Skip to main content

New report shows benefits of improved urban transport efficiency

Policies that improve the energy efficiency of urban transport systems could help save as much as US$ 70 trillion in spending on vehicles, fuel and transportation infrastructure between now and 2050, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency. The report, A Tale of Renewed Cities, draws on examples from more than thirty cities across the globe to show how to improve transport efficiency through better urban planning and travel demand management. Extra benefits include lower greenhouse-ga
July 12, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Policies that improve the energy efficiency of urban transport systems could help save as much as US$ 70 trillion in spending on vehicles, fuel and transportation infrastructure between now and 2050, according to a new report from the 4724 International Energy Agency.

The report, A Tale of Renewed Cities, draws on examples from more than thirty cities across the globe to show how to improve transport efficiency through better urban planning and travel demand management. Extra benefits include lower greenhouse-gas emissions and higher quality of life.

This report was supported by the 2001 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Shareholder Special Fund and includes input from EBRD experts and case studies based on the Bank’s work in the urban transport sector.

Among the three broad categories of policies recommended in the report are those that allow travel to be avoided, those that shift travel to more efficient modes, and those that improve the efficiency of vehicle and fuel technologies.

The report offers three case studies, Belgrade, Seoul and New York City, to show how those cities have already improved their transport systems.

A Tale of Renewed Cities sets out a path outlining the essential steps and milestones for policy development and implementation to transform cities by improving urban transport systems, with the necessary planning and actions for supporting development, financing, implementation and evaluation of policies to improve the energy efficiency of urban transport systems.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • LA transport to receive fibre-optic boost
    December 8, 2020
    Network is expected to aid the development of smart city applications
  • ITS sector must use less confusing industry terms says Q-Free
    December 23, 2015
    For ITS to gain the recognition it deserves, Q-Free’s Knut Evensen argues that the sector must have a coherent message and avoid confusing the wider community with a bewildering array of terms and acronyms. Any industry or group of people will develop its own lexicon over time. The process is near-inevitable, as individuals’ knowledge bases increase and evolve, and terms for common wisdom are created and become truncated, or even slang. A danger, though, as a relatively small group looks to admit large numb
  • The great pay divide
    April 2, 2014
    Public acceptance is crucial for the acceptance of managed and express lanes as Jon Masters discovers. Lists of proposed highway expansion projects introducing variably priced toll lanes continue to lengthen. Managed lanes, or express lanes to some, are gaining support as a politically favourable way of adding capacity and reducing acute congestion on principal highways. In Florida, for example, the managed lanes on the 95 Express are claimed to have significantly increased average peak-time speeds on tolle
  • Singapore plans changes to transit system
    June 13, 2018
    Singapore has the third-highest population density in the world and the numbers are continuing to grow. The government knows that transit is vital: David Crawford investigates the city state’s Smart Nation strategy. Transport is the most important of the five domains identified as the pillars of Singapore's far-reaching Smart Nation strategy, launched in November 2014 by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong with the aim of reaching fulfilment by 2024. Roads account for 12% of the island republic's 719km2 land ar