Untitled - Ministerstwo Rozwoju Regionalnego

limiting car use, especially in city centres. Parking fees remain a popular instrument,
however, the key aspect is the purpose of its introduction, as well as the
level of parking fees and the scope of exemptions. The basic aim of paid parking
should consist in limiting private car use, with forced vehicle turnover being
a side effect.
Adhering to the principles of sustainable urban mobility finds reflection first
and foremost in a different placement of accents in a city's urban transport policy.
Basic issues which should be taken into account in urban transport policy
are the following:
– accessibility – internal and external;
– mutual relations between public and private transport;
– role and significance of individual public transport subsystems in providing
urban transport services;
– transport as an area of economic and political activity.
High degree of accessibility of a city may be considered as an advantage, but
one the consequences of which include greater traffic intensity and higher demand
for transport infrastructure. Good accessibility of city centre to private
motor vehicles may seem to be an advantage to the inhabitants of other city districts,
but it only strengthens the irrational use of the most valuable, in economic
and urban planning terms, part of the city. Furthermore, social expectations of
private car users put political pressure on city authorities to invest in road infrastructure.
However, it should be added that crossing a certain level of motor
transport development results in the appearance of additional vehicles whose
owners previously had not made trips due to limited traffic capacity of the infrastructure.
It is a phenomenon known as suppressed demand 8 , and it results in
very small or negligible improvement to city transport condition in the event of
infrastructure investments not being supported by appropriate transport policy
measures based on the principle of sustainable development.
In urbanized areas, transport needs may be met individually or through
public transport services. Mutual relations of the two systems are shaped by appropriate
transport policy which should base on the principle of sustainable development.
In the case of public city transport it entails taking action aimed at
increasing the attractiveness of public transport, as well as walking and cycling
in relation to private motor vehicle use. This results from the fact that public city
transport consumes three to five times less energy per passenger than the private
car 9 . Increasing the attractiveness of public transport without implementation
of instruments aimed at limiting car use is strategically ineffective and is not
8 W. Suchorzewski, Op³aty za korzystanie z dróg jako œrodek na zat³oczenie miast “Transport Miejski”
2003 , No.7-8, p. 33.
9 M. Mezghani, From public transport to integrated mobility. “Public Transport International” 2003,
No. 2, p. 36.
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