Change from car to tram. A prognosis to expected effects on air pollution

PULIAFITO. E., ; PULIAFITO, C.; HERBARTH, O.,; RICHTER, M.

Air Pollution VIII

WIT Press

Lugar: Boston, Southampton; Año: 2000; p. 201 - 210

Within Mendoza, a city of about 900,000 inhabitants, it is planned to build up a tram system to replace today?s public transportation based on diesel buses. The main reason is that a) at present traffic plays an important role in the frame of air pollution source, and b) an increase in traffic is expected. The main topic of this study is to estimate how much reduction will take place if a tram system is developed. An air quality assessment of the city has been performed, based on a) continuous monitoring of NOx, O3, CO and total particles (TSP) at different sites, b) several, fixed stations of 24 h measurements of NOx, SO2, TSP and Pb, c) traffic counting in main streets, d) structure of the automotive park and e) a mobility source-destination survey. A model has been developed, using a geographical information system, which allows a forecasting of the emission-immission patterns for mobile sources in the city. Main input in the model are: a) development of emission factors for different fuel and car uses, b) determination of driving distances, c) several indicators such as inhabitants per car use, inhabitants growth, city attractors, among others.It is possible to show that depending on the chosen scenario more than 20% of the emissions of traffic associated pollutant can be avoided. The most significant results are observed for CO and hydrocarbons emissions because of their no linear dependence with the vehicle speed. The implementation of an electric tram system will have a positive impact on the intracity air pollution