Sustainable urban transport in Central America - a future without the car?

Schreffler, Eric; Umana, Nydia Umana; Garcia Moreno, Pedro Slavador; Mattsson, Caroline; Rye, Tom; Carreno, Michael

Abstract

Is it conceivable to contemplate a future without the car as the center of an urban transportation system? Can emerging economies grow without concomitant growth in car usage? San Pedro Sula, Honduras, is one city at a critical decision point about the future of transportation and mobility. Will it be a sustainable transport future that balances economic, environmental and social needs or will it be the traditional “predict and provide” approach that attempts to expand the capacity of the road system to meet future travel demand. This paper provides some background into the issue for this Central American city by describing the current urban transport system, current plans for improvement and outlines a process for defining a vision for a sustainable transport future in San Pedro Sula. The paper concludes with a challenge to all cities that currently have low automobile ownership rates to consider a sustainable transport system in order to “thrive” with transport choices for all residents rather than “choke” on congestion and the negative side effects thereof.

Citation

Schreffler, E., Umana, N. U., Garcia Moreno, P. S., Mattsson, C., Rye, T., & Carreno, M. (2010, July). Sustainable urban transport in Central America - a future without the car?. Paper presented at World Association of Transportation Research (WCTR)

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: World Association of Transportation Research (WCTR)
• Start Date: Jul 15, 2010
• End Date: Jul 18, 2010
• Publication Date: 2010
• Deposit Date: Mar 10, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 10, 2011
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: Mobility management; sustainability; car-free environment
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/4253
• Contract Date: Mar 10, 2011