Quality public transport systems in medium size cities: socio - economic development and urban regeneration impacts, funding and implementation advances
Medium-sized cities in Europe (defined as having population of up to 250000) and their inhabitants are facing increasingly traffic congestion and mobility problems and to address these they are considering the introduction of new quality transit systems: Tramway, Light Rail (LRT), Guided Busways (GB) or Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). The introduction of Quality Transit Systems (QTS) is a costly investment which usually needs a complete re-organisation of the urban road network and in most cases an operating subsidy, which are seen as main obstacles to selection and implementation. Medium-sized cities face additional problems of funding and road-space re-allocation for new transit systems. However, apart from the direct mobility, environmental and energy-efficiency positive impacts, such QTS have quantifiableand significant indirect positive impacts on social and economic development, cohesion, urban regeneration and reduction of global warming. In medium-sized cities, where the implementation of such investments is particularly difficult, development and implementation can be facilitated if these indirect additional benefits are taken into consideration from the outset.The TranSUrban (Transit Systems Development for Urban Regeneration) project, investigated the above issues over the period 2005-2007, in five European medium-sized cities: Volos-Nea Ionia Magnesia (Greece), Cambridge (UK), Livorno (Italy), Valdemoro (Spain) and Linz (Austria). The overall aim of TranSUrban was to examine the development and operation of Urban TransitSystems: Light Rail Transit / Tramway / Guided Busway, and Bus Rapid Transit, in medium-sized cities, through innovative strategies towards sustainable development, cohesion and urban regeneration. This paper presents themethodology of TranSUrban for evaluating the indirect benefits of new QTSand the evaluation results. It is concluded that the indirect benefits, if properly assessed, quantified and justified, may well support the development of new QTS in medium-sized cities. In particular, it is argued that the evaluation methods developed and applied in the TranSUrban project canform the basis for the assessment and quantification of the total socioeconomic development benefits including urban regeneration, which are required to support investment appraisals under the new Cohesion Instruments, such as JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas). A framework is proposed for policy analysis which aims to facilitate adoption of the financial engineering principles and practices of JESSICA in establishing and operating Urban Development Funds for the co-fundingand implementation of QTS in medium-sized cities. For the covering abstract see ITRD E145999
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Availability:
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Authors:
- VOUGIOUKAS, M
- SAMMER, G
- MONZON, A
- EVANS, E
- Ambrosino, G
- Publication Date: 2008
Language
- English
Media Info
- Pagination: 18p
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Serial:
- EUROPEAN TRANSPORT CONFERENCE 2008; PROCEEDINGS
- ISSN: 1474-9122
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Buses; City planning; Conferences; Economics; Evaluation; Guideways; Guideways; Planning; Public transit; Quality assurance; Rapid transit; Sociology; Transportation; Trolley cars; Urban areas
- Uncontrolled Terms: Quality
- Geographic Terms: Europe
- Subject Areas: Economics; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01166116
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: TRL
- Files: ITRD
- Created Date: Aug 26 2010 8:42AM