Talk:Sustainable transport/sandbox

Sandbox

This is a temporary page created to house material deleted from the Sustainable Transport page. The intention is to merge the valuable material into Green transport.

Lead

The lead has been completely rewritten. Here is the old lead:

Sustainable transport is a concept developed in reaction to things that have gone visibly wrong with transportation policy, practice and performance through much the world over the last half of the twentieth century. Urban transport systems based around the car have proved unsustainable, consuming excessive energy, affecting the health of populations, and delivering a declining level of service despite increasing investments. Many of these negative impacts fall disproportionately on those social groups who are also least likely to own and drive cars.

The sustainable transport movement, part of the environmental movement, has gradually gained in force over the last decade and a half, and has in the process started to shift the emphasis in public spending and actions away from building and supply, to management and demand. The values of respect for the environment and prudent use of natural resources are central, with varying degrees of urgency expressed by different actors and interests. That said, it is still very much a minority movement and most actual expenditures in the sector are determined by criteria other than sustainability.

What is clear is that sustainable transportation mainly refers to human behavior, not to technology. In that sense, a behavioral approach considers not only a set of non-polluting and human scaled green transport choices, regardless of the means and technology used, but also a set of reinforcers both individual and social to promote these choices.

--Travelplanner (talk) 11:42, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Definitions

Here's some of the repetitive definition material

, and the almost equivalent terms , has no formal definition, but is a logical follow-on from the earlier term whose origins in turn were the 1987 Our Common Future (1987, World Commission on Environment and Development of the United Nations). Thus it is often defined in words such as this: “Sustainable transportation is about meeting or helping meet the mobility needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.”

The term is also used to describe all forms of transport which minimize fuel consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide and pollutants. It can refer to public transport, car sharing, walking and cycling as well as technology such as electric and hybrid cars and biodiesel and Personal Rapid Transit and other green transport. The term has been adopted by the British and Australian national and local governments, and both the phrase and the concepts have now spread around the world.

One early and often cited definition offered back in 1994 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defined sustainable transport as: "Transportation that does not endanger public health or ecosystems and meets mobility needs consistent with (a) use of renewable resources at below their rates of regeneration and (b) use of non-renewable resources at below the rates of development of renewable substitutes". a This provided a conservative benchmark view of what sustainable transport is all about which is still often put forward in the public debate.

The Canadian Centre for Sustainable Transportation defines a sustainable transportation system as one that:

• "Allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and with equity within and between generations.
• Is affordable, operates efficiently, offers choice of transport mode, and supports a vibrant economy.
• Limits emissions and waste within the planet's ability to absorb them, minimizes consumption of non-renewable resources, limits consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield level, reuses and recycles its components, and minimizes the use of land and the production of noise."

The New Zealand Ministry for the Environment offers a practical definition of transport that is 'more sustainable' (but still falls short of being truly sustainable in the long term). This definition extends the scope of sustainable transport to include the layout of cities and the balance of transport investments, and defines it in terms which more accessible to business, communities and government.:

“Sustainable transport is about finding ways to move people, goods and information in ways that reduce its impact on the environment, the economy, and society. Some options include:

• Improving transport choice by increasing the quality of public transport, cycling and walking facilities, services and environments
• Using cleaner fuels and technologies
• Using telecommunications to reduce or replace physical travel, such as tele-working or tele-shopping
• Planning the layout of our cities to bring people and their needs closer together, and to make cities more vibrant and walkable
• Developing policies that allow and promote these options, such as the New Zealand Transport Strategy.

A shorter definition by the Sustran network does a good job in one paragraph of summarizing the consensus view from the vantage of transport activists and many NGOs:

"Sustainable transportation concerns systems, policies, and technologies. It aims for the efficient transit of goods and services, and sustainable freight and delivery systems. The design of vehicle-free city planning, along with pedestrian and bicycle friendly design of neighborhoods is a critical aspect for grassroots activities, as are telework and teleconferencing. It is more about accessibility and mobility, than about 'transportation'."

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development uses the term "sustainable mobility", and defines this as "the ability to meet the needs of society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade, and establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values today or in the future."

This definition encompasses the following dimensions:

• Accessibility
• Financial outlay required of users
• Travel time
• Reliability
• Safety
• Security

• Greenhouse gas emissions
• Impact on the environment and human well-being
• Resource use
• Equity implications
• Impact on public revenues and expenditures
• Prospective rate of return to private business

The automotive and energy industries increasingly use the term "Sustainable Mobility" to describe and promote their technology developments, primarily in the areas of new motive and engine technologies and advances. The impact of these advances, however, requires at least one or two decades to make a perceptible difference in terms of sustainability, and may not have benefits for the groups of people who benefit most from sustainable transportation policies.

In general the phrase is used to encourage more attention to green transport options such as improved provision for cycling, walking, public spaces, rail and other forms of public transport, together with measures to reduce car use, especially in central areas. It can also cover “movement substitutes” such as telework, telecommuting, e-work and smart growth redevelopments which improve the mix of activities and reduce the need for motorized transport.

Sustainable transport, with its focus on people, differs from Transportation Demand Management, which is a complementary effort to manage transportation systems in ways that reduce the impacts of single occupancy commuter travel and improve the provision of other transport choices.

Some cities outside Europe have also consistently taken a demand management approach to transport and land use planning, notably Curitiba, Brazil, Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Canada.