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Report n°6: Urban Public Transport

UPT/ERW in the service of territorial integration

The "integrating" effects of UPT/ERW have been the subject of affirmations which deserve serious evaluation. The issue could be approached from a purely theoretical angle without anticipating the results of a strict evaluation which has yet to be performed. Exclusive right-of-way for tramlines gives urban populations a system of transport with smooth performance throughout the length of its route. Seen from that angle, the effect of the modern and excellent performance of the tram-based UPT/ERW pervades the full length of the line and contributes a priori to the reunion of the outskirts and city centre, using the city's road network. To the link which is established in the representations of the transport system and, by extension, to city areas which were thought to be opposed, is added a purely practical effect due to the increase of service throughput, frequency and amplitude, which totally changes the general city accessibility pattern. As a consequence, areas previously viewed as being difficult of access experience a change in status, for example the city centre or certain peripheral areas whose level of inaccessibility, real or perceived, can be entirely modified. In a polycentric perspective, this is truly territorial and social integration in so far as many urban sites become freely accessible so that in practical terms their popularity and their role in commercial and cultural activities may be re-evaluated in the representations and practices of urban dwellers. From this angle, UPT/ERW provides support for one of the central aims of "sustainable urbanism" since it is not only a means of highly environmentally-friendly travel but also has high social value. It offers better conditions of accessibility in a prestigious climate of technical performance and improved image and offers solutions for the movement of every category of the population, including those who possess their own form of private transport.

The integrating capacity of UPT/ERW for the territorial unity of townships, for lack of appropriate surveys, has on the whole not been measured. Such evaluations as have been made present an impressionistic picture.

Evaluations provide a comparable basis as regards modal referral and market shares, impact on real estate and city centre revitalisation. As we have noted, it is possible to measure the effect of UPT/ERW on public transport users and repercussions on operating results, but the effect on modal split and a fortiori on modal referral from private car to public transport is only perceived for network users, whereas the relationship with developments in road traffic is much less clear. In other words, information on the proportion of public transport users originating in a transfer from private cars is accessible, but this data does not throw any light on changes in market shares which can only be accessed by cumbersome and costly surveys that can only provide rare enlightenment on situations in various towns. The fact that a Park and Ride site has been a success does not provide any information on the number of cars using the urban road network, nor on the lessening of road traffic generally which is still mainly influenced by changes in traffic conditions brought about by road regeneration work (re-arranging road intersections, construction of bypass routes, improvement of urban motorways, etc.).

In the circumstances, the actual contribution of UPT/ERW to the territorial unity of towns, to reducing energy consumption and producing less greenhouse gasses is difficult to establish, even in very vague terms. Some non exhaustive indications, can however be put together on the basis of studies carried out in various French towns where UPT/ERW exists. We will successively review the effects on the modal share of public transport, on housing, on city centre dynamics and trade in general.