Italians on four wheels: without them they can't move. It's easy to say sustainable mobilityand, the dear petrol, diesel, LPG car is always the most loved. Goodbye urban healthiness. Confirmations? The last one is the Relationship on the mobility of Italiansi of the Higher Institute of Training and Research for Transport (Isfort).
In twenty years the cars in circulation have increased by 19%, exceeding 40 million. Two out of three trips are made by car and less than 2 out of 10 are made on foot. “The engine of 2000” he sang Lucio Dalla.
The exhaust, the noise, the congestion, the slow speed, disturb few fellow citizens. Getting in the car to go from one part of the city to another is now automatic, almost like getting angry with the referee during your favorite team's match.
It's fine to use the car for long distances, but the bad data from Isfort say that mobility is a predominantly local, short-range phenomenon. The joke is always worth: shall I get cigarettes? By car obviously.
“The first confirmation of the short range of mobility, i.e. the distribution of journeys in distance classes: 75-80% of journeys end in the edge of the 10 kilometers ”.
Old car fleet and little hope for the future?
Italy has one of the oldest car fleets in Europe. But it's not just the cars that are old. The excessive use of four wheels is also explained by the aging of the population. In the city, a slim 4% of our fellow citizens move around by bike or use other forms of micromobility. “Use public transport!” say the mayors, but it resembles a curse. And it is known that the elderly are familiar with spells.
“Proximity mobility”. What does it mean? Greater social and also economic responsibility, visas fuel prices. It has to do with the environment, health, stress. Is it a joke? More or less, because you have to go back to three years ago to read numbers on urban travel on foot or on non-motorised two-wheelers. Ah, the scooter !
And it goes without saying that to be sustainable and futuristic we will all travel up electric cars over the next decade. But Isfort researchers are against it. Meaning what ? Because the population continues to age, demographic projections are nightmarish, particularly in the Southern regions and because purchasing a new car sometimes resembles a long-term investment. "Lose all hope, oh you who...". Let's listen to the researchers.
“If you think about how much rhetoric on the issues of sustainable mobility has invaded public discourse in recent years, the gap between narrative and results could not be more evident”. The Isfort researchers have numbers on their side and we...didn't realize it.
