Sustainable mobility and economic sustainability: the case of the new trolleybus line in Genoa [Mobilità sostenibile e sostenibilità economica: il caso della nuova linea filoviaria a Genova]

Abstract

With over 3.5 billion people currently residing in major cities around the world, the issue of urban mobility is a current issue and is particularly important in European countries where over 75% of the population is concentrated in urban areas. Even today, many of the daily journeys depend on cars and other private motorized vehicles, with a strong impact in terms of air pollution, noise and climate change as in the European Union transport is responsible for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing private transport and making urban transport systems greener and more efficient therefore has important benefits: for the health, climate and prosperity of cities. New models of transport and urban accessibility, increasingly oriented towards environmental sustainability, must therefore be adopted; the choice of the transport solution must be made in relation to not only technical but also economic, social and environmental feasibility. Taking a cue from the Call issued in 2018 by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport for the selection of urban mobility proposals that can access the economic resources intended for the enhancement and implementation of rapid mass transport systems provided for by Law no. 232/2016, this contribution deals with the evaluation of three transport proposals hypothesized for the connection between the city center of Genoa (Brignole station) and the district of Prato, along the Bisagno Valley, developed according to the indications contained in the Urban Mobility Plan of the Municipality. In particular, a Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is developed according to the indications given in the Notice and in the Guidelines of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport for the evaluation of investments in public works. The objective is to verify the applicability of the CBA tool for assessing the economic and financial sustainability of the solutions analyzed – also in relation to the indications given in the legislation, the transport scenarios configured and the reliability of the results obtained, for the the choice of the transport solution to be adopted.

Keywords

• rban mobility
• trolleybus line
• cost-benefit analysis