This paper examines several issues relevant to handling the effects of increasing car use in cities. It estimates the growth in car ownership and use, and discusses its implications including the effects on other modes and the environmental impacts of emissions and energy use. It focuses on non-road-pricing measures to counter the use of cars, such as: (1) new public transport systems; and (2) effective use of land use planning to reduce travel demand. Experience from previous modelling work is applied, to assess the possible success of such policies. The relationship between public transport and urban planning is analysed, to see how they can help each other to provide an attractive alternative to the car. Many factors, such as cost, capacity, and required speed, need to be considered in choosing between alternative new public transport systems using new technology, like busways and light rail transit. The paper outlines some of the work of the UTOPIA (Urban Transport Operations and Planning Using Intelligent Analysis) project at the Centre for Transport Studies, Universty College London. UTOPIA aims to use expert systems to transfer between cities knowledge about choosing different types of modern public transport systems.
Samenvatting