Sustainable Public Transport Strategies—Decomposition of the Bus Fleet and Its Influence on the Decrease in Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Artur Jaworski, Maksymilian Mądziel and Hubert Kuszewski
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Artur Jaworski: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland
Maksymilian Mądziel: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland
Hubert Kuszewski: Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, Rzeszow University of Technology, 35-959 Rzeszów, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 6, 1-14

Abstract: The COVID pandemic has caused a major exodus of passengers who chose urban and suburban transport. In many countries, especially in the European Union, there is a tendency to choose individual means of transport, causing damage to the environment and contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. One method to promote urban transport is replacing bus fleets with newer ones, thus making public transport more attractive and reducing the emission of harmful exhaust fume components into the atmosphere. The aim of this study was to show a methodology for calculating CO 2 e for bus fleets. When determining CO 2 e, the principal greenhouse gases, such as CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O, are usually considered. However, CO emissions also have indirect effects on climate through enhanced levels of tropospheric O 3 and increased lifetime of CH 4 ; therefore, CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, and CO emissions were determined for CO 2 e emission calculations. Two bus fleet variant scenarios were analysed; the first non-investment variant assumed passenger transport using the old fleet without any P&R parking zones. The second scenario was based on the current state, which includes the purchase of new low-emission buses and the construction of P&R infrastructure. The calculations were performed using the COPERT emission model with real data from 52 buses running on 13 lines. For the analysed case study of the Rzeszow agglomeration and neighbouring communes, implementing the urban and suburban transport modernisation project resulted in a reduction in estimated CO 2 e emissions of about 450 t. The methodology presented, which also considers the impact of CO emissions on the greenhouse effect, is a new element of the study that has not been presented in previous works and may serve as a model for other areas in the field of greenhouse gas emission analyses. The future research scope includes investigation of other fuels and powertrain supplies, such as hydrogen and hybrid vehicles.

Keywords: CO 2 e emission; urban buses; vehicle emission; greenhouse gases; park & ride (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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