Bases for Building a Sustainability Indicator System for Transport - Highway and Urban Environment - page 47

Technological innovations can create a transport system that is sustainable from
an environmental point of view, and there is evidence of an improvement in energy
intensities, which has drastically reversed pollution trends [5] . However, it is not
enough to rely on technology to obtain a sustainable transport system, and far-reaching
shifts in policy and current regulations are required [6] .
The direct usefulness of a system of indicators is that it can provide information
from processes where major mobility policies are formulated and implemented [7] .
A direct link between environmental indicator systems and policies will provide a
solid mechanism for integrating the criteria of environmental sustainability into the
decision-making process within the area of transport. This link is not only important
for following up trends, but also for designing the measures themselves [8] .
The general increase in transport activity has gone hand in hand with a rising
concern of the potential threat that our current lifestyle poses to the environment
and to human health [9] . Therefore, a sustainable transport system needs to address
the balance between economic, social and environmental considerations in order to
define transport policy objectives. In particular, this system must be cost-efficient
while respecting the environment (pollution, land use, energy consumption and
natural elements), but also safe [10] and provide society with sufficient quality of
service throughout the whole territory (fairness, social integration, etc.).
Transport Indicator Systems
The European Environment Agency's TERM (Transport and Environment Reporting
Mechanism) indicator system is a tool which responds to the European transport
policy and to the concept of sustainable mobility. It currently comprises 40 indicators,
which are primarily economical and environmental. Only four of these indicators,
however, involve social aspects, and deal with accident rates, access to the service
sector and to modes of transport.
The transport and environmental indicator system in Spain (TRAMA) is designed
to measure the degree of sustainability of the Spanish transport system, and specifi-
cally analyzes the demand for transport in relation to environmental quality indicators.
This makes it possible to analyze trends and to formulate transport policies over the
long term. It has the declared objective of reducing external effects. Furthermore, it is
based on key sustainability indicators; and it follows the guidelines and methodology
of the TERM [11] . TRAMA provides a model of transport and trends, and a photo-
graph of the environmental pressures and impacts in the sphere of transport, thus
enables identification of causal factors (basically technological and socio-economical).
This system measures the effectiveness of the policies, commitments and objectives
adopted with regard to transport and the environment.
Finally, the Spanish Observatory for Sustainability (OSE) compiles indicators
for the transport sector which deal almost exclusively with economic and environ-
mental implications of sustainability [12] . The 2007 report has a structure which
mirrors the European Union's indicator system and it dedicates one section to the