Implementation Strategies

Policy Theme 5

Encourage Low-energy and Clean Transportation

Strategy 1: Targets for adoption of renewable and clean fuels for vehicles. 

Strategy 2: Policies for encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles. 

Strategy 3: Set targets for increasing vehicle fuel efficiency.

Strategy 4: Introduce car sharing and car-pooling. Strategy 

5: Increase Public Transportation.

By taking into consideration the ASI strategy we suggest that the city implement the following policies to ensure a low energy and clean transportation sector. Please note that the policy intervention strategies related to improving non-motorized and public transport have been suggested in Chapter 2: Compact and Mixed-use Development.

Targets for adoption of renewable and clean fuels for vehicles

Develop targets to increase the use of renewable and clean fuels for vehicles such as ethanol or other biofuels. Further, waste generated in the city should be directed to generate such renewable fuel.

Policies for encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles

Develop plans for creating an electric vehicle infrastructure in the city to encourage the use of electric vehicles. These include installing charging stations, reserving priority parking for electric vehicles, providing electric vehicle owners with attractive electricity tariffs, etc.

• Deploy advanced electric, hybrid, plug-in, or alternative fueled vehicles for all of town-owned fleet, so that 80% of motorized inner-city trips by town employees are covered with advanced fuel vehicles

• Design all new developments to be plug-in-ready

• Use neighborhood electric vehicles (NEV) as a low-speed alternative to conventional vehicles

• Deploy a common pool of electric bikes (e.g. existing bicycle rental systems and the Zipcar model, a neighborhood rental car company)

Set targets for increasing vehicle fuel efficiency

Transportation planning must be done from the perspective of decreasing both energy usage and pollution. Energy efficiency by reducing fuel per unit of output thus plays an important part in achieving both objectives. It is thus important to set targets to increase the fuel efficiency of the vehicle fleet in the city. Targets should include both new and old vehicles.

Introduce car sharing and carpooling

Introduce car-sharing programs to reduce the number of vehicles on the road. One such example of such a program is the Zip Car model in the US. Such sharing programs lead to consumers using a car only when required and can thus play an important role in reducing the miles driven as well as fuel consumed.

Increase Public Transportation

Public transportation can play an extremely important role in lowering the carbon footprint of the transportation sector. Thus, the city must invest in developing rail and bus networks for travel within the city as for intercity travel. The city should implement a bus rapid transit system to encourage the use of buses and reduce congestion on roads. A system similar to New York City's Select (case study below) should be implemented to reduce infrastructure costs. Other transportation options that the city can adopt include monorail or light rail. The city must further make efforts to decarbonize public transport by adopting biofuels and introducing fuel cells, hyphae, or hybrid buses.