Overview
Road congestion and emissions are seen as having increasing negative impacts on travellers, the environment and economy as a whole. All the evidence suggests that the current trends are not sustainable without effective management of travel demand, and the world will have to confront a series of traffic congestion and air pollution problems caused principally by the unrestricted use of private cars.
This project will focus on urban travel demand management and propose strategies of managing transport network mobility and reducing congestion and emissions with tradable permits.
First, methodological developments focus on transport network equilibrium analysis, traffic bottleneck analysis, greenhouse gas emissions evaluation, traffic flow modelling and algorithms design, and tradable permits market equilibrium will be studied. Second, social and spatial equities in the multiple user-classes (with different values of time) network models with tradable permits schemes are further discussed. Finally, a sustainable transport system with tradable permits will be designed and case studies will be implemented in typical cities in EU and other countries with the supports of transport management departments of local government, therefore, innovative and interoperable information and communication technologies based services for smart mobility will be brought, which will also bring low carbon futures by improving the efficiency of vehicle using.
This project will bring many open and potential value avenues of further studies, and create long term collaborations and mutually beneficial cooperation between Europe and the other countries with existed relationships. The requirements of innovative information and communication technologies will also bring potential public private partnerships in support of industrial competitiveness, and provide a sustainable transport development patterns respond the needs of citizens and support transport policy development.
Funding
Results
Tradable credits could decrease traffic and emissions
New research shows that introducing permits or tradable credits for private car use could have a positive impact on road traffic and carbon emissions.
Car traffic and emissions are detrimental to society and the economy, calling for a need to make transport more sustainable through brave new policies. The EU-funded MOPED (Mobility optimization: Permits for emissions from driving) project investigated the role of the tradable credits scheme (TCS) in managing travel, reducing congestion and cutting down on emissions.
To achieve its aims, the project team compared TCS with road pricing measures and looked at how to streamline transport. Although TCS has traditionally focused on air pollution, researchers looked at how it can be applied to reducing traffic and road emissions. In this vein, they conducted simulations and case studies to show that TCS can help reduce car trips and influence travellers' choices of transport mode.
MOPED also examined the impact of TCS on the length of daily trips using a macroeconomic outlook and scenario simulation for the municipality of Beijing, China. In this case, the project deduced that travellers are inclined to move less, whether in cars or not, alleviating traffic and reducing emissions. It showed clear evidence of a shift from private to public transport as well.
The positive impact of such scenarios on the environment has paved the way for more study in the area, strengthening Chinese-European cooperation in the field. Better transport policies, more sustainable urban transport and enhanced industrial competitiveness could ultimately emerge from further research and collaboration in this exciting field.