Factsheets - No.5: European Cities Benchmarkers
Barcelona, Spain
- Low fares and integrated ticketing on all public transport - monthly travel card in Barcelona costs £25 compared with £60 in London, a single ticket is 50 pence compared with £1.50 on London Underground
- Low pedestrian accident rate, despite high pedestrian mode share - partly explained by extension of pedestrian priority areas
- Average trip distance a third lower than London
- System of restricted access zones in environmentally sensitive areas, controlled by network of control gates and retractable bollards, open to authorised vehicles with smartcard or in-vehicle transponders
Munich, Germany
- Car mode share remained constant despite 50% increase in car ownership over last 20 years
- Successful Park and Ride strategy contributing to 10% fall in traffic into the city - 20,000 spaces at stations compared with 4,200 in Strathclyde
- High levels of cycling with 90km of segregated cycle lanes on main roads and a cycle rental scheme at railway stations
- Reversed decline in tram use by increasing tram priority at intersections and improving integration with other rail services
- All trams and more than 50% of buses are low floor compared to 26% in Glasgow and 18% in Greater Manchester
Achterhoek, Gelderland, Netherlands (Rural)
- Lower growth in car ownership and use than Dutch national average
- Innovative demand-responsive taxi system carrying 1,500 people per day and growing 15% per annum
- Over two-fifths of all trips by sustainable modes
- De-centralisation of transport planning and budgets to regional level
Stuttgart, Germany
- Public transport patronage continuing to grow by 4% per annum
- Strong business support for travel to work initiatives such as computerised car pooling systems that enable employees to find a ride on a day-to-day basis
- Management agency responsible for planning and co-ordinating services, monitoring usage and responding to customer needs
- Local buses have the latest hybrid power systems
- State-of-the-art provision of multi-media travel information broadcasting audio and visual traffic information to radios, portable receivers, Internet, Teletext, mobile phones and a telephone call centre
- Low emissions from all sources, including transport - 1,255 tonnes (t) of Sulphur Dioxide per year, compared with 3,067t in Bristol and 5,352t in Edinburgh, 8.7t of lead compared with 9.5t in Bristol and 10.5t in Edinburgh and 8,027t of Nitrous Oxides compared with 10,849 in Edinburgh and 6,373 in Bristol
- Regional think-tanks for joined-up thinking between transport, re-generation and planning
Graz, Austria
- 76% of urban road network with 30 kph speed limits
- Car use lower than same size UK cities, even though car ownership is higher (ownership at 474 cars/000 population with car use at 52% compared with Brighton's 360 cars/000 population who take up 69% of modal share)
- Achieved 4% reduction in car use over last 10 years, compared to 1.3% in York
- Introduction of integrated ticketing led to 35% reduction in public transport fares - now lowest of all European cities bar Athens
- Far more priority and mobility for non-car users than is typical for UK same size cities
- Extensive pedestrianisation in central area
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