Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
From PDU to PUM and PMUS, Going Through LTP:
The Tongue Twister of Urban Mobility
France
. French PDU's are in the origin of the urban mobility planning with
sustainability criteria. They are based on three laws, the first one from 1982 (Loi
d'Orientation des Transports Intérieurs (LOTI)-Inland Transport Law); the second,
from 1996, was environmentally oriented: the Loi sur l'Air et l'Utilisation
Rationnelle de l'Energie (LAURE) and make PDU compulsory for cities with more
than 100,000 inhabitants. The last one, the Loi relative à la Solidarité et au
Renouvellement Urbain (SRU), from 2000, was issued by the Transport Ministry
as the first one, and in the framework of the territorial coherence scheme, obliges
to set road safety objectives and to be compatible with the land use planning
[6]
.
PDUS - time horizon, 10 years - are elaborated, passed and implemented by the
Public Transport Authority, after a public survey process. Local Authorities inside
the performance perimeter of the Transport Authority are responsible for the
funding (except for Île de France (Paris). Nowadays, the Regions and Departments
fund the plan.
As main results, PDU's have put the urban transport plans on the political
agenda and that has been translated into the implementation of a lot of tramways,
the construction of exclusive bus lanes, a decisive parking policy), the deep involve-
ment of the stakeholders and the increasing in the number of travel plans, among
others important outcomes
[7]
. Nevertheless, is always difficult to assert to what
extent the good effects on urban mobility are only due to PDU's, since population
ageing or price of fuel, for instance, can also influence
[8, 9]
.
More recently, in France have been also launched the so-called “micro PDU”,
made of specific proposals around the local PDU, such as areas 30, pedestrianisation,
parking schemes, bike lanes, etc. Sometimes those micro plans realized in green
commuter plans or company transport plans, usually through soft measures such as
public transport, on foot and bicycle.
United Kingdom
. LTPs are landmark documents that require authorities to plan a 5
year programme for managing transport services within a comprehensive and multi
modal strategy to achieve local and national objectives
[8]
, that is, must be consistent
with the national plans and goals, both in transport and other issues. After the 5 years
period, the plan is evaluated by the Local Transport Authorities
[10]
.
The first round of LTPs were launched for the period 2000/2005, following the
Transport Act issued in year 2000, that gave to the local authorities the competencies
to implement those plans and, in order to help the authorities to do so, the Government
launched a guide that sets the following objectives: to protect the environment,
to improve passengers safety, to promote the sustainable growth of the economy, to
provide global accessibility, especially for those without a car and to integrate land
use and transport policies
[11]
. The objectives must be coherent with the national
goals. Time horizon: 5 years. One of the key aspects of the LTPs is the existence of a
set of indicators to evaluate the outcomes against the objectives. An annual progress
report is required as a basis for the national funding that could be increased if the
objectives are reached.
