Sustainable Transport in Cities

Transporthas always shaped cities. In Medieval times crossroads gave birth to bloomingmarket towns. Many North American cities were created for the car. But how arethe cities of today being shaped by a need for more sustainable transport?

Manylocal governments are speeding up change through policy initiatives such asjoined transport, congestion charges and low emission zones, sustainablegaining and life-cycle costing, and opening data up to companies and academics.And these city level policies can move markets in more sustainable directions.【小题1】 This ha resulted in five vehicle manufacturers committing to meetingthat deadline, which is both in their own commercial interests and good for theenvironment.

The least dense cities, for example, Houston, have per capita（人均价）carbonemissions nearly ten times higher than the densest, such as Singapore. 【小题2】This involves gathering mixed use developments around a key transport center, as with the KL Central area in Kuala Lumpur, built around the largest railway station in Southeast Asia.

【小题3】Others are using motivations and behavioral change to encourage people to choose more efficient -- and often healthier -- forms of transport. Copen has a number of progressive cycling policies including the Green Wave, whichallows people cycling at 20km /h to hit all green lights during rush hour.

Light weighing and new engine and fuel technologies are helping to make existing road and rail vehicles more efficient. 【小题4】 The main options are hydrogen fuelcells, fossil fuel hybrids, and electric vehicles, and the best solution may well vary from city to city.

A recent study led by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has found a clear link between the color of a taxi and its accident rate. An analysis of 36 months of detailed taxi, driver and accident data from two fleets of yellow and blue taxis in Singapore suggested that yellow taxis have fewer accidents than blue taxis. The higher visibility (能见度) of yellow makes it less difficult for drivers to avoid getting into   accidents with yellow taxis, leading to a lower accident rate.

The study was led by Prof Ho. To test whether there was a relationship between the color of a taxi and the number of accidents the taxi had, the research team analysed data collected by the largest taxi company in Singapore. The researchers found that yellow taxis have about 6. 1 fewer accidents per 1,000 taxis per month.

They also studied the economic effect of changing the color of the entire fleet of taxis to yellow. The Singapore taxi company involved in the study owns about 16,700 taxis in a ratio(比例) of one yellow to three blue taxis. If a commercial decision is made to switch from blue to yellow taxis, 76.6 fewer accidents will occur per month or 917 fewer accidents per year.

Assuming an average repair cost of $1,000 per car and a downtime of six days, the color of all taxis to yellow could produce an annual saving of $ 2 million.

“We are eager to continue to validate (证实) the findings of our study by looking at the use of yellow in other types of public transport, such as school buses. For example, we hope to compare the accident rates of yellow school buses against those of other colors to find out if yellow is indeed a safer color for school buses. Besides, we’re also interested to look at private-hire vehicles and do a comparison of the accident rates of vehicles that are of different colors.” Explained Prof Ho.

A self-driving bus, made by CRRC Electric Vehicle Co Ltd, performed a trial run in Paris, France. Smart electric buses made in China are scheduled to start regular passenger services on open roads in autumn next year.

Demand for environmentally friendly public transport vehicles is rising in many parts of the world, especially in Europe. The company put a 12-meter-long self-driving bus on a trial run in Paris last week. The autonomous vehicle cleared a 6-kilometer route in southeast Paris on Friday. In about 40 minutes, the bus passed 26 traffic lights and 10 bus stops.

Benjamin Joliviere, a French engineer, said the results of the trial were "more than positive". It was the first time in France that a self-driving bus ran on a regular bus route.

Francois Yann, a bus driver, sat in the driver's seat during the trial run. "Once we had done the training and saw the vehicle in operation, we found it performed actually quite well," he said. “It feels like a technology we were dreaming about when we were kids. And now, it's all happening ...”.

In recent years, smart bus trials have been held in a number of Chinese cities. CRRC Electric Vehicle said the trial operations of Shanghai's first autonomous bus line began last month. The 8.5-km line with eight platforms opened to the public in mid-August. It takes a bus 35 to 40 minutes with 14 bus stops to complete the ride. The autonomous vehicles can automatically respond to 15 traffic lights, pull over, and open and close their doors.

Thanks to the rapid development of digital, intelligent and green technologies in transport, Chinese companies are seeking commercial opportunities. They are pioneering a new wave of technological breakthroughs.