Towards a Sustainable Transportation System: Innovative Measures to Alleviate Road Traffic Congestion

Sustainable Transport

In the last few years, there has been a growing interest in sustainability, sustainable development, sustainable transport, and sustainable mobility. Numerous researchers and state organizations are engaged in efforts to embrace sustainable development in the transport sector. Sustainable development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” in the Brundtland Report (Brundtland et al., 1987). Sustainability is commonly acknowledged to have three dimensions: environmental, social, and economic. This definition is one of the reasons why the concept of sustainable transport was born out of sustainable development. Sustainable transportation can be defined in two ways: narrowly and broadly. The former is concerned with environmental issues and resources depletion, whereas the latter is concerned with the aforementioned as well as social and economic well-being (Zhao et al., 2020b). The latter is favoured because it allows individuals to consider all of the effects of the transportation sector (Litman & Burwell, 2006) and motivates them to seek for holistic solutions for sustainable transportation (Zhou, 2012).

According to the 2000 European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) report on Sustainable transport policy (ECMT 2000), which identifies a set of recommendations, the principal ones are in relation to sustainability (May & Crass, 2007):

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  Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

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  Improving air quality/reducing noise

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  Improving transport safety

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  Improving access

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  Reducing congestion

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  Supporting the economy