The external costs of air pollution by motorcycles.

Author(s)
Int Panis, L. Nocker, L. de & Torfs, R.
Year
Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the consequences for air quality of modal shifts between passenger cars (incl. car-pooling), motorcycles and city buses. This evaluation is based on the calculation of environmental external costs. The analysis will be complemented with a literature review of congestion and accident related externalities of different modes to allow a meaningful comparison. The assessment of environmental impacts through air pollution is based on the ExternE methodology, which was developed within a European wide project, co-funded by the European Commission. It is based on a detailed 'impact-pathway analysis', which aims to quantify impacts on human health, crops, materials and ecosystems in 4 consecutive steps: specification of emissions, dispersion simulation, impact assessment with dose-response functions and monetary valuation. Motorcycles are the third category of road vehicles for passenger transport for which we have calculated externalities with this methodology. This paper is the first in which our results for motorcycles are presented and discussed. Motorcycles with different cylinder capacities between 50 and 750cc are compared. Based on the results of previous studies on passenger cars and buses, we can now compare three major vehicles for passenger transport while taking differences in capacity into account. Calculations with a simplified world model provide us with a means to distinguish the different impacts that are dominant in cities, rural areas and on highways. We assess which pollutants are dominant in the assessment of external costs and which measures could be taken for the abatement of motorcycle emissions. This could result in recommendations for the drafting of Euro2 emissions standards for motorcycles by the European Commission. For the covering abstract see ITRD E128239.

Request publication

4 + 0 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.

Publication

Library number
C 35585 (In: C 35524 [electronic version only]) /15 /90 / ITRD E128300
Source

In: Urban transport VIII : urban transport and the environment in the 21st century : proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Urban Transport and The Environment in the 21st Century, Seville, Spain, 13-15 March 2002, p. 623-632, 5 ref.

Our collection

This publication is one of our other publications, and part of our extensive collection of road safety literature, that also includes the SWOV publications.