Does urban bus route assignment improve air quality?
Sanz, Alex (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Economia i d'Història Econòmica)
Perdiguero, Jordi (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Economia Aplicada)

Date:	2024
Abstract:	Worldwide, one of the most important causes of mortality is air pollution. To solve this problem, governments have implemented policies to reduce on-road and industrial emissions. In this regard, the Barcelona city council and Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) started implementing the Nova Xarxa de Bus (NXB) to redefine the bus network following the criteria of connectivity, efficiency, and rationality. This policy was implemented in seven phases from 2012 to 2018. In this context, this paper analyses the impact of this policy on Barcelona's air quality using a dataset from 2008 to 2016. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we show that implementing these new routes increased air quality in Barcelona. Additionally, we show that pollution decreased in each phase analysed, especially in the air quality stations near the main roads. From our results, we can infer that an optimal bus route design can improve air quality in urban areas.
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Altres ajuts: Barcelona Council (20S01909-001)
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Air quality ; Public transport ; Traffic congestion ; Bus route assignment
Published in:	Transportation research. Part D, Transport and environment, Vol. 129 (april 2024) , p. 104146, ISSN 1879-2340

DOI: 10.1016/j.trd.2024.104146

16 p, 2.9 MB

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