Our final lecture will focus on measures to promote sustainable urban mobility. It's evident that in modern cities, transport vehicles are increasingly prevalent, occupying more and more space. This means that if the excessive spread of cars is not regulated, they gradually become even more dominant and push out most alternative options (a phenomenon observed in Armenia as well). Such a situation creates obstacles to our efforts to efficiently transport people and goods.

Before delving into the main topic of this module, it is worth noting that private cars are quite convenient for various types of trips, although they remain an imperfect solution due to their various harmful effects. The universality of passenger cars makes them extremely convenient for use in different situations. The main conclusion from this is that any single transport mode CAN NOT compete with private cars as the best alternative in ALL situations. Each alternative mode of transport has advantages only for specific functions. This statement equally applies to public transport, taxis, bicycles, and even walking.

In this module, I propose to examine in more detail the means of promoting urban mobility and among those means - the role of public transport, including its limitations and prospects.

Let’s start with the limitations. We already mentioned that even in the case of widespread use of public transportation – it’s not always possible to solve all the challenges of people’s movements in urban environments. We can outline several points that, to some extent, can affect people’s desire to use public transport:

     1. The “Last Mile” Problem arises when specific destinations and the public transport’s stops are disconnected. This leads to the next point.

     2. Public transport is not usually the best solution for short trips of a few kilometers unless your destination is directly on the route.

     3. Some people, such as young children, elderly parents, people with mobility impairments have certain accommodation needs that are often not met in public transport.

     4. It’s difficult to move large and bulky personal items on public transport, such as full large shopping bags or other types of luggage.

     5. Another circumstance derived from the previous point is that public transport does not provide enough space for storing other daily items, such as when one has to take the bus with a wet umbrella.

     6. And finally, for a lot of people, an important factor is that it’s not possible to transport pets by public transport, if there is a need.

Thus, while building urban mobility models based on public transportation may seem attractive, it cannot solve all the problems. However, especially in large cities, it’s the level of development of public transportation that often determines the degree of Sustainable Mobility.

Let’s understand how one can improve public transportation.

The most obvious step is expanding the mass transit network. Although this is by no means an inexpensive feat and essentially falls outside the general theme of this module, we emphasize that any city, regardless of its population size or topographic features, needs an ambitious yet accessible public transport network, whose operation is guaranteed by competitive management and legislative regulation.

One of the main factors in developing such a network is the cost of design and operation. It is notable that these costs can have EXTREME variations from country to country. In this regard, it is extremely important to combine low construction costs with the sensible selection of locations.

One of the main guarantees of the development of public transport in cities is to ensure its regular operation without delays and deviations from the schedule. By its very nature, public transport operates under unpredictable conditions, and the stopping time at various stations is often unpredictable. This is particularly relevant for above-ground public transport, which can deviate from the schedule due to any of the following reasons:

In this case, the question arises: what can be done to prevent delays?

Perhaps the most common solution is to provide separate lanes for public transport. The necessity of these lanes is calculated according to the overall traffic load, but the minimum load for the efficiency of separate lanes usually constitutes 20 vehicles per hour, with the optimal capacity being up to 40.

One of the reasons for unsmooth and delayed traffic is closely spaced bus stations. It is considered that the optimal distance between stops is 350 to 450 meters, which ensures a reasonable combination of speed and accessibility, although in this case, the mobility formula should also necessarily include the need to walk. In real conditions, the distance between stops should be determined based on many factors to minimize delays.

In this context, the design of the transport vehicle is also important, as it can significantly affect the time spent at stops. These features include:

In this regard, of course, the main "responsibility" lies with the auto manufacturers, who are gradually paying more and more attention to the aforementioned issues.

However, in most cities, the most important way to reduce waiting time is to increase the frequency of services, which, of course, implies quite high costs. To ensure the optimal distribution of resources, many cities prefer to simplify individual transit lines, and provide a higher level of connectivity and harmony.

We will get acquainted with other ways of promoting mobility in the next sections of this module.