SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
While more people opt for travel by car and private transport, the number of passengers that trains and buses can carry has also been reduced to meet social distancing guidelines. This means that people from different households must keep one to two metres apart. So, once a seat is taken, surrounding seats must be left empty.
This has had a profound effect on the climate impact of train and car travel. When running at normal capacity, public transport is more environmentally friendly than travelling by car. Although a train or bus can produce more C0₂ than a car, they transport far more people, so emissions per person are lower overall.
But under social distancing conditions, and assuming that any unfilled seats correspond to a commuter driving to work instead, diesel-powered public transport produces more C0₂ emissions per passenger than a small car.
Can passengers be seated so public transportation can be more efficient than cars while maintaining social distancing?
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:13AM (3 children)
Many light rail systems are driven by electricity. How much carbon that represents depends on the power source. Many city buses run on LNG. It's still a fossil fuel, but it represents less CO2 per unit of energy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 18 2020, @10:51AM
Hey!!! Hey!!! Ho!!! Ho!!! Your facts have got to go!!!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by richtopia on Saturday July 18 2020, @04:14PM (1 child)
Yes, the article is very lax in details. The only real example they explore is a 1980's diesel train in New South Wales, which I assume is a long-haul service. Even this service is right at their break-even point; they state 17 passengers/car is equivalent to automotive transport and social distancing puts the maximum capacity at 16. If they implement some physical barriers they can hit 38 passengers/car. If anything, this is demonstrating viability of mass-transit; we are looking at one of the worst cases in modern usage and the rail system is beating automotive applications.
I imagine that if you look at diesel busses their efficiency is also borderline at reduced capacity. However, I'm of the opinion that the primary benefit of these routes are enabling mobility, if the objective is to reduce greenhouse emissions we have the technology to move to a cleaner fuel, hybrid powertrain, battery electric or overhead wires.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday July 19 2020, @10:25AM
Compared to what? I think the real take-home message is that with some basic, low cost shielding/ventilation, in a social distancing situation you can increase the carrying capacity of mass transit by a factor of two or so. It's rigorous enough to back that up.