Transport Toolkit gives city leaders new resources for low emission transport systems

This month saw the launch of the Transport Toolkit, a landmark web portal that gives urban planners and city leaders a six step framework, expert advice, and numerous best practices to help them innovate quickly and successfully to improve mass transport while helping the environment. The toolkit was developed by the Low Emission Development Strategies Global Partnership (LEDS GP) Transport Working Group, led by EMBARQ in partnership with the United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The goal of the toolkit is to give urban planners and policy makers, even in communities with little transport expertise, the ability to implement a broad range of low carbon transport initiatives.

A broad range of tools for local suitability

The toolkit has the resources to help communities both plan and implement sustainable transport projects through six key steps.

1. Evaluate: Communities are first prompted to evaluate their existing transport network and infrastructure.
2. Create a baseline: They should next establish a baseline against which to measure future progress.
3. Assess opportunities: Identify opportunities to grow transport demand while minizming environmental impact through the Avoid-Shift-Improve framework.
4. Develop Alternatives: After considering the potential opportunities, establish short-term and long-term objectives for the transport system to match to the previously identified low emission transport development opportunities. Then begin to assess the alternative transport development scenarios for potential implementation.
5. Prioritize and Plan: Prioritize the transport development scenarios and adopt a sustainable transport development plan.
6. Implement and Monitor: Initiate the implementation action plan that defines a timetable, roles and responsibilities, financial sources, performance metrics, outreach and partnership activities, and a plan for continuous monitoring and refinement.

EMBARQ brings technical expertise and implementation experience to the table

EMBARQ has played an active role both in the creation and the current monitoring of the Transport Toolkit. Since 2012, EMBARQ experts have conducted a series of stakeholder interviews to discover what resources planners and policymakers need in addition to contributing original research to the Toolkit. EMBARQ will continue to monitor, update, and contribute to the Toolkit in addition to conducting workshops and webinars on how to make the most of the resources provided. Benoit Lefevre, Director of Transport and Climate at EMBARQ, recently presented the first webinar to showcase the variety of the tools available to urban planners through the toolkit. This webinar was the first in a series of webinars throughout 2014 to help guide planners through the process of using the toolkit and providing direct technical assistance.