On the road to more sustainable transportation, many countries are trying to reduce the dependence on motor cars and encourage people to walk, use bicycles or use the public transport. They hope to create a better environment for the health of their inhabitants and improving sustainability and enhance the traveling times through the discouraging the use of cars.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy(ITDP), have chosen four cities as the top most sustainable transport system cities in 2014.
Buenos Aires, Argentina:
The city has three million inhabitants, and it is, as well known, the Capital of Argentina has started the new transportation service “bus rapid transit”.
The largest avenue in the world – 9 de Julio – which has 20 lanes, has used only 10 of them for cars while the rest is for the service which is a “surface subway”, as it is called, which offer the conventional bus service with the comfort of a subway, and according to IDTP, it takes now an average 14 minutes to cross the city rather than 40 in the past.
Suwon, South Korea:
In the EcoMobility World Festival 2013, Suwon, a city south to Seoul, helped the residents for a month-long event, how life might be without cars.
They asked people to move without using the cars, giving more space for the Cyclists and walkers to move freely.
This festival was made primarily to tell people that their basic needs can be done without their full dependence on cars for transit.
And since that festival, the infrastructure has been kept and weekends are kept car-free in the places where the festival was held in. And many other neighborhoods are willing to follow.
Lanzhou, China:
ITDP praised the 5 mile-long (about 8 km) bus rapid transit system that was created in 2013 in Lanzhou, the second largest system in Asia.
They also praised the bike-share system in the city with 14 thousand dock, parking and green-ways for the bikes.
Indore, India:
ITDP declared that the city of Indore, like many other Indian cities, is growing constantly in population. And that causes congestion in the traffic and cause its degradation due to the increase in the use of motor vehicles.
The iBus, Bus Rapid Transit system, is introduced as a 6 mile long transit way of the 70 miles-plus transportation network, though it is just a small amount and the politicians are not happy about its taking part of the car transport places, but the ITDP argues that it will improve by time the traffic conditions.
