Urban mobility transitions through GDP growth: Policy choices facing cities in developing countries

This paper analyses the factors associated with the private transport modal share in cities of different wealth. We use the 1995 UITP Millennium Cities dataset and smaller samples of matching cities in the 2012 UITP Mobility in Cities dataset. Segmented bivariate analysis using the 1995 data showed that the associations between the private transport share and various socio-economic, transport, and land use variables are mostly non-linear or moderated by third variables. K-means clustering of the same 1995 variables then revealed three distinct groups of cities. Cluster 1 contains cities in developing countries with low private transport share and poor provision for both private and public transport. Cluster 2 contains high-income cities with high private transport share, low population density, and better relative provision and quality of private transport. Cluster 3 also contains high-income cities but with a moderate private transport share, higher population density, and better relative provision and quality of public transport. The evolution of cities from 1995 to 2012 showed that, as cities grow in wealth, they either move from Cluster 1 to Cluster 2 or from Cluster 1 to Cluster 3. Regression analysis provided further confirmation that the private transport share is explained by the variables that define the three clusters. Overall, the paper provides information for cities in developing countries to formulate combinations of transport and land use policies that can contribute to a transition towards sustainable transport systems

Urban streets: generating design options, in Better Streets for Better Cities: A Handbook for Active Street Planning, Design and Management - Chapter 8

Using examples from the MORE cities, this chapter describes and illustrates the process of applying the MORE option generation and co-creation design tools (as introduced in Chapter 5) to develop design options. It also covers post-appraisal stakeholder engagement

Urban streets: impact assessment and appraisal, in Better Streets for Better Cities: A Handbook for Active Street Planning, Design and Management - Chapter 9

This chapter expands on Step 6 of the street design process (see Chapter 6), by describing the modelling and appraisal tools used in MORE and presenting some of the results from the five cities

Cross-site assessment of road design packages

This report develop a concept for evaluating alternative design solutions for urban streets: the Street Performance Assessment Scheme. It should be generally valid and applicable to any redesign task, to compare the performance of a road/street section: (1) with the goals formulated for each case study, (2) in situations before and after the implementation of a redesign solution, and (3) between different case studies in cross-site assessments. In this report, the Street Performance Assessment Scheme is applied to streets in five European cities. These streets have major movement and 'place' functions and have limited space availabilities, and are thus typical examples for the most challenging design tasks that urban street designers face

A stated preference model to value reductions in community severance

This paper presents the results of a stated preference survey to assess the value of reductions in community severance (the “barrier effect” of transport infrastructure on the mobility of pedestrians). In a first exercise, participants chose between crossing a road in a place without designated facilities or walking additional minutes to a place where the road is covered over. Half of the participants never chose to cross, regardless of the road design, traffic characteristics, and length of the detour. On average, the other half would only cross the road, if the detour was at least 7.5 minutes, or higher, if the road had extra traffic lanes, no central reservation, and high traffic density. In a second exercise, participants were asked if they would cross the road if they could save money by using a shop or a bus stop on the other side of the road, instead of one on their side of the road. 38% never chose to cross. The cost saving for which the other 62% would cross depends on the scenario, especially regarding traffic volume. On average, participants would only cross a road with high traffic volume if the saving was £2.8. Overall, the study suggests that many people are not willing to trade-off pedestrian safety with shorter walking times or cost savings. People who are willing to trade-off attach greater importance to some aspects (like traffic density) than others (like traffic speed)

Urban mobility: preparing for the future, learning from the past - CREATE project summary and recommendations

Transport decisions, and their resulting impacts on land use patterns, fundamentally shape and define a city, both physically and through the daily living patterns of its citizens and visitors. As policy priorities change, so do the types of measures that are introduced, with resulting shifts in travel behaviour and lifestyles. What at one point in a city’s history is often seen as the ‘inevitable’ need to adapt the urban fabric to accommodate the growing use of the motor car, may later be replaced by a focus on people movement and sustainable mobility, and a growing interest in urban quality and vitality – a city of places for people. CREATE (Congestion Reduction in Europe: Advancing Transport Efficiency) charts these changes in policy priorities and travel behaviour through the experiences of five Western European capital cities over the last 50 years, noting the policy tensions and competing city visions, the triggers leading to change and the evolving governance arrangements that have facilitated, or sometimes retarded, such developments. As policy priorities change, so do measures of success; in a car-focused city congestion is the dominant concern, but this becomes less important as more people travel by rail or on foot or by cycle, and when cities put a greater value on high quality places. Alongside this there have been technical changes, in the types of methods used to model behaviour and appraise schemes, and in the ways in which these tools are used. This document provides an introduction to the CREATE project, focusing on findings and lessons of value to practitioners, and those developing or updating their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. It is underpinned by extensive qualitative and quantitative research, which is fully documented in several deliverables, and summarised in a series of Technical Notes. A more comprehensive set of Guidelines is also available

The impact of fare complexity on rail demand

The current rail fare structure in the UK is widely considered to be complex. It offers flexibility by including many different types of tickets but it can also cause confusion, which may lead some to a negative view towards rail travel and thereby potentially inhibit demand, in comparison to a simpler fare regime. This study used an innovative stated preference survey to quantify the demand effects of fare complexity, focusing on Advance tickets (those that are restricted to a particular train service). The choice experiment was designed to mirror very closely the actual booking experience when buying tickets online, in all its complexity. Participants could choose among up to 531 different ticket type combinations for the outward and return legs of a trip and from up to 25 possible train services for each leg. The key design attribute was complexity, defined as the range of different Advance tickets on offer. The survey was applied to a sample of 1,027 users and 179 non-users of the rail network on the Lon on-Leeds route. The modelling of the choices with a nested mixed logit model suggested that, all else equal, reducing complexity by removing Advance tickets would lead to a substantial reduction of demand (11% to 45%, depending on route segment). Equalizing the price of Advance tickets for all train services was predicted to cause a smaller reduction (3-6%). By contrast, increasing complexity by adding new Flexible Advance tickets (valid on the services immediately before or after the chosen service) would increase demand by 4-15%. These findings run counter to the hypothesis that simplifying the fare structure would lead to increases in demand for rail travel

Urban mobility: preparing for the future, learning from the past - CREATE project summary and recommendations

Transport decisions, and their resulting impacts on land use patterns, fundamentally shape and define a city, both physically and through the daily living patterns of its citizens and visitors. As policy priorities change, so do the types of measures that are introduced, with resulting shifts in travel behaviour and lifestyles. What at one point in a city's history is often seen as the 'inevitable' need to adapt the urban fabric to accommodate the growing use of the motor car, may later be replaced by a focus on people movement and sustainable mobility, and a growing interest in urban quality and vitality - a city of places for people. CREATE (Congestion Reduction in Europe: Advancing Transport Efficiency) charts these changes in policy priorities and travel behaviour through the experiences of five Western European capital cities over the last 50 years, noting the policy tensions and competing city visions, the triggers leading to change and the evolving governance arrangements that have facilitated, or sometimes retarded, such developments. As policy priorities change, so do measures of success; in a car-focused city congestion is the dominant concern, but this becomes less important as more people travel by rail or on foot or by cycle, and when cities put a greater value on high quality places. Alongside this there have been technical changes, in the types of methods used to model behaviour and appraise schemes, and in the ways in which these tools are used. This document provides an introduction to the CREATE project, focusing on findings and lessons of value to practitioners, and those developing or updating their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. It is underpinned by extensive qualitative and quantitative research, which is fully documented in several deliverables, and summarised in a series of Technical Notes. A more comprehensive set of Guidelines is also available. Document type: Repor