The Los Angeles conurbation is one of the world's most congested and polluted areas. Nearly two thirds of the pollution is created by cars and trucks. The population is increasing as is vehicle ownership and vehicle miles travelled. Recent California State legislation designed to improve air quality aims to reduce the demand to travel particularly one person per car commuting to work. This will be achieved by requiring Los Angeles employers to submit trip reduction plans which demonstrate how average vehicle ridership will be increased from a current 1.1 person/ vehicle to 1.75 persons/ vehicle. Typical plans include transportation demand management measures - car or van pooling, alterations in work practices e.g. telecommuting and incentives to ease public transport. These efforts are in some part being complemented by the introduction of High Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) facilities and heavy investment in public transport, particularly L.R.T. In this paper some of these initiatives which could be considered for European cities are suggested. These include for use of private transport high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes; and bypasses to ramp meters which give preferential treatment to car and van poolers. For public transport, initiatives include improvements such as operation of express coach services; bus priority schemes, and light rapid transport in a few cities.
Abstract