ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY OF TRANSPORT AS A COMPONENT OF ECONOMIC STABILITY (ON THE EXAMPLE OF KUTAISI)
Authors: Chkhirodze Darejan 
Published: July 2021

The intensive growth of industrial processes and transport in cities is directly related to environmental pollution, which is manifested by an increase in the amount of emissions from vehicles and an increase in the concentration of aerosols in the atmosphere. The dynamics of this process depends on many different factors, in particular, the state of atmospheric stratification, wind direction, speed and more.
The main source of air pollution in Kutaisi is road transport - more than 90 percent of total air pollution emissions come from road transport. The emission of large amounts of pollutants from vehicles is due to many factors, including improper organization and management of traffic, low fuel quality, catalytic converter malfunctions, and the age of vehicles.
The number of passenger cars in Kutaisi is growing, for example, according to the years. In Kutaisi in 2014 -38929, 2015 -47668, according to global trends, if we do not take into account possible changes in policy, we can assume that car ownership will double in the next ten years.
According to the data conducted by the National Environment Agency on air pollution in Kutaisi in November 2018, the maximum single concentration of dust exceeded the maximum allowable norm by 2.4 times (4.2 times as of December), and the other components: carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, sulfur Also the maximum single concentrations of nitric oxide were within the norm. There have been up to a million cars across the country in recent years, according to this year’s data. 49273 cars (cars, buses, trucks) are registered in Kutaisi. The main part of the increased car fleet in Kutaisi is outdated and does not meet international technical and environmental requirements. Most of the registered cars were produced before 2002. According to the Service Agency of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the issue amounts to 22,628 units over 20 years old, 11,737 units from 10 to 15 years old, and 387 units under 5 years old.
It should be noted that st. Kutaisi has introduced municipal transport, namely buses, based on their ecological passport data, we can assume that air pollution will be minimized, which will contribute to sustainable development of the city, in particular, improving the ecological situation will increase the socio-economic situation.
Their economic sustainability will improve and the welfare level will rise, sustainable transport will improve the economy of transport users, as you know, municipal transport is much cheaper compared to other service transport. We have mentioned that the emissions of harmful substances by the new buses are less.
The buses were currently out of order due to regulations imposed during the pandemic period, thus increasing the number of light vehicles, their excessive number, thus affecting the air quality composition.
The author has made a comparative analysis between the harmful substances emitted by the municipal transport in the previous years and the substances emitted by the new buses, namely we have selected greenhouse gases CO2 and NO em, increasing greenhouse gas emissions leading to temperature rise and resulting in climate change.
The IPCC methodology was used. The mathematical relationship between the fuel used by vehicles and the harmful substances emitted into the atmosphere as a result of combustion is as follows:
yCO2 = 3.22x-0.003 (1)
yNO = 0.035x + 0.0017
The given equations can be used to predict the quantitative pollution of the environment by vehicles during the day, if the intensity of traffic D or the amount of fuel consumed is known.
here are the following challenges to ensure transport sustainability in Kutaisi:
Develop an appropriate environmental, economic and social development strategy for the functioning of sustainable transport in the city:
Reducing the negative impact of traffic on air quality and reducing secondary pollution in the city area;
The level of awareness of the population about the air quality in the city;
Air pollution quality control;
Increasing flow of vehicles, which is not in line with proactively integrated transport planning and demand management, and which negatively affects air quality;
Development and implementation of socio-economic policy in the field of transport;
Control of vehicle flow, work on updating the vehicle fleet, creation of electric transport infrastructure, appropriate planning for green cover cultivation;
Increase the involvement of the Department of Ecology and Landscaping of the Infrastructure Development, Landscaping, Transport and Cleaning Service in the work process of drafting the city master plan;
Cultivation of new green zones and restoration of green zones in the area of the city and its surroundings;
Participation of the Department of Ecology and Economy and Landscaping in joint measures to be taken by various agencies to reduce transport emissions, such as:
Optimization of traffic management in Kutaisi (including the introduction of a traffic light regulation system);
Setting an age limit on imported cars;
Gradual tightening of fuel quality and emission requirements;
Introduction of mandatory use of catalytic converter;
Re-introduce annual technical inspection of vehicles, including exhaust inspection.
Support for measures to reduce the number of vehicles:
Introduction of environmentally friendly vehicles;
Improving and complex development of municipal transport in the city and increasing its popularity;
Popularization of municipal transport in order to reduce the number of vehicles;
Participate in the implementation of the principles of Ecological sustainable transport, energy efficiency, intensive transport planning and demand management, low-carbon fuel and electrification of transport (through new technologies - hybrids, fuel, mobile communications, etc.).
Development of electric transport infrastructure and bringing to the forefront alternative transport modes;
Expansion of the existing network of pedestrian and bicycle lanes, arrangement of new pedestrian roads and bicycle lanes and development of relevant infrastructure.