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11/08/2018 | Pressemitteilung

Cities can use new tools to calculate transportation system expenses and revenues

Engineers at the University of Kassel have developed tools for the first time to determine the costs of urban traffic. These include the costs of car, truck, bicycle, pedestrian and public transport. City administrations can thus calculate and compare expenses and revenues as well as external effects for different modes of transport. Until now, this was only possible to a limited extent.

Image: University of Kassel.
What is more expensive? Bicycle, car, public transport? New tools from the University of Kassel help city administrations answer this question.

Which is more expensive: bicycle, car or bus? What are the costs of transport and infrastructure for cities? "The amount of expenses and revenues that a municipality incurs due to urban transport was unknown for a long time," says Prof. Dr. Carsten Sommer from the Department of Transport Planning and Systems at the University of Kassel. "Just like its distribution among the different transport systems." The Kassel-based transportation scientist and his team are now helping cities with two new IT-based tools. The tools are intended to provide city administrations with an easy-to-use tool for transportation and infrastructure planning. While the first tool allows an economic comparison of transportation systems, the second tool can be used to estimate external effects. This is because traffic generates costs that must be borne not only by those who cause them, but by society as a whole. These include noise and pollution, for example. "Most municipalities do not have a secure database. We want to change that."

The guides and IT-based tools will be made available free of charge to all interested users:

https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb14bau/institute/ifv/verkehrsplanung-und-verkehrssysteme/forschung-und-dienstleistungen/it-gestuetzte-tools/costtool.html

The research project is entitled "NRVP 2020 - What are the real costs of different modes of transport?" and was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure as part of the National Cycling Plan. 

Further information on the project can be found at: