicators
 Transportation fossil fuel consumption and
CO2 emission: Less is better
 Vehicle pollution emission: Less is better
 Per capita motor vehicle mileage: Less is
better
 Mode split: Higher transit rider ship is better

33. Cont….
 Traffic crash injury and deaths: Less is better
 Transport land consumption: Less is better
 Roadway aesthetic condition
(People are more inclined to care for
environments that they consider beautiful and
meaningful)

34. Comprehensive Sustainability
Transportation Indicators
 Economic
 Social
 Environment

35. Economic
 Accessibility-commuting:-Av. Commute travel
time :Less is better
 Accessibility-land use mix : within 30 minute
travel distance of residents: More is better
 Accessibility-smart growth: More is better
 Transport diversity: Mode split: portion of
travel made by walking, cycling, rideshare,
public transit and telework: More better

36. Cont….
 Affordability: Portion of household expenditures
devoted to transport by 20% lowest-income
households :Less is better
 Facility costs: Per capita expenditures on roads,
traffic services and parking facilities
(Less better)
 Freight efficiency: Speed and affordability of
freight and commercial transport (More better)

37. Cont….
 Planning: Degree to which transport
institutions reflect least cost planning
(More is better)

38. Social
 Safety
 Health and fitness
 Community livability
 Equity-fairness
 Equity-non-drivers
 Equity-disabilities
 Non-motorized transport planning
 Citizen involvement

39. Environment
 Climate change emissions
 Other air pollution
 Noise pollution
 Water pollution
 Land use impacts
 Habitat protection
 Resource efficiency

40. Implications of Sustainable
Transportation
 Transportation decision making
 Automobile dependency
 Transportation equity
 Community livability
 Land use

41. Transportation Decision Making
 Decisions that more accurately reflect community
values by giving people more opportunities to
affect decisions
 Decisions that contribute to more equitable
transportation decisions by giving disadvantaged
groups more involvement in decisions that affect
them.
 Decisions to create more public support for
policies that require behaviour changes or
sacrifice in a community

42. Automobile Dependency
 Dedicated funding for highway facilities that
encourages roadway construction
 Generous parking and road capacity
standards
 Zoning laws and development practices that
favour automobile-oriented land use patterns

43. Cont….
 Unpriced roads and parking
 Inexpensive automobile use since most
vehicles costs are fixed
 A lack of travel alternatives, including poor
transit service and road conditions that are
unfavourable for walking and cycling

44. Transportation Equity
• Horizontal equity implies that externalities of
transportation should be reduced except
where they are specifically justified.
• This includes reducing pollution emissions
and accident risk from motor vehicle use, or
compensating those who bear such external
costs.

45. Cont….
 Horizontal equity also implies that user’s
should get what they pay for and pay for what
they get.
 That could involve more road and parking
fees, more accurate insurance pricing and
other pricing reforms

46. Cont….
• Vertical equity implies that access options
should improve for people who are
economically, socially and physically
disadvantaged.
• This can include improved transit,
ridesharing, cycling and walking conditions
and discounted prices for disadvantaged
people.

47. Community Livability
 Local environmental quality
 Quality of community interactions
 Community cohesion
 Ability of community to satisfy the basic
needs of residents

48. Land Use
 low density development,
 Hierarchical street pattern,
 Generous road and parking supply
 Automobile oriented site design tends to
increase automobile dependency leading to
high levels of per capita motor vehicle
mileage
 Reduction in the quality of travel alternatives
(transit, walking and cycling).

49. Cont….
 Higher density land use patterns that
accommodate alternative modes
 Cities with higher density neighborhoods
developed around passenger rail transit
systems are most sustainable model for
urban areas.

50. Can Transit Ensure Sustainability?
 Increased transit use is associated with
overall sustainability.
 Key to increased transit use and
transportation sustainability is urban
population density (Activity density -
population and jobs).

51. Cont….
 Increased density is associated with:
 Less ownership and use of automobiles
 Less road and parking facilities
 High transit use.
 To induce higher walking and other
nonmotorized trips (Contributing to
sustainability)

52. Cont….
 Issue is then how can we arrest the
progression of low urban sprawl?
 General response to congestion is to invest in
highways.
 investment policies should be redirected from
highways to mass transit.

53. Transit oriented developments (TOD),
 Key to reversing the current trend of bondless
sprawl and dying cities
 urban growth would be accommodated :
Development of compact, pedestrian-scale
communities centered on transit stations
Linked with one another by a regional transit
system
 Transit systems could become the critical
elements in metropolitan planning and design.
 Traffic and the demand for travel can be
controlled by deliberate guiding land use.

54. Cont….
 Transit’s viability depends on urban density
 Essential to pursue a combination of efforts to
achieve sustainable transportation system.
 Mere improving the level of services only will
not make much difference unless these
initiatives are supported by other factors:
6. Policies which encourages mixed land uses and
higher population densities
7. That internalizes the societal costs of private
modes of transportation and urban sprawl

55. Role of Technology Innovation
 Emerging information and communication
technologies can play an important role in
improving transit levels of service
 Debatable whether the expected benefit in
terms of increased ridership would be justified
for the cost of implementing these
technologies

56. Cont….
 Particularly relevant for the cities in most
developing countries where cost becomes the
determining factor in implementation of these
technologies.
 Innovative and cost effective approach shall
be encouraged to make transit more
attractive.
 Rapid bus transit (busways) of Curitiba
(Brazil) is one such example.

57. Thank you