Exploration of Transit's Sustainability Competitiveness
With growing interest in climate change and greater anticipation of energy cost increases, being sustainable has implications for the financial efficiency of transit agencies and on the image and appeal that transit has to offer current and prospective customers. Being more resource efficient can help the agency financially, increase its ridership and public support, and increase its contribution to broader national goals of moving toward a more sustainable transportation system. Collectively, these considerations provide strong motivation for transit to strive toward greater sustainability and articulate its contributions toward a more sustainable transportation system to the public and policy makers. Towards that end, this research initiative explores select aspects of public transit’s sustainability. The data regarding the fuel efficiency of public transit bus travel has been explored in detail, with results that may be surprising to many. First, the message from the data is confusing, as different sources show significantly different results. Closer scrutiny suggests that the actual performance of transit bus may be poorer than often reported and far poorer than commonly perceived. Based on national averages, transit bus use is not a more fuel efficient way to travel than auto, on average. (This does not apply to the marginal user who chooses to occupy available transit capacity.) When adjusted for context differences, bus and personal light vehicle modes appear to be virtually identical in terms of BTUs per passenger mile. Finally, transit may contribute to energy efficiency if, working with effective urban design, it attracts people to live in well-planned communities and to adopt travel habits that are less reliant on private vehicles. Transportation planning professionals are still learning how urban design can contribute to effective urban transit and greater overall energy efficiency.
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- Summary URL:
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Supplemental Notes:
- This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
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Corporate Authors:
National Center for Transit Research
Center for Urban Transportation Research, University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Avenue, CUT 100
Tampa, FL United States 33620Florida Department of Transportation
Public Transit Office, 605 Suwannee Street
Tallahassee, FL United States 32399-0450Research and Innovative Technology Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590 -
Authors:
- Polzin, Steven
- Reich, Steven
- Davis, Janet
- Publication Date: 2011-3
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Web
- Edition: Final Report
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 90p
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Bus transit; Public transit; Sustainable development; Sustainable transportation; Transit buses; Transportation planning; Urban design
- Uncontrolled Terms: Energy efficiency; Fuel efficiency
- Subject Areas: Energy; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01341161
- Record Type: Publication
- Contract Numbers: FDOT BDK85 TWO 977-16; DTRT07-G-0059 (Grant)
- Files: UTC, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
- Created Date: May 27 2011 4:22PM