Impact of the public transportation on the environment: Saving energy and increasing the mobility

One of the biggest problems in our societies is the increasing lack of mobility. Over the past 50 years the number of cars in the world increased from 50 million to 450 million. Occupancy rates for cars are in decline, originating higher emissions, more streets and road space occupancy, more noise and less mobility. The most space-consuming mode of transport is the private car. Transport relies heavily on non-renewable fossil fuels. The transportation sector will overtake industry as the largest user of energy by 2020. Public transport consumes 3.7 times less energy per passenger in Europe, and 10 times less in Japan. The external costs of rail system modes are much lower than a private car or road freight transport. All these topics are discussed and some recommendations coming from the UITP are made.