Life cycle assessments of electric vehicles show that they cannot fully eliminate the greenhouse gas emissions of personal travel. We also need bikes, buses and trains to solve our climate problems.
Motorways were once seen as a way of reducing congestion in our towns and cities. But the more we build, the more they fill with drivers.
Bike routes have been expanded in many major cities, including Bogata, Columbia, to encourage people to avoid crowded public transportation.
(AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Bike shops have seen record sales during the pandemic as people try to avoid crowded transportation. But governments must do more to keep new cyclists in the saddle.
Iain Lawrie, The University of Melbourne and John Stone, The University of Melbourne
As COVID-19 restrictions are eased, cities face crippling congestion if people shun crowded public transport. More frequent and faster services, using innovations like pop-up bus lanes, can avoid this.
The world takes tentative steps to get back up and running amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but our post-pandemic world will look different than how we lived and worked before.
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Our experts look at recovery efforts, how different the post-pandemic world will be, the hunt for a cure for COVID-19, and why we need to mind our mental health.
New research suggests many Canadians cannot afford to forgo public transit during the COVID-19 pandemic — or ever.
Jed Dela Cruz/Unsplash
Many of Canada's residents, including essential workers, have no choice but to ride transit. Service cuts may cripple their access to essential destinations if governments do not intervene.
Many operators have lost almost all their fare revenue. Even those who operate on contract terms that reduce the impact of falling patronage must bear the costs of disinfection and other precautions.
Australia can learn from what has been done overseas, especially in China, to keep public transport running while containing the spread of coronavirus.
On-demand public transport has now provided over 1 million rides in 36 trials in various Australian cities. Is the problem of poor suburban public transport on the way to being solved?
Household actions lead to changes in collective behaviour and are an essential part of social movements.
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Starting in 2021, drivers will pay a fee to enter midtown and lower Manhattan during busy times of day. Will this clear New York's air and streets?
When it comes to urban planning, the question is not so much how to physically plan our cities differently. Rather, the question is how to convince both the public and our politicians to implement change.
Patrick Tomasso /Unsplash
City planners and politicians have pitched carbon emission reduction as an individual choice but this leads to green gentrification and fails to make broad changes. We need a new guiding philosophy.
CRRC Zhuzhou Institute developed the rubber-tyred autonomous rail transit (ART) system, or trackless tram, which has already been trialled in Zhuzhou, China.
Wikimedia
For 40 years the author has argued that trains and trams are better than buses. New 'trackless trams', which take innovations from high speed rail and put them in a bus, have changed his mind.
In many US cities, ride-hailing apps are luring riders away from public transit and increasing traffic congestion. But with the right rules, they could enhance public transit instead.
Cities are growing vertically as well as horizontally, so infrastructure needs to ensure people can move up and down as well as across the city.
Alpha/Flickr
Cities are expanding upwards and downwards, as well as outwards. With urban density also increasing, moving people efficiently around the city, often using ageing infrastructure, is quite a challenge.
Smart bus use can transform public transport in cities, as EMBARQ is doing in Brazil.
EMBARQ Brasil/Flickr
Trains and trams get most attention, but 'tweaking' bus transit can transform cities. Buses can be more cost-effective and deliver better service, especially for small to mid-sized cities.
Even in cities with good public transportation, some areas can be 'transit deserts,' where demand exceeds supply. Living in these zones makes it hard to access good jobs, health care and other services.
New York soon may charge a fee to drive into central Manhattan as a way of reducing traffic and raising funds for public transit. An urban scholar says this step is overdue in the United States.
Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair in Determinants of Child Development, Owerko Centre at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary