¿Evolucionamos hacia un sistema de transporte más eficiente?

El último cuarto de siglo ha supuesto un cambio de paradigma en el sector transporte. Por un lado, la incorporación de nuestro país a la Unión Europea supuso un aumento de las relaciones de transporte con el resto de los países comunitarios. El crecimiento económico fue el vector dinamizador de este proceso, que ha producido un claro aumento de la movilidad. Pero un aumento desequilibrado, en mucha mayor medida que para el conjunto de nuestros socios comunitarios, con una excesiva dependencia de la carretera. Consecuentemente, el transporte resulta ser el primer sector emisor de gases de efecto invernadero y contaminantes atmosféricos. Pero no sólo se ha agrandado el desequilibrio modal, sino que las cuantiosas inversiones en infraestructuras, buena parte de ellas con fondos comunitarios, no ha revertido la polarización regional. Se analiza este proceso estudiando la evolución en España y los otros países comunitarios del reparto modal de pasajeros y mercancías y su relación con las variables económicas. Cabe concluir que nuestras pautas de movilidad son menos eficientes y más sensibles al devenir económico que las de otros países, lo cual ha hecho que el impacto de la crisis sea más grave y patente. El crecimiento no ha sido aprovechado para lograr un transporte más eficiente, como han hecho otros países, sino todo lo contrario: se necesita transportar más –sobre todo mercancías- para aportar la misma riqueza. La receta para una mayor eficiencia pasa por un mayor nivel de integración: redes, modos y servicios. Hay que aportar “ingeniería” al sistema de transportes, y no sólo infraestructuras. Y desde la planificación, pasando por la coordinación administrativa, y operando con otra visión. Un proceso diferente, pero igualmente significativo, se da en la movilidad urbana, donde se está produciendo un cambio de paradigma: una vuelta a la ciudad compacta y un cambio en el tipo de movilidad, donde los objetivos de eliminar la congestión y aumentar la velocidad, están siendo sustituidos por la reducción del viario para el coche, la movilidad a pie y en bicicleta, junto con más demanda de espacio para actividades ciudadanas. Por tanto, también, en la ciudad se precisa una visión integral de los modos y la calidad de vida, para lograr un sistema de transporte eficiente social y ambientalmente. Para lograr este cambio de paradigma se necesitan ciudades-icono, que planteen soluciones que rompan tendencias: congestion charging de Londres, bicing de Barcelona, metro de Madrid, etc. Y por otra parte, se necesita un marco de políticas de sostenibilidad: Zonas de Bajas Emisiones en los centros urbanos, vehículo eléctrico, etc. Y todo ello debe con aceptabilidad pública y un uso eficiente de recursos: todo un reto

Modelling land use and transport policies to measure their contribution to urban challenges: the case of Madrid.

Urban areas play a key role in the development of European territories, and it is essential for them to be sustainable and efficient. However, the European cities are facing some challenges related to certain trends that are threatening their sustainable development and operational efficiency. In this paper, we compare the contribution of three policy measures—cordon toll accompanied by public transport improvements, teleworking and re-densification—to address different city challenges. The policy assessment requires a long term simulation tool, i.e., the MARS (Metropolitan Activity Relocation Simulator) model, which is able to consider interactions between land use and transport systems. The simulations of the different policy scenarios were carried out for the case of Madrid in the period 2012–2031. The contribution of the policy measures to address the city challenges was measured through different indicators. The results indicated that the three policy measures contributed to the time efficiency challenge, by saving time for the commute, reducing congestion and improving the traffic flows at peak hours. The most effective policy in this regard is the teleworking measure. Another challenge addressed by the three policies was the accessibility to PT. The three policy scenarios, when simulated, showed higher PT use, especially the cordon toll scenario. However, the only policy that really contributed to the energy, emissions and pollution city challenges was the re-densification measure, which reduced travel distances and encouraged a mobility that relies more on PT and slow modes

Comparative analysis of passenger transport sustainability in European cities

Sustainable development in its three dimensions – economic, social and environmental – has become a major concern on an international scale. The problem is global, but must be solved locally. Most of the world’s population lives in cities that act as centres of economic growth and productivity, but which – if they develop in the wrong direction – can cause social inequalities, or irreversibly harm the environment. Urban transport causes a number of negative impacts that can affect sustainability targets. The objective of this study is to propose an analysis of sustainability of urban passenger transport systems based on available indicators in most cities. This will serve to benchmark the practices of different cities and manage their transport systems. This work involves the creation of composite indicators (CI) to measure the sustainability of urban passenger transport systems. The methodology is applied to 23 European cities. The indicators are based on a benchmarking approach, and the evaluation of each aspect in each case therefore depends on the performance of the whole sample. The CI enabled us to identify which characteristics have the greatest influence on the sustainability of a city’s transport system, and to establish transport policies that could potentially improve its shortcomings. Finally, the cities are clustered according to the values obtained from the CIs, and thus according to the weaknesses and strengths of their transport systems

Measuring negative synergies of urban sprawl and economic crisis over public transport efficiency: the case of Spain

Sustainable urban mobility requires accessible and demand attractive public transport (PT) networks. However, urban sprawl has been the main characterizing growth pattern of European cities since 1950. In these increasingly dispersed cities, PT is facing increasing problems of efficiency to compete with cars. The sprawling cities are dominated by car use, especially in the peripheral areas. Moreover, Europe is still reeling under the financial crisis, which first hit the continent in 2007. In this context of economic crisis, the lack of financing resources and the declining demand for PT have further weakened the PT systems in European cities. This study considered the urban PT systems of six Spanish cities in order to determine their evolution over the last ten years. This evolution is examined in the backdrop of urban sprawl and economic crisis. The analysis is based on several indicators meant to measure PT demand, supply, and efficiency. The study shows how did each city react to the lack of resources and trip reduction during the economic crisis, by adopting different PT management strategies. The differences in reaction produced different results, but none of the cities could avoid the loss of PT efficiency. The results indicate that policy strategies need to include land use and transport measures to achieve more sustainable PT systems. Only integrated strategies could improve PT efficiency and quality levels and contribute toward increasing competitiveness of PT, even in adverse contexts

Policy priority objectives: comparative assessment in four European cities

[EN] Sustainability must be an urban issue. Cities should be managed so as to minimize their impacts on environment, but providing an appropriate framework for economic and social development. However, European cities are facing some trends that threaten sustainable development. The aim of the EC research project INSIGHT-7FP (2013/16) is to develop appropriate management tools that can help to achieve sustainability in the context of European cities. In the project, a set of policy objectives have been designed for the management of urban areas, in order to face the main threats existing over cities. The paper presents a methodology based on indicators for analysing the progress towards these ten policy objectives in the four EU cities participating in the project: London (12.3 mill. inhab.), Madrid (6.4 mill. inhab.), Barcelona (5.4 mill. inhab.) and Rotterdam (1.4 mill. inhab.). All the indicators used in the analysis have been validated by ten policy makers of European cities. These policy makers participated on the stakeholders consultation carried out in the project, where the importance of the policy objectives proposed was also assessed. The paper concludes determining the policy priority objectives in each city, in order to contain the main threats existing over them: London should especially address the threats of social exclusion and transport inefficiency; Madrid the threats of economic decline and urban sprawl; Barcelona the economic decline and Rotterdam the contribution to climate change and the urban sprawl. Finally, the role played by the land use and transport system in these policy objectives is analysed. To this end, the assessment allows for the comparability of the results in a horizontal manner, in the basis of common indicators. Nearly half of these indicators are related to the land use and transport system of the cities.Alonso Ramos, A.; Monzón, A. (2016). Policy priority objectives: comparative assessment in four European cities. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1220-1233. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.4091OCS1220123

A vueltas con la última milla

De acuerdo con el Libro Blanco (CE, 2011), la calidad es clave para fomentar el uso del transporte público: horarios convenientes, información adecuada, comodidad, facilidad de acceso, fiabilidad e integración intermodal (todos ellos relacionados con la movilidad puerta a puerta sin discontinuidad) son fundamentales para dicho fin. Los nodos intermodales, como intercambiadores y estaciones son, por tanto, elementos esenciales de las redes de transporte. Sin embargo, no alcanzan en su mayoría la máxima eficiencia en términos de coordinación de la información y modelos de gestión, especialmente cuando en ellos convergen modos de corta y larga distancia. La satisfacción de los clientes es una buena medida del éxito de cualquier servicio, directamente relacionada con el cumplimiento de sus expectativas. Por tanto, los gestores podrían beneficiarse de técnicas de benchmarking basadas en evaluaciones cuantitativas de la calidad realizadas por los propios usuarios, ya que permiten valorar el funcionamiento de los servicios en términos relativos. Sin embargo, comparar directamente el grado de satisfacción del servicio de estaciones, que se encuentran en distintas ciudades e incluso distintos países, puede dar lugar a sesgos y conclusiones erróneas, debido a posibles diferencias culturales

Mejorar la intermodalidad: un nuevo modelo de negocio

El elevado número de agentes que intervienen en la transferencia entre modos de corta y larga distancia, supone un difícil proceso derivado de la complicada relación entre ellos, dadas las grandes diferencias entre operadores y la necesidad de integrar intereses públicos y privados en un engarce siempre complejo. El proyecto HERMES (7PM-UE), origen de este artículo, cuyo principal objetivo es impulsar el transporte intermodal y desarrollar nuevos escenarios que faciliten la transferencia entre modos, se encuadra en este contexto

Factores clave en la eficiencia de intercambiadores de transporte

Los intercambiadores de transporte son pieza clave en la movilidad, en particular cuando se combinan viajes de larga distancia con los de acceso y dispersión. La buena conexión entre ambas partes de un viaje de larga distancia pueden hacer más o menos competitivas las alternativas de transporte público. En el proyecto HERMES del 7 PM de la UE, se ha analizado la eficiencia de varios intercambiadores de transporte. La primera parte del proyecto se centra en analizar la visión de diferentes stakeholders en el diseño, gestión y elementos del intercambiador. Por otra parte, se ha realizado una encuesta a viajeros en los intercambiadores de autobús y ferrocarril, permitiendo identificar la percepción de los usuarios sobre los elementos del intercambiador, así como sus pautas de movilidad de acceso y dispersión, en función de los servicios de transporte utilizados. Se han analizado qué elementos funcionales del intercambiador son más valorados, cuáles son los sistemas de información clave y qué otros servicios se demandan. Por otra parte, se han encontrado relaciones significativas entre algunas variables del viaje y de tipo socioeconómico, como modo principal con el de acceso y dispersión, modo con motivo de viaje y nivel de renta, etc. Se concluye que los intercambiadores deben tener un diseño específico dependiendo del tipo de usuario; así los viajeros del tren de alta velocidad valoran en primer lugar el tiempo de viaje y conexión, mientras que los de autobús valoran sobre todo los precios reducidos. La edad y ocupación de los usuarios también cambia. Los primeros realizan en su mayoría viajes de negocio y tienen una edad media superior a los 40 años, mientras que los de autobús viajan por motivos personales y son más jóvenes

Advances on the formulation of proteins using nanotechnologies

This is the accepted manuscript of the following article: Santalices, I., Gonella, A., Torres, D., & Alonso, M. (2017). Advances on the formulation of proteins using nanotechnologies. Journal Of Drug Delivery Science And Technology, 42, 155-180. doi: 10.1016/j.jddst.2017.06.018Therapeutic proteins and peptides are very attractive from the pharmaceutical point of view due to their high potency and selectivity. Nonetheless, their instability and low bioavailability make their adminis- tration through non parenteral routes very difficult, a fact that hampers their efficient exploitation in therapeutics. Since the 70's, significant amount of research in the area of drug delivery and nanotech- nology has been done with the final goal of overcoming those hurdles. In particular, biodegradable and biocompatible lipid and polymer-based nanocarriers have emerged as promising delivery platforms to enable the administration of proteins and peptides. This review provides an overview of the mostly explored nanotechnologies to date intended to produce lipidic and polymeric nanocarriers for protein/ peptide delivery. The basic principles of the different techniques are discussed, and the main factors involved in the drug association and release, are analyzed. Finally, a brief overview of the potential applications of these protein/peptide-loaded nanocarriers, highlighting the nanomedicines that have reached the market or the clinical development phase, is providedS

Effect of cultivation conditions on β-estradiol removal in laboratory and pilot-plant photobioreactors by an algal-bacterial consortium treating urban wastewater

The use of microalgal consortia for urban wastewater treatment is an increasing trend, as it allows simultaneous nutrient removal and biomass production. Emerging contaminants proposed for the list of priority substances such as the hormone 17β-estradiol are commonly found in urban wastewater, and their removal using algal monocultures has been accomplished. Due to the inherent potential of algae-based systems, this study aimed to assess the capability of native photobioreactor biomass to remove 17β-estradiol under indoor and outdoor conditions. At the same time, the microbial community changes in regular and bioaugmented operations with Scenedesmus were assessed. The results show that almost complete removal (>93.75%) of the hormone 17β-estradiol can be attained in the system under favourable seasonal conditions, although these conditions greatly influence biomass concentrations and microbial diversity. Even under the harsh conditions of low temperatures and solar irradiation, the established consortium removed more than 50% of the pollutant in 24 h. While species from genus Chlorella were stable during the entire operation, the microbial diversity analysis revealed that assorted and evenly distributed populations stimulate the removal rates. Bioaugmentation assays proved that the input of additional biomass results in higher overall removal and decreases the yield per mg of biomass