The Issue of Bus Fleet Renewal in Terms of Increasing the Share of Clean Vehicles: A Case Study for Slovakia

Jozef Gnap (), Marek Dočkalik, Ekaterina Salamakhina and Šimon Senko
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Jozef Gnap: Department of Road and Urban Transport, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Žilina, 010 26 Zilina, Slovakia
Marek Dočkalik: National Motorway Company, a.s., 851 10 Bratislava, Slovakia
Ekaterina Salamakhina: Department of Road and Urban Transport, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Žilina, 010 26 Zilina, Slovakia
Šimon Senko: Department of Road and Urban Transport, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Žilina, 010 26 Zilina, Slovakia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 11, 1-26

Abstract: The renewal of the vehicle fleet with environmentally friendly buses that constitute urban public transport within an urban territory, or a proportion of the transport within the territory of cities and municipalities as part of suburban public passenger transport, can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas and environmental pollutant emissions from transport. As part of the research, we dealt with the research question as to whether the application of the Act on the Promotion of Clean Vehicles (EU (European Union) Directive 2019/1161) will significantly increase the share of environmentally friendly buses by 2032 in the Slovak Republic (SR). The paradox of the application of the new legislation in the Slovak Republic is that, in public transport, the renewal of the vehicle fleet has significantly reduced, and will further reduce, the negative impacts of vehicle operation, but nothing will change significantly in suburban bus transport while a substantial part of the lines start and end at bus stations in city centres and a number of lines are for short distances, which can be operated by electric buses. Thus, the percentage of environmentally friendly automobiles in the Slovak Republic in urban bus transport will increase significantly. In suburban bus transport, we propose to change the legislation of the Slovak Republic in order to partially start increasing the share of environmentally friendly vehicles. Another follow-up research question was whether gross domestic product (GDP) per capita influences the increased share of environmentally friendly buses in the European countries studied. Based on the correlation measure, there is a significant connection between GDP per capita and the proportion of eco-friendly buses in certain nations. In areas with higher GDP, or in more advanced regions, there is a larger percentage of environmentally sustainable buses. The largest share of environmentally friendly buses is in the Nordic countries of Europe, at 13.44%.

Keywords: bus transport; renewal of clean buses; application of EU directive to promote clean vehicles (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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