Congestion charging Congestion charging restrains access by selected vehicle types, usually private cars, into large urban areas during congested times of the day. The aim is usually to discourage work-based commuting trips into a defined urban area. Measures range from complete restriction to discouragement through charging to incentive pricing for low-emission vehicles in zones. It is a market-based mechanism for influencing driver behavior that looks to capture the “external cost' of vehicle travel during congested periods of the day. Travel planning Informing drivers alternative modes of transport and sharing resources with other drivers leads to fewer cars being used and more trips on public transport. Removing vehicles from circulation reduces fuel consumption and increases the viability and efficiency of public transport. Awareness-raising campaigns Public education and training campaigns can increase the public's awareness and understanding of the benefits of energy efficiency and help change attitudes. Providing information on easy ways to be more energy efficient can help modify citizen behavior and contribute to overall energy savings. The key benefits are more energy efficient behavior by residents leading to reduced energy consumption within the city. For example, encouraging people to leave their car at home and take transit instead, or promoting walking for short trips. Indirect benefits include reduced pressure on energy infrastructure, reduced carbon emissions, and better air quality. The above recommendations can build upon the ongoing programs carried out by the city, and some of them can also be combined with the linked Wuhan Integrated Transport Development Project that is financed by World Bank. emission low-
Limitations of the TRACE tool While TRACE is a simple and easy tool to evaluate a city’s energy efficiency, there are limitations with respect to the depth of its analysis. It estimates potential energy savings based on benchmarking against other cities in the TRACE database, but the evaluation of city specific energy savings would require more detailed data, which are difficult to obtain, especially in the transport sector. However, TRACE provides the best practices for energy saving recommendations based on the city’s evaluation with cost and implementation requirement information, but it does not provide city specific details on the costs required to undertake the recommended strategies. The Case Study Wuhan, located in central China, is home to 10.22 million residents, covers 8494.41 square kilometers, and had an annual Gross Domestic Product of RMB905.13 billion (USD145.99 billion) in 2013. Although Wuhan is one of China’s fastest-growing cities, it lags behind the coastal cities. The disposable income per capita in Wuhan is RMB20,681 per year compared to RMB32,472 in eastern coastal cities. Thus, the Government of China launched the “Rise of Central China” program to boost economic growth in central China. Wuhan, along with eight smaller cities within a 100 km radius (1+8 city cluster), was selected as one of the first pilot demonstrations of regional planning in China. The goal was to achieve a more balanced and sustainable development pattern in these cities. Improving transport is one of the fundamentals to the development of a central China strategy. Following China’s pattern of rapid motorization, Wuhan, too, is experiencing a rapid growth in the number of motor vehicles. With about 130 vehicles per 1,000 population, the city suffered the negative impact of congestion despite a relatively low vehicle ownership rate compared to other cities such as London (300) and cities in the Netherlands (500). The quality of the environment is compromised by air pollution from the growing private vehicle fleet and old public transport vehicles Background Wuhan is one of the largest cities in China. It ranked the sixth-most populous Chinese city in 2013, according to the China Urban Development Statistical Yearbook as presented in Table 1. As with other Chinese cities, Wuhan is