Metropolitan Mobility In Spain Are We Tending Towards Sustainability?

Abstract

There is a growing concern in the urban transport field about the development of a data set of indicators that would allow to undertake ongoing monitoring and evaluation of current transportation policies, compare data from territories facing the same kind of challenges, identify good practices and strategies to be followed, and strengthen the information, participation and decision-making process. These data set of indicators, known as observatories, are aimed to fulfil stakeholders needs, so that they achieve the precise knowledge to adopt pertinent policies. The Spanish Metropolitan Mobility Observatory, sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Environment, was launched in 2003 by the Metropolitan Transport Authorities of the major metropolitan areas in Spain, and TRANSyT. Its scope is to identify those elements within urban transport policy packages which have had a more significant impact on mobility (i.e. global transport demand, travel time, modal split,…), and on land use patterns. And its main goal is to serve as basis for Metropolitan Transport Authorities to improve operation of their public transport system, and thus increasing their contribution to sustainable mobility. For itsFor its second edition, based on the year 2003, a set of data from the different Metropolitan Transport Authorities has been collected, in order to: Highlight public transport contribution to improve urban areas and sustainable development - Describe the role of Metropolitan Transport Authorities in achieving an attractive and quality public transport - Monitoring transport supply and demand characteristics, focusing on public transport - Analyse resources dedicated to the public transport system - Describe the financial models used for the public transport system - Highlight the main initiatives and innovations developed by Metropolitan areas This information will be compared to that one from the previous edition, and a statistical analysis will be conducted in order to identify those variables, which are likely to explainresults in most cities.