Gauging the impact transport policy has on sustainability
Sustainability is a multi-dimensional concept which needs to address the three pillars of economic, environmental and social effects and the way in which they interrelate. When it comes to transport policies, the plot thickens. The European Commission requires a means to evaluate the impact certain transport policies and strategies have on sustainability and how effective they are. There is however a gap. The available tools for such an assessment are insufficient and disjointed. The EU-funded REFIT project investigated the current weaknesses of assessing sustainability of transport policies. The main ones were an insufficient link between transport models and sustainability indicators, an incomplete modelling toolbox and the trend to handle measures in isolation when they should cross over. The main accomplishment of REFIT was that it developed a transport sustainability impact assessment framework. This is made of models and numerous indicators which can provide an assessment of all pillars of sustainability. It is important that the data used is kept updated to adequately measure fluctuations. Additionally ad hoc models were created which can calculate the effect transport policies have on certain indicators. Though there is still room for further improvement to avoid any inconsistencies, the REFIT methodology offers a sound basis for European transport policy assessment.