Promoting Sustainable Urban Transport - Essay Example

Yousef Al Muhaisen Dr. Ambrosius SSC200 11/26/14 Promoting Sustainable Urban Transport Introduction Transportation problems in urban areas mostly arise when the established cannot sustain the numerous needs of urban mobility. Productivity in urban areas depends highly on how efficient the transport system is in the ferrying of labor, customers and goods from one place to another. Other terminals including ports, railway stations and airports are mostly located in urban areas, leading to many issues arising as a result, congestion being one of the major problems. The inflow of people in these areas has also brought about the problem of inadequate public transportation, as the systems put in place cannot handle the high number. Taking USA and Germany as case studies, the paper seeks to come up with the best possible solutions to these challenges for a sustainable future. Comparison of Issues Arising in America and Germany Germany and The USA are among the highest motorized countries around the world. Between 2010 and 2014, there were 588 and 786 motor vehicles per 1000 people in Germany and the IUS respectively (National Transportation Statistics). Motorization has in turn increased the demand for parking areas, resulting in problems in consumption of space mainly in central areas. The connection between congestion and parking is also evident where motorists experience delays looking for parking areas, negatively affecting local flow. In both of these countries, there is a high density of population and due to the fact that many households are close to means of public transport, there are a small number of trips made by personal cars owing to the convenience of public transport. There are, however, differences that are still evident. Most Americans depend more on cars as compared to their German counterparts (786 against 588 per 10000 people) as more Germans prefer walking or cycling as well as us of public transport. This over-reliance on motor vehicles by Americans has led to heavy consumption of energy and ultimately resulting in pollution, rendering the current maintenance cost of urban spaces unsustainable (Wellman 336). America’s Challenges and Adopted Policies to Curb the Challenges The American transport system grapples with high number of trips per capita, estimated to be about three times higher as compared to Germany. Americans also spend about 5% of their budget on transport, a crucial amount compared to other countries that pay between 2 and 3% (National Transportation Statistics). For this reason, there has been need to adopt policies that would assist in reducing the over-reliance on automobiles and ultimately aid in reduction of congestion in major areas. For example, one of the most densely populated states, Florida in USA has been attempting to control the high rate of population inflow in the area by setting up a comprehensive planning system (Thomas 106). This system has incorporated doctrines such as the local comprehensive planning act, set up in 1985, to assist in providing transportation services to cater for the existing and future inhabitants, to discourage continual splurge of people by improving the infrastructural facilities as well as building new and expanding the existing roads as a way to ease congestion and ultimately improved development levels. (Kim, Sreiner & Yang 676) The state legislature also introduced the Transport Concurrency Exception Area (TCEA) whereby compliance of concurrency that entails the universally complying to the aversion of pollution is waived to motivate private developers to increase development as a way to curb increased influx of people. This, however, would pose a challenge, as the traffic from these developed areas would leak out to the neighboring areas (Thomas 107) There has been an increase in theuse of public transport in the US as an alternative means of transport as compared to the traditional road, rail and air. The National Personal Transportation Surveys (NPTS) and National Household Travel Surveys (NHTS) of 1977-1995 and 2001-2009 respectively cite the number of cycling trips in the US has gone up thrice as much from 1977 to 2009. There have been set up policies to promote cycling, the government being in the forefront of this through funding and setting up of programs to assist in this issue (Pucher, Buehler & Seinen). Germany’s Challenges and Adopted Policies to Curb the Challenges After the unification of East and West Germany in 1990, Germany experienced a revolutionary growth in the transport sector. East Germany grew exponentially after the first three years improving the financial power of the nationals resulting in a decline of about 50% in the use of public transport, as people opted to buy automobile due to their reduced cost at the time (P ucher 2). This drastic change from public transport to cars resulted in adverse effect to the environment, among them heavy congestion, increased pollution and reduction in safety in the Eastern German cities. The western part on Germany on the other hand was highly equipped with extensive bicycle pathways; traffic calming zones which are important to cities but exasperate drivers. Another technique is the conversion of one-way streets to two-way streets (Pucher, 2) Unlike in USA, the German government adopted policies that would ensure a more efficient, fast, safe, less energy consuming mode of transport by promoting bicycling, although the USA has finally followed suit, considering the high increase in the number of cyclists currently (a total of about 59.67 million). The government of some European countries, more so Germany, have adopted bicycle lanes with their own rights-of-way as a means of protecting the cycling majority (Pucher 7) Germany has also set up special streets only for bicycles, one-way streets for cars but two-way for cyclists, streets that lead to dead ends for motorists but accessible to cyclists in an attempt to encourage increased cycling and ultimately decongest its cities as a way of improving sustainability, conservation of energy and reduce environment degradation to enhance the country’s development (Pucher 5). Germany has set up legislations and policies that mostly promote and encourage growth of a people who as compared to their American counterparts do not put so much reliance on automobile. The set up policies to promote its nationals to seek alternatives to automobiles has taken the country to greater heights in the quest to contain what would be a massive congestion catastrophe. The United States is seen to lag behind Germany in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of the set up policies in the problem at hand. By borrowing some of Germany’s policies and adopting more systems to assist in this issue, the country will be at a better state in the near future. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations Considering the fact that Germany, one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world has a large number of cars in the roads, it is clear to note that ownership patterns are not about to change, if anything, they are bound to increase even more. It is crucial to note that even as the number of automobiles increase on the road, which would naturally have an adverse effect on the growing trend of cyclists and pedestrians, the population making use of bicycles have not decreased showing that even under unfavorable conditions, if policies are followed to the letter, it can thrive. Substituting automobiles for bicycles would also go a long way in realizing the long lasting outcomes that would result from decongestion of roads in this way. In addition, a reduction in degradation of the environment resulting from the car emissions in the major cities by adopting other eco-friendly means of transport like cycling would go a long way in improving a country’s developmental status (Pucher, Buehler & Seinen 454). America, which suffers high congestion levels, could learn a great deal from Germany’s success in redefining its transport sector by incorporating some of Germany’s policies, which have proved to be crucial in their being able to contain the rate of settlement in the urban areas. It is evident, as we have seen above, that Americans have started to welcome bicycling as an alternative means to ease the pressure on the already bloated roads. To effectively do this, urban states in the US would have to incorporate similar systems as those in Germany to encourage more individuals to take up cycling. This can be done by setting up separate ways for bicycles to pass, setting up of streets that are only accessible to cyclist and also by improving the earlier discussed programs and incentives to the people, serving as a motivational tool to help them go the bicycle way. This will also assist in curbing the high number of bicycle-related deaths, which are reported to be about 800 people per year, these numbers serving as a major discouraging factor to individuals who would like to take up bicycling. In addition, speed limit for vehicles can also be reduced around areas frequented by cyclists and pedestrians, and this would greatly promote safety and ultimately serve as an encouragement to individuals interested in adopting other means of transportation as compared to use of cars. The government should also set up and implement policies that would promote competitiveness in public transport. This can be done by making public transport more attractive by for example increasing the tax levied on gas to discourage an increased use of automobiles and pump in the revenue from the tax in investments in the public transport sector. High charges can also be placed on parking of automobiles, this high cost would serve as a great way of discouraging motorists from using their cars and look for more affordable and efficient substitutes including public transport and cycling. (Pucher, Buehler & Seinen 454) Setting up a mobility fee to be charged on new developments so as to ease the effects it has had to the environment. The authorities should ensure fairness, transparency and accountability in the handling of this fee in order to realize great developmental impacts as a result. The implementation of policies should be in stages, whereby the projects everyone agrees on is selected first. Resident traffic calming was for example Frieburg, Germany, carried out first in areas where people residing there would complain about car travel. The success of its implementation in one neighborhood encouraged other city residents in nearby areas to consider it. Some cities in USA have already tested this approach, New York being one of them. The city closed Broadway in 2009 due to increase in traffic between Herald Square and Time Square to try out a pedestrian plaza. Since the trial was successful, there are plans to make this permanent (Buehler & Pucher 5). The set out plans should also exhibit adaptability to changing conditions over a period of time. This has been incorporated in a few cities around the USA where the trolley system was abandoned an in its place light rail system was introduced as the trolley system became outdated (Schmuki 5). Incorporating views and ideas from the citizens can also play a major role in the development and implementation of policies. In Germany for instance, citizens worked hand in hand with city administrations in developing a car-free zone that was meant to be environment friendly. In the USA, specifically Portland, there has been great public contribution, where citizen groups worked closely with the authorities, where they took part in advisory meetings, public meetings, advisory boards to ensure they were represented in all stages of decision-making and this has assisted in building better systems (Buehler & Pucher 7) For transport policies to be sustainable, they must be carried out over a long of time, to ensure that the effects are as lasting as desired when they were being formulated. For example, it took a total of 40 years for Germany to realize a sustainable transport system. The transition from trolley system to the light rail system itself took more than a decade for it to become a reality. For this reason, it is imperative for policy makers and planners to hold on to the wishes of quick success since realization of sustainability in transportation take a lot of time to actualize to completion (Schmuki 5) It is crucial for higher levels of governance to support such initiatives. In Germany for example, the government slashed funding for highways and allocated more funds for improvements in transport infrastructure. The support for public transport means, bicycling and pedestrians from the US Federal Government has greatly increased as earlier discussed. Some Federal Laws have even been put in place to encourage the local governments to endorse other alternative transport means aside from the use of automobile, cater for the needs of disabled individuals and also assist in the reduction of environmental and safety issues emanating from urban transport. A revision of the Federal Transport law is currently in progress and it will touch on ways of improving sustainability, through the endorsement of walking, public transportation and bicycling (Buehler & Pucher 8). In the last 20 years, there have been great strides in the improvement of public transport sector. Germany is miles ahead of USA as it offers much better service, greater multimodal harmonization as well as fairer fares and tickets. The greatest difference between the two countries however lies in the fact that the USA authorities have failed to lessen car use in the cities and improve their policies, which they should carefully look into to enable them realize sustainability. Works Cited Buehler, Ralph, and John Pucher. "Making Publictransportfinanciallysustainable." Transport Policy 18 (2011): 126-38. Print. Buehler, Ralph, and John Pucher. "Demand for Public Transport in Germany and the USA: An Analysis of Rider Characteristics." Transport Reviews 32.5 (2012): 541-67. 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