THE DEMAND FOR RAIL TRANSPORT IN AN ENVIRONMENTALLY AND RESOURCE CONSCIOUS SOCIETY

the author considers the impact of transport on society and deduces that it is in the public interest to travel by rail, bus, light rail or bicycle rather than private car. looking at the way in which transport has been encouraged to develop however, road-based private transport has been preferred. it is suggested that consideration of public interest objectives would bring about a change in political and public opinion. public interest objectives are listed and include improving the quality of life, reducing accidents, improving the environment, conserving finite resources, economising on expenditure and extending opportunities for groups with low personal mobility. the problems of toxic pollutants, global warming and the expectations of the third world are considered in more detail. suggestions are made for policies which aim to control the use of motorised transport. penalisation of modes according to the degree of environmental impact their use incurs would bring about greater use of non-motorised modes e.g. carbon tax, road pricing, parking controls. changes to land use planning will be particularly important in controlling the impact of transport. for the covering abstract of the publication see irrd 851831. this paper was also presented at the 17th ptrc summer annual meeting, sept 1989 (irrd 839252).