Chapter 13: Transport Energy and Emissions: Urban Public Transport

In recent years, transport’s use of energy has risen strongly. Forty years ago, in most developed economies, transport’s proportion of total energy use was between 15 and 20%. Today it is around 35% of all energy consumption. Most of this energy use is for oil (which supplies 98% of transport energy use), and demand is still rising strongly (UK Department of Trade and Industry, 1999). Urban public transport accounts for very little of this growth in energy use, or of transport’s overall energy consumption. It is also less oil-dependent. For example, in the UK, of all fuel used for transport, 76% was consumed by private road transport (cars and lorries) and 18% by air travel. Only 4% of transport energy was used by buses and railways and 2% by water transport (UK Department of Trade and Industry, 2000). The situation is similar in other developed economies. The rise in transport’s use of energy has primarily come about by the increased use of the private car for personal transport and the road lorry for freight.