On behalf of the public services of the city of Osnabrück, the Wuppertal Institute quantified public transport's contribution to climate protection in the city of Osnabrück and worked out a prognosis about the future development trends.
The analysis focused on the substitution of optional public transport ridership for car rides. Optional public transport ridership refers to those passengers, who make use of the public transport system in spite of owning a car. In order to determine the number of car rides saved via public transport usage, the public services of Osnabrück in consultation with the Wuppertal Institute conducted a comprehensive survey. The results of the survey in conjunction with methodological preconsiderations served as the basis for the calculation of CO2 reduction to be attributed to the public transport system in Osnabrück. In total, the CO2 reductions in 2008 with 253 working days and 52 Saturdays as well as Sundays amount to 9,176 tons.
The prognosis about possible future CO2 reductions through public transport shows that its contribution to climate protection pales slightly in comparison to car travel but public transport will remain by far the more climate friendly mode of travel.