2008 perspective with a political nature – touching on the Bali Climate Change Conference, Davos World Economic Forum, G8 Summit in July
2007 was a milestone year in many respects, setting new challenges for our sector and setting new records in many areas. In 1800, only 3% of the world’s population lived in towns and cities. Yet today we find, for the first time in human history according to UNHABITAT, more people now live in urban areas than in the countryside. A 47% increase in 207 years clearly demonstrates the rate of change of our modern era. It may be difficult for us to grasp what this means for those living in the developing world, where most of this growth is occurring, but all of us can relate to the impact of congestion and the growing environmental concerns seen in most cities around the world. This poses major challenges for us all in terms of personal mobility, and the affordability of transport globally.

The two largest expenditures of a family’s disposable income are usually housing and transport. Public transport services are able to serve a large proportion or urban trips but these trips often need to be complemented by another mode to provide a real door-to-door service. Here the topics of taxis and car sharing covered in this edition of Public Transport International provide valuable partners for us as transport providers and for our customers. The concept that you should “buy” a service or trip rather a vehicle is becoming more relevant  in today’s world. The concept of car sharing (sometimes called car clubs) in the developed world is gaining in acceptance, either avoiding the need to own a car at all or at least to buy a second car. However in the developing world sharing transport in combi taxis or minibuses is viewed in a different light. Necessary, but only for those who are not able to afford their own motorised transport or do not have it available for that trip. This is an important reflection for our members as the perspectives are quite different.

Today, only about 12% of the population in these fast growing emerging regions can afford a car, but the fast rates of motorisation taking place means this is changing. 2007 saw the introduction of the world’s first US$2,500 car designed for the Indian market initially – but it will also surge onto already highly congested roads in cities such as Jakarta, Bangkok and Beijing. This is counterbalanced by the growth of car sharing schemes in Europe and Canada, where it is estimated that one “car shared car” can take 8.3 cars off the road and the diminishing investments in public transport will be a core challenge in the coming years.

Last year also saw a greater focus on the issues of energy and climate change. Energy was a focus of the G8 Summit and this will continue. Energy use, security of supply and efficiency will remain dominant themes and cannot be disassociated from the urgency of addressing climate change. UITP attended the milestone conference on climate change held by the United Nations in Bali, and this topic will be a central theme for many actions over the next twelve months.

One such action is the second edition of the joint UITP/UNEP TV campaign “The world is your home: look after it”. This second campaign links the low-carbon aspect of public transport with climate protection and is available to all our members.

The United States may not have signed up to the Kyoto Protocol but this does not mean that the whole of the US is failing to take action to address climate change. California and 15 other states are suing the US federal government for blocking tough new vehicle emission standards. The proposed state-level emission standards are stricter than those of the federal government and, according to California, would be the equivalent  of taking 6.5 million vehicles off California roads by 2020.

Taking cars off the roads is a preoccupation of several major cities, such as Beijing, Berlin, Milan and London. They all brought the New Year in with progressive new standards, fees and travel restrictions on city drivers that refuse to upgrade to cleaner, more efficient vehicles. Facing tremendous pressure to improve its air quality ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing introduced a new fuel standard on January 1, 2008 equivalent to the European Union’s Euro standards. The Olympic host city’s ambitious “blue sky” plan, states that 70% of the days in 2008 must hit this new air quality standard. 40-50% of the major pollutants in Beijing’s air – nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and particulate matter – come from the estimated 3.1 million motor vehicles. And about 1,000 to 1,200 vehicles are added daily to the city’s already congested roads. The city plans to remove 1.3 million of those vehicles from roadways for the duration of the Olympics as well as permanently banning 300,000 cars with high emissions.

The city of Milan, Italy has introduced possibly some of the most extreme measures to control vehicle emissions with its Eco-pass Program. On weekdays between 7:30 am and 7:30 pm, vehicles that wish to enter the city must now purchase a ticket priced at the equivalent of US$15. The eco-pass is being policed by cameras at 43 electric gates around an 8 km2 inner area. Anyone failing to purchase a ticket will be fined the equivalent of US$100. Money raised will go towards buses, cycle paths and green vehicles. An estimated 89,000 vehicles take to the city’s streets every day but city officials say traffic on the first day of the scheme was 40% lower than normal.

The London Low Emission Zone is an ambitious new vehicle emission program covering the whole of Greater London. Oldervehicles which do not meet new Euro emission standards when entering the city face a non-negotiable fine that ranges from the equivalent of $200 to $2000.
 
Berlin, Cologne and Hannover introduced “environmental zones” to help reduce vehicle emissions requiring drivers to display a coloured sticker on their vehicle to enter the inner city zones. The colour depends on the pollutants the vehicle emits and depending on the sticker a vehicle may be denied access to certain zones.

Many of these policies and measures would have been considered to be political “suicide” a few years back so it is encouraging to see some strong action being taken to address the problems caused by too many cars in cities. Public transport is sometimes considered a “Cinderella” subject, suffering from a lack of visibility, and failing to capture the imagination of governments and funding organisations. Yet I am hopeful
that 2008 will provide us with fertile ground for making a step change for our sector and the time is right for promoting pub-

Roberto Cavalieri,
UITP President