Organizing transport operations in urban areas in a way that meets the requirements of sustainable development is a complex task. Compared to transport operations outside these areas, it presents significantly more difficulties in terms of planning and supervision.
It also requires significant investment outlays. The growing disorder of freight transport in cities, resulting from the increasing demand for transport due to the constantly growing number of city users, exacerbates many problems related to the impact of the transport system on the urban environment. It causes, among other things, an increase in pollution and noise levels, increased risk of accidents, and contributes to the congestion effect, which is one of the main obstacles in carrying out transport tasks both in relation to the transport of goods and people in public and individual transport.
The above aspects mean that the European Union has increasingly begun to focus on the issue of sustainable development of transport systems, also taking into account the functioning of freight transport in cities. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 is one of the key goals set by the European Commission. Due to the fact that more than half of them are attributed to road transport in urban areas, this area of action has been highlighted as one of the key ones. The negative effects of urban freight transport in terms of energy consumption and air pollution are mainly caused by the low level of cooperation between partners in the supply chain, as well as the low efficiency of transport systems. This has therefore become one of the priorities of European Union programs, within which activities are funded. This has also been included in the assumptions of the new financial perspective. The program of actions for 2014-2015 under the Horizon 2020 program highlights aspects of urban mobility, and in task MG5.2 it focuses directly on issues of reducing the negative impact and costs of urban freight transport.
The European Union’s focus on the issue of sustainable urban mobility and the development of environmentally friendly transport systems in cities is a challenge for Polish municipalities and decision-makers. It sets them specific tasks and indicates goals that are not easy to achieve. On the other hand, it provides an opportunity to obtain financial resources for the implementation of projects that will enable these expectations to be met. The presented analysis aims to present the current scope of actions taken in Polish cities. This constitutes the first stage of work undertaken as part of the GRASS (GReen And Sustainable freight transport Systems in cities) project, implemented by the Maritime University of Szczecin in cooperation with the Institute of Transport Economics (Transportøkonomisk Institutt) from Oslo. Its main goal is to determine the conditions for the implementation and development of energy-efficient urban freight transport in Polish and Norwegian cities and regions, taking into account the often conflicting expectations of the main stakeholders in the transport market.
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Source: Logistyka Magazine