Abstract

To better understand urban sustainable transport status and catalyze changes, this paper assesses the adoption of selected “avoid” and “shift” sustainable transport measures in three fields: congestion pricing, low emission zone and vehicle quota system under vehicle demand management; bus rapid transit and metro under mass transit; and carsharing and bikesharing under shared vehicles. It adapts “diffusion of innovation” theory to assess adoption of measures in cities around the world and categorizes the process into five stages: emerging, on the rise, tipping, mainstream and saturation. For each measure, the paper presents data and evidence on the recent trends on the expansion of applications. It finds some emerging measures showing potential to be adopted by a larger number of cities in the near future (congestion pricing, vehicle quota systems); some measures undergoing tipping growth toward becoming mainstream (bikesharing, bus rapid transit); and others which are at the tipping point or mainstream in industrialized economies emerging in developing regions (low emission zones, and carsharing). The paper concludes with three key factors which might affect the adoption: iconic pilot cities, policy context in the region and attractiveness of the measures. The results of this assessment indicate that the calls of a paradigm shift towards sustainable transport are underway, but can be further reinforced through enabling policies and institutions