Green transport hierarchy Pedestrians Bicycles Public transit Trucks and commercial vehicles Taxis High occupancy vehicles Cars and single occupancy vehicles The green transport hierarchy (Canada), also called mobility pyramid, reverse traffic pyramid, street user hierarchy (US), sustainable transport hierarchy (Wales), urban transport hierarchy or road user hierarchy (Australia, UK) is a hierarchy of modes of passenger transport prioritising green transport. It is a concept used in transport reform groups worldwide and in policy design. The UK Highway Code has a road user hierarchy prioritising pedestrians. It is a key characteristic of Australian transport planning.
History The Green Transportation Hierarchy: A Guide for Personal & Public Decision-Making by Chris Bradshaw was first published September 1994. As part of a pedestrian advocacy group in the United States, he proposed the hierarchy ranking passenger transport based on environmental emissions. The reviewed ranking listed, in order: walking, cycling, public transport, car sharing, and finally private car.
It was first prepared for Ottawalk and the Transportation Working Committee of the Ottawa-Carleton Round-table on the Environment in January 1992, only stating 'Walk, Cycle, Bus, Truck, Car'.
Factors
Mode Energy source Trip length Trip speed Vehicle size Passenger load factor Trip segment Trip purpose Traveller
Adoption Chris Bradshaw directed the hierarchy at both individual lifestyle choices and public authorities who should officially direct their resources – funds, moral suasion, and formal sanctions – based on the factors.
Bradshaw described the hierarchy to be logical, but the effect of applying it to seem radical.see a separate paper by the author, ‘Using Our Feet to Reduce Our Footprint: The Importance of Scale in Life’ (1997) for the ‘NRFUT’ system of comparing the ‘footprint’ of different trips.
Bradshaw introduced the concept of the green transportation hierarchy, which ranks mobility modes based on their sustainability. In this hierarchy, walking and cycling are prioritized as the most sustainable forms of transport, followed by public transit, while driving a private car is placed at the bottom.
See also
Alternatives to car use Bicycle-friendly Bill Boaks campaigned for pedestrian priority everywhere Car-free movement Complete streets Cycling advocacy Cyclability Health and environmental impact of transport Health impact of light rail systems Induced demand Jaywalking Peak car Planetizen Priority (right of way) Reclaim the Streets Right to mobility Road hierarchy Road traffic safety
Settlement hierarchy Street hierarchy Street reclamation Sustainable transport Traffic bottleneck Traffic code Traffic conflict Traffic flow Transportation demand management Transport ecology#Tautology of transport ecology Walkability Walking audit
References
External links Original 1992 paper