Instruments: Tools to Influence and Improve Transport User Choices

Instruments: Tools to Influence and Improve Transport User Choices

Instruments to influence and improve transport user choices

• 
  High-level policy integration. Greening agenda is highly inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary, encompassing policy issues of various sectors, including environment, energy, industry, trade, and transport. High-level policies that go beyond sectoral goals and interests would minimize redundancies and conflicts, while maximizing the collective benefits.
  
• 
  Spatial planning. Spatial developmentthe location of agglomerations such as industries, tourism destinations, and human settlements and their interactionsaffects travel patterns and intensity, and vice versa. In the context of intercity transport, the location of major industries and cities and how logistics chains develop collectively determine overall transport costs and affect productivity. In the context of inner-city transport, physical layouts, land-use allocations, and development densities are key parameters that shape travel patterns.
  

• 
  Fuel quality standards. In many countries, various chemical characteristics of motor fuels—lead, sulfur, oxygenates and aromatic content—are subject to government regulations. Each of these chemicals affects various aspects of pollutant emissions.
  
• 
  Vehicle technical standards of vehicles. Many countries specify vehicle emission standards that define limits for exhaust emissions by pollutant type, and maximum fuel consumption rate by vehicle type (gasoline mileage), applied to all new vehicles sold nation-wide. Some countries rely on voluntary agreements with vehicle manufacturers (e.g., the European Union), other countries specify and enforce obligatory limits (e.g., the United States).^{CITATION Gla08 \n \t \l 1033}
  
• 
  Enforcement. Strong and cost-effective enforcement of standards on fuels and vehicles is a critical element of any regulatory framework. Enforcement can be particularly challenging when the governance is weak, as the increased contact between public officials and citizens could spawn petty corruption.
  

• 
  Internalizing externalities. Road users make a decision on trips based on the personal costs (e.g., depreciation of their vehicles, cost of fuel and parking, value of their time), but not based on the impact of their trips on air pollution, congestion, or any other negative impacts on society as a whole. Similarly, drivers that use fuels with a high content of pollutants are unaware of, and not held accountable for, the health costs due to transport emissions. As a result, road users tend to drive and pollute more than they would have if they were to bear the full cost of the transport services that includes the social costs of air pollution and congestion caused by them. This increases pollution and congestion, and consequently, social costs in form of health costs and productivity loss. Pricing and charges, if set at rates that reflect the monetary value of damage to infrastructure assets and health costs caused by transport emissions and safety risks, would give incentives to transport users to make greener and safer choices, contributing to green transportation. The pricing tool to correct externalitiesinternalization of external costsis central to the European Commission strategy to achieve an efficient transport sector.^{CITATION Gla08 \n \t \l 1033}
  
• 
  Taxes and subsidies. Taxes and subsidies on fuels and vehicles that are designed to vary on the basis of their impacts on the environment can be a cost-effective tool to incentivize green transport behaviors. Fiscal measures can be designed revenue-neutral and progressive. For instance, increased fuel tax revenues from lower quality fuels can be used to reward greening behavior, in form of subsidies or tax breaks on vehicle retrofitting.
  
• 
  Explicit pricing of externalities. To explicitly charge for externalities, many countries implement various forms of road user charges, such as distance-based road user charges, road tolls, vignettes, congestion charges, and distance-based automobile insurance, among others (see Box 1).
  

• 
  Greener modes of transport. Many cities have succeeded in developing and implementing modern, high-speed, high-capacity and high-quality public transportation systems.
  
• 
  Infrastructure network and connectivity. Well-developed transport network and advanced transshipment technologies can improve overall throughput and intermodal connectivity at key transport hubs and junctions, both in terms of capacity, time and costs. Improved connectivity between modes can induce modal shift from highly flexible modes (such as road transport) to less-flexible but lower-cost modes (possibly railway), especially for long-distance trips.
  
• 
  Advanced vehicle technologies. Mechanical improvements have contributed to better fuel efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles: tires with low rolling resistance, improved aerodynamics, decreased vehicle weight, and energy-efficient electric components. Facing stricter standards, vehicle manufacturers are likely to continue improving fuel efficiency and emissions of internal combustion engine vehicles. In the future, wider introduction of hybrid engines coupled with electric technologies is expect to contribute to substantial improvements in fuel economy.^{CITATION Gla08 \n \t \l 1033}
  

4. 
   
   Directory: curated
   curated -> Concept stage
   curated -> Concept stage
   curated -> Republic of Côte d'Ivoire Urbanization Review
   curated -> Report No: aus11011 Central America
   curated -> Report No. 94474-pk fiscal Disaster Risk Assessment Options for Consideration
   curated -> Environmental and Social Management Framework for the Costa Rica Telecommunications Sector Modernization Project
   curated -> Environment Impact Assessment For Jiangxi Shangrao Sanqingshan Airport Beijing Guohuantiandi Environmental Technology Development Center. Ltd. Oct. 2012 Content
   curated -> Growth through Innovation An Industrial Strategy for Shanghai By Shahid Yusuf Kaoru Nabeshima April 22nd, 2009
   curated -> Report No: 70178. People's Republic of China
   
   
   
   Download 3.46 Mb.
   
   Share with your friends: