Getting cars out of cities has become an international focus. But city officials, planners and citizens still do not have a clear, evidence-based answer to the question: what works to reduce car use in cities? We screened almost 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from throughout Europe published since 2010, and used real world data to rank the 12 most effective measures that European cities have introduced.The ranking reflects cities’ successes not only in terms of measurable reductions in car use but in achieving improved quality of life and sustainable mobility for their residents.  Our study, carried out at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies and published in Case Studies on Transport Policy, finds that more than 75% of the urban innovations that have successfully reduced car use were led by a local city government – notably, those that have proved most effective, such as a congestion charge, parking and traffic controls, and limited traffic zones.Narrow policies do not seem to be effective – there is no “silver bullet” solution. The most successful cities typically combine a few different policy instruments, including both carrots that encourage more sustainable travel choices, and sticks that charge for, or restrict, driving and parking. The research is clear: to improve health outcomes, meet climate targets and create more liveable cities, reducing car use should be an urgent priority. Yet many governments in the US and Europe continue to heavily subsidise driving via a combination of incentives such as subsidies for fossil fuel production, tax allowances for commuting by car, and incentives for company cars that promote driving over other means of transport. Essentially, such measures pay polluters while imposing the social costs on wider society.Ranked: 12 ways to reduce car use in cities.....read more                https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/16/12-most-effective-ways-cars-cities-europe

Across the world, the sheer volume of goods being moved over highways, roads, and city streets grows by the day. Global road freight demand, driven by GDP and population growth, is expected to increase by more than 45 percent over the next two decades—leading to over 60 trillion ton-km by 2040. And while freight movement plays a critical role in economic development and quality of life, it also has adverse consequences for public health and carbon emissions. This is due mostly to the pollution from diesel and gas used to fuel these vehicles, which ends up in our atmosphere and our lungs. And it’s particularly true in cities—many of which already have poor air quality.Thankfully, electric vehicles have emerged as an opportunity to move goods with substantially reduced CO2 emissions and drastically reduced noxious air pollutants. But they’re not only cleaner, they also typically have lower operating costs for fleets than gas or diesel-powered vehicles. And model availability is increasing rapidly. There are now over 215 zero-emissions commercial freight vehicle models available globally—a number expected to rise to over 240 by 2023. These vehicles couldn’t be hitting the market at a more opportune time. Global commercial vehicle sales are expected to nearly double by 2040, to almost 29 million units annually. But ensuring that those commercial vehicles are electric won’t happen on its own. It will require support from stakeholders across the industry—fleets and vehicle manufacturers, utilities and charging providers, and policymakers and regulators. We must overcome challenges including high up-front purchase cost, insufficient charging infrastructure, and a general lack of confidence on the part of the industry around performance compared with their fossil fuel-powered counterparts. This means working together, across borders and across oceans. Although the details of specific solutions may be unique to different geographies, the global trucking industry now has an opportunity to co-create solutions together and to learn from what has been tried in leading countries. As part of the Electric Truck Bootcampvirtual education series, RMI and the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) recently hosted a session on “Global Perspectives” on trucking electrification. During the training, experts from RMI, CALSTART, and ICCT shared learnings from around the world. We offer the following insights from China, India, and the United States.Leading with Charging Infrastructure in China........The city of Shenzhen, in southeastern China, is the global pioneer of electric logistics vehicles (ELVs). Shenzhen began to implement a policy framework to support ELVs in 2015, increasing the share of ELVS from less than 1 percent to over 30 percent. This is due in part to the near-ubiquitous charging infrastructure that has been installed across the region.In addition to incentives for the purchase and use of ELVs, Shenzhen has a framework to incentivize and support the construction of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, which includes installation subsidies, preferential electricity pricing for charging stations, and free parking for charging vehicles. Charging Infrastructure Installation Subsidy: In 2013, the Shenzhen municipal government instituted a program to subsidize the high costs of charger construction and spur growth.                        https://rmi.org/electrifying-trucking-from-delhi-to-shenzhen-san-francisco/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=spark&utm_content=

Cars aren’t what they used to be. Sure, they have more horsepower, more features, and require less fuel — but they are losing their power over humanity.  At least that’s the argument in a new book on the history of transportation by journalist Tom Standage, deputy editor of The Economist. In A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next, Standage argues the world may have already passed what he calls “peak car” — the point at which car ownership and use level off and start to decline. It can be seen in a drop in the number of automobiles that factories produce each year, the number of miles the average person drives, and the importance of cars in our lives. Such a trend may seem improbable here in the United States where, starting in the 1950s, politicians bet the entire pot on cars, spending trillions of dollars on multi-lane highway networks and designing cities expressly for automobiles. For decades, cars have become so useful, easy, and expected that people have been willing to accept a terrible price for them: The cost of car ownership, including fuel, repairs, parking, and insurance for the average American is around $10,000 a year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Then there are the emissions — transportation is the single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the country and a major source of other pollution. Also, the direct deaths: Every 100 million miles traveled — the distance Americans drive every 4 hours — exacts a sacrifice of one human life, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation. In a new interview, Standage talks about the evidence that the world has passed “peak car,” and about how transportation will change without an addiction to automobiles. In a new interview, Standage talks about the evidence that the world has passed “peak car,” and about how transportation will change without an addiction to automobiles.

https://grist.org/transportation/the-evidence-that-the-world-has-passed-peak-car/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beacon