New Urban Public Transportation Systems: Initiatives, Effectiveness, and Challenges

Growing traffic congestion, the need to preserve the environment, and the problems of road safety are the main reasons for many cities worldwide to consider new initiatives in public transportation (PT) systems. This work discusses the major elements and challenges around and within the introduction of a new or an improved PT system. The choice between public and private transport is an individual decision that is influenced by government/community decisions. These decisions are often sending mixed signals to the public transport passengers and potential users while failing to recognize system-wide and integration implications. This work attempts to provide the current state of the PT practice and to cover the issues of why or why not to use PT including the willingness to pay, viability and projection perspectives, the effectiveness of new initiatives mostly in Europe and North America, and achieving multimodal service integration. In addition a concluding example is provided with reference to the city of Auckland in New Zealand.