From Berlin to Bogotá, cities are rethinking public transport through an electric lens. Trams, ferries and cable cars: public transport is becoming more electrified
Without public transport, reconverting urban mobility along ecological lines is an unachievable goal. The shift to electric cars is important, but it is not enough: many cities around the world are adopting measures to eliminate petrol and diesel from public transport vehicles; these are very different initiatives, which in some way reflect the considerable geographical, political and economic differences between countries. With one overarching question in the background: how is electricity generated?
Take the case of the Chinese city of Shenzhen, which has an entirely battery-powered bus fleet, yet where the electricity itself still comes primarily from coal. Or Costa Rica, where the government's efforts to electrify mass transit are meeting strong resistance from private bus companies. At present, only 16 per cent of urban buses worldwide are electric. And Italy – as a recent study has shown – ranks among the laggards in Europe: with only 5.4 per cent of new hydrogen or electric vehicles entering service in 2019, it lags far behind Europe's most virtuous nations, such as Denmark and the Netherlands.
The road ahead, in short, is still a long one. But much has changed in recent years in the policies put in place at local level, as well as in citizens' own perceptions. Take the case of Berlin, where investment has returned to the electric tram lines that were shut down 30 years ago with the fall of the Wall. 1.2 million cars move through the streets of the German capital every day, and the measures adopted in recent years to limit them have not produced the hoped-for results.
Returning to a firm push for rail travel, explained Felix Creutzig, a transport specialist at the Mercator research centre, "has become a reasonable position for taking space away from cars. Ten years ago it wasn't even possible to say that, but now it is." In the face of mounting public pressure to improve air quality, the city is now aiming for the electrification of all buses by 2030, the expansion of the underground and suburban rail network, the addition of cycling lanes and the construction of 80 kilometres of tram lines by 2035.
Bergen, a city on the fjords of western Norway, is converting its public ferries from diesel to batteries: a significant step change for a country that for decades has funded its public finances through the sale of oil and gas, and that now wants to become a leader in low-emission maritime transport. In the city, the buses are electric too, supplied by Chinese manufacturers who have swept the market in every corner of the world, from Los Angeles to Santiago de Chile. The change is profound not only in terms of air quality but also noise pollution: "We've started hearing voices in the streets again," said mayor Jon Askeland.
Norway has set ambitious targets to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 relative to 1990 levels, backed by the fact that the vast majority of its electricity comes from hydropower. But the future of the national oil and gas industry is at the heart of a fierce political tug of war; last September's elections saw the victory of a centre-left coalition that includes political forces intent on halting oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.
From Norway to Colombia, Bogotá is betting on cable cars that connect the hillside working-class neighbourhoods to the city centre. "For the past 25 years," explained mayor Claudia López, "we have been condemned to depend on diesel buses, and that is now irrational." Residents of the Ciudad Bolivar neighbourhood in the southern part of the city can now reach the main bus terminal in just a few minutes via a gondola lift, saving up to two hours a day on their commute. While in many of the world's wealthiest cities cable cars serve primarily as tourist attractions, in other contexts they can literally transform the lives of millions of people, with a considerable positive impact on traffic and pollution, as well as on the social and economic regeneration of entire neighbourhoods that were once forgotten. Also in Colombia, in Medellín, the first cable car installed now carries fifteen million passengers a year.