Effectiveness of urban transport modes

Social expectations in terms of improving the conditions of life in cities whilst increase of mobility poses a difficult challenge for urban transport organizers. At the same time, conditions related to sustainable development policies with scarce resources and available reserves focus attention on transport optimization and reduction of environment harmful impacts. The paper presents an assessment of the efficiency of urban transport in terms of capacity, energy use, CO2 emissions and costs, based on data on European medium cities in traffic conditions - peak (congestion) and off-peak traffic (no congestion). Compared were road vehicles: cars and buses of different propulsion, motorcycles and also rail vehicles: metro, tram/light rail and trains/heavy rail. The results are presented in tables or in graphs. The comparisons make it possible to identify the most efficient, in various scenarios, transport modes and may be helpful in deciding on issues related to the provision and organization of urban transport. In this article, cost evaluation omits external costs (although CO2 emissions are taken into account) but includes fixed and variable costs associated with the use of vehicles (including fuel costs, maintenance, inspections, depreciation, insurance).In the preparation of the article information available in literature, publication and reports, particularly of the European Commission one was used.