PUBLIC TRANSPORT BENEFITS

Mobility for (Y)EU - benefits for all.

Bustling cities

Public transport keeps cities moving. Up to 2020, the sector counted almost 60 billion passenger journeys per year in Europe, with numbers on the rise. Imagine the traffic if all those trips were made in cars!

Clean air

Thanks to public transport, air quality can be improved, as it produces far fewer quantities of air pollutant per passenger kilometre than individual motorised mobility. As buses become increasingly zero-emission, this will further improve air quality in European cities.

Saving the planet

Public transport is the most climate-friendly way of traveling besides walking and cycling, as it uses less energy and emits less CO2 per passenger-kilometre than private vehicles.

Boosting the economy

Public transport entails economic benefits that are around five times higher than the money invested in it. Every €1 of value created from public transport is linked to a further value creation of €4 in the total economy.

Local jobs

The public transport sector is amongst the largest employers at local level, employing in total 2 million people in the EU, i.e. 20% of the 10 million people employed in the overall transport industry.

Accessibility and affordability

Public transport offers equal opportunities to all citizens, independent of their social standing. It provides access to the most essential functions of the city and costs 1/16 of what people pay for owning a personal car.

Quality of urban life

Public transport systems are much more efficient than individual motorised mobility in terms of using public space. At the normal 1.3 persons occupancy rates of cars, a full standard bus can take more than 40 cars off the road, a full metro 600 cars and highspeed metro (like RER in Paris) can replace 1,500 cars.

Healthy, active lifestyle

Public transport encourages an active lifestyle, as most journeys involve walking or cycling to, from and within public transport stations.

Number one in safety

Public transport is the safest way to travel the city and the continent. Europe still registers 120,000 seriously injured people due to road accidents and more than 20,000 road fatalities every year, around 47% of which occur in cars and taxis.

Innovation

Few sectors have developed and applied as many new technologies as public transport did over the years! Public transport companies provided e-mobility long before we discussed electric cars, and fully autonomous metros have been operating in European cities for over 35 years.

Noise reduction

Road traffic remains the biggest source of noise pollution in Europe, which can lead to sleep disturbances, hypertension, and premature death. If more people took public transport, traffic volumes would decrease, and so would citizens’ exposure to noise.

Connecting people

At times of increasing inequality and social division, it is ever more important to strengthen the social fabric across Europe, and public transport can contribute. Public transport is a place of encounter.

Want to learn more? Contact the UITP EU department!