Cities and innovative urban transport policies.

London's innovative approach

The emissions reduction was achieved by the successful implementation of a three pronged transport policy: stick, carrot and infrastructure provision (Mingardo et al. 2008). The stick takes the form of restrictive measures such as the Congestion Charge, the Controlled Parking Zones and the Low Emission Zone. Since February 2003 motorists driving in central London between 7:00 am and 6:00 pm must pay a fee, the Congestion Charge (CC). Originally the fee was set at 5 [pounds sterling] per car per day and is now [pounds sterling] 8. A Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) is an area where parking is restricted and only permit holders are allowed to park. The main aim of a CPZ is to reduce car use by discouraging long stay parking by people from outside the area, mainly commuters. The Low Emission Zone (LEZ) was introduced in February 2008 over the entire Greater London Authority area, thus a larger area than the CC. The LEZ has been introduced with the specific aim to improve local air quality and applies to diesel lorries, buses, coaches and recreational vehicles, but not to cars or motorcycles. Vehicles in these categories not meeting EURO III standards must pay a charge of 200 [pounds sterling] a day.

Carrots consist mainly of incentives to use public transport--including low fares and free transit for young people and people over 60 years of age--and to a massive use of Mobility Management policies. These include the workplace travel plan 'A new way to work' and the school travel plan 'Walk on Wednesday'. Both projects involved extensive use of marketing, focusing not on transport or environmental advantages but on health as a main selling point. Finally comes massive infrastructure investment in the form of 13 billion [pounds sterling] plan for transport infrastructure improvements for the period 2005-2010 which started in 2005. These improvements include the upgrading and/or extension of the Underground and Docklands Light Rail and the replacement of London's bus fleet with cleaner and more efficient vehicles (TfL 2006a; GLA 2008).

The CC itself is not an innovative policy; road pricing in all its forms has been part of the debate on transport policy for the last 20-30 years. The innovative part of the policy is its focus on physically dividing the city and the fact that London has been the first large European city to introduce such an unpopular measure on a large scale. The local transport authority has produced several reports on the CC, all presenting positive results (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/congestioncharging/6722.aspx). However, the scientific literature on the London CC has achieved no unanimous consensus on the degree of success or failure of the scheme. Prud'homme and Bocarejo (2005: 279) define the CC 'as mini Concorde' because the scheme, quite successful from a political and technical point of view, is an economic failure since the benefits (the economic gain of reduced congestion) were considerably exceeded by the costs of collecting the charge. Raux (2005) strongly criticise Prud'homme and Bocarejo, disputing their analytical methodology, especially regarding the value of time. Mackie (2005: 290) does not consider the scheme a failure but he argues that more attention should be paid to side effects such as the impacts outside the charging zone, on uncharged categories inside the zone (for example taxis, motorcycles) and on long term effects. Quddus et al. (2007) indicate some negative effects the charge might have produced on local retail in central London. It is important to underline here that the implementation of the CC has been possible only thanks to the huge political commitment of the then Mayor (Ken Livingstone).

The presence of a single traffic policy and management authority is also important as a governance strategy for innovation. Transport for London (TfL), the unitary and well funded local authority in charge of transport, makes extensive use of mobility management policies through its 'Smart Travel Unit' (STU). STU's mission is to reduce congestion and tackle climate change by providing for and encouraging smarter travel and in 2007 had a budget of approximately 30 million [pounds sterling] (GLA 2008). STU's approach involves the private sector through the joint development of workplace travel plans under a program named 'A New Way to Work'.

Within this program two main elements can be identified: making compulsory provision of transport plans for all significant urban redevelopments; and encouraging voluntary plans at both small and medium sized enterprises and large companies. Voluntary plans focus on the implementation of Taylor-made workplace travel plans for companies. TfL provides companies not only with the necessary knowledge but also with funding to implement key initiatives needed to launch the travel plan. Voluntary plans are differently subsidized for small and medium (up to 250 employees) enterprises and larger firms and rely on marketing and personal consultation as tools of persuasion. While funding for smaller enterprises amounts to a couple of thousand pounds, the corporate package is quite substantial and can be worth up to 20,000 [pounds sterling] (Mingardo et al. 2008). The aim is to reduce car travel and it seems to have worked--a recent review has shown that '... workplace travel plans have produced a reduction of between 15 and 20 per cent in single occupancy car trips.' (GLA 2008: 52). Large companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, BBC, Oracle and the University of Gloucestershire have already joined this project.

Parents driving children to school have also been identified as a major cause of both traffic congestion and air pollution and excessive energy use. TfL has introduced new walking plans for schools. The 'Walk on Wednesday' program operates in several schools in London. Pupils of the participating schools who walk to school on Wednesdays are rewarded by receiving a badge. Every month a new badge is introduced to stimulate children to walk the whole year and these badges have now become collectibles among the children. Due to the 'Walk on Wednesday' program, almost 500,000 children are now walking to school every Wednesday, leading to a 30% reduction in car use. The program is very cheap, costing approximately two pounds per child per year. If necessary, it could be made even cheaper by using stickers instead of badges (Mingardo et al. 2008). The program has been very successful and many children (and their parents) now also walk to school during the rest of the week. This project has been assisted by the implementation of parallel measures, such as the introduction of speed bumps in the schools' neighborhoods and many other residential areas.

The success of these TfL transport policies is due in good part to the extensive use of clever marketing, both for the workplace and school travel plans. When approaching large companies, TfL markets proposed work travel plans with arguments about financial and time savings, corporate social responsibility (CSR), productivity gains due to healthier employees and being a more attractive employer. The marketing strategy focuses on the direct benefits for the company, while overall larger social benefits (such as reduced pollution or congestion) are only marginally mentioned. The same strategy is used when approaching schools. Issues like children's health and safety are used to convince schools to adopt a travel plan whereas climate change or traffic congestion are usually not even mentioned (Mingardo et al. 2008).

Funding for investments in transport has been boosted since 2000. For the period 2005-2010 13 billion [pounds sterling] have been invested for the extension of the Congestion Charge, the replacement of London's bus fleet with cleaner and more efficient vehicles, the extension of the underground and of Docklands Light Rail and the introduction of the Low Emission Zone (TfL 2006a; GLA 2008). The renewal of the bus fleet, in combination with reduced fares, led to an increase in the number of journeys by bus (45%) and in the average occupancy per bus (20%) in the period 2000-2007 (GLA 2008). At present, all London double decker buses are fitted with filters to reduce pollutants. This action, resulting from a [pounds sterling] 30 million investment, has reduced emission of fine particles, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, some of the most harmful air pollutants emitted by diesel buses, by 90 percent (TfL 2008b).

Gothenburg: regional and city innovation in transport and governance

Gothenburg is the second largest city in Sweden, with a population of approximately 485,000 and its location on the south west coast of the country makes it an important gateway to Scandinavia and the Baltic states. The city's most important sectors are trade, transport and communications, followed by manufacturing and financial services. In terms of the traditional basis of innovation, the city and its region are active; the region of Gothenburg, for example, invests heavily in research and development--in 2006 more than 6% of the region's GDP was spent on R&D (Business Region Gothenburg 2007).

From an environmental point of view the city scores relatively well. Gothenburg has already met the 2010 air quality targets for N[O.sub.x] and [PM.sub.10] set by the local authority. The city also has one of the highest proportions of green space found in European cities (Mingardo et al. 2008).

The innovative approach of Gothenburg

Three main elements constitute the innovative approach used by Gothenburg's transport policy: the diffusion of clean vehicles; the introduction of mobility management in companies; and the redevelopment of the Alvstranden, a five km long and 1 km wide former port area located on the north bank just in front of the city centre.

Gothenburg's clean vehicles policy started in 1998 with the financial support of the Swedish Transportation and Communication Research Board (KFB) (www.kfb.se). Initially, the project focused only on the promotion of use of alternative, sustainable fuels such as ethanol E85 and methane. Later, vehicles with low (normal) fuel consumption were also included in the plan. By May 2008, almost 75% of the municipality's own fleet was made of clean vehicles, as were 12% of all new cars sold in Gothenburg (Mingardo et al. 2008).

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