EVIDENCE

EVIDENCE of the Proven Economic Benefits of Sustainable Transport Initiatives to Facilitate Effective Integration in Urban Mobility Plans

  • Project no.250037
  • Duration 03/2014 - 02/2017

The EVIDENCE project examined the notion that sustainable transport initiatives do not compete with "traditional" transport infrastructure in terms of delivering economic benefit.
One consequence of this perception is that potentially fewer of these initiatives or interventions are being made in cities, and consequently the implementation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) is less effective. In response, EVIDENCE set out to address three objectives:

  • To demonstrate that sustainable mobility interventions can offer good value, and do not compare poorly in comparison to infrastructure schemes (such as new roads).
  • To evidence how investments in sustainable mobility can foster economic activity.
  • To provide greater confidence in more sustainable solutions, and facilitate the communication of their benefits in appropriate language to allow cities to engage successfully with funders.

To help achieve these objectives, EVIDENCE collected, sifted and reviewed almost 1,000 items of source material for 22 categories of measure typically found in a SUMP. The extensive review and analysis found economic benefits across all 22 categories of sustainable mobility intervention, and extensive economy-relevant evidence for around a third of these. It is notable that, in around half of the cases, these economic benefits focussed around reduced use of private cars, and the indirect benefits such a reduction created in terms of reduced road congestion for other travellers, particularly those continuing to use private cars.

Armed with the "evidence", the project has engaged directly with member states who joined the EU post 2004, to ensure that these countries in particular are able to benefit from this work when promoting SUMPs to their cities. Engagement activities included workshops and round-table discussions with combinations of transport ministry representatives, transport planners and practitioners in each of the eleven new member states.



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