San Sebastián is a medium-sized city with more than 186,000 inhabitants. It is a tertiary, tourist city, eminently commercial, with strong emphasis on services and congresses. In recent years, San Sebastián has moved into a leading position among European cities, largely because of its commitment to science, technology, sustainable development and culture. Its designation as European Capital of Culture in 2016 confirms this pledge.
For the last 25 years, the city has been enforcing a strong integrated mobility policy in favour of pedestrians, bicycles and public transport. This includes promoting active modes of transport, including the introduction of innovative measures, as well as integrated strategies to increase the number of people walking, cycling and using public transport, while simultaneously reducing the use of cars. The city has also worked to create more people-friendly spaces. These measures have a significant impact on the policy fields of energy, transport, and environmental sustainability. By reducing on-street parking and returning public space to the people, the city is an even more attractive place to be.
Donostia / San Sebastián overlooks the sea with three beaches and a small port, and is surrounded by mountains. This relief divides the city into low-lying and hilly areas. The main public transport services, pedestrian and cyclist facilities are located in the low-lying, flat areas of the city. About 50% of the population lives in the low-lying areas and the other half lives in the hilly areas. The main economic activities are trade and tourism.
This case study aims to examine the process to implement two mitigation lines of action (under the goal of “moving towards zero-emissions transport”): 1) “fostering intermodality and means of transport with lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions”; and 2) “replacing the use of oil derivatives”. These are implemented through the following actions: “creating and/or expanding the bus, tramway, train and underground networks by introducing a single ticket for inter-urban and municipal public transport throughout the Basque Country”, “fostering the development of sustainable mobility plans at urban, supra-municipal level and in the different business centres” and “spreading the use of means of transport with lower GHG emissions (electric vehicle, natural gas vehicle, bicycle, etc.) by means of future economic support and of future positive discrimination measures such as exempting non-internal combustion vehicles from paying parking charges, cutting the mechanical traction vehicle tax, etc.”
In line with these goals, the main measures pursued in recent years that will continue in the coming years are are listed below:
Public transport
The city of Donostia / San Sebastián is working to enhance the use of public transport by creating exclusive bus lanes, increasing the quality (including the frequency and commercial speed) of public transport, making it more accessible, and providing better public transport information for users, as well as introducing cleaner vehicles.
The municipal public transport operator, Dbus, is strongly committed to the environment commitments with constant improvements in the efficiency of its fleet and the increasing use of less polluting motors and fuels.
In terms of vehicle emissions, all Euro 0 and Euro 1 vehicles have disappeared and 90% of the fleet comply with at least the EURO 3 stage, including 11% of the fleet in the Euro 6 class. These are the cleanest buses available using diesel technology and are comparable to natural gas vehicles (GNC). Dbus has recently added 13 new, less-polluting buses with Euro 6 technology to its fleet, replacing buses using Euro 1 technology.
The latest evidence of the fleet’s constant renovation was the addition of the 100% electric bus manufactured by Irizar in close collaboration with Dbus. Irizar’s i2e electric bus is the first vehicle of its kind manufactured in Europe, and guarantees the elimination of contaminant gases and noise to the environment.
Today Dbus operates three fully electric vehicles and 20 hybrid buses. Next year they will introduce four more buses (a mix of electric and hybrid), which will make a quarter of the total fleet electric or hybrid.
Last year the city introduced an exclusively electric and hybrid bus line (line 26) which will lead to a fuel savings of 25-30% and an estimated emissions reduction of 22 tonnes CO2 per year and vehicle.
The transport sector accounts for 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Spain and almost 40% of emissions from diffuse sectors. By road, road represents almost 95% of emissions, while the contribution of other modes of transport is much more minority.
The measures we are carrying out from the city council are aimed at reducing emissions that have developed in the transport sector:
Measures to promote modal shift in passengers and goods
The aim is to transfer passengers and goods from the most inefficient mode of transport, such as the road, to other more efficient modes, such as passenger and bicycle transport in the case of passenger transport. With the improvement of the fleet of buses, promotion of the bicycle, introduction of areas 30, of pedestrian zones, promotion of the use of public transport we achieved little by little this objective.
Measures to promote alternative fuels in transport
They highlight actions aimed at promoting fuel / propulsion modes with lower levels of CO2 emissions per unit of energy consumed in transport, such as the electric car, the hydrogen battery, biofuels or biomethane. With the introduction of hybrid and electric buses in the bus fleet, the promotion of the use of sustainable vehicles, aid to the purchase of electric vehicles for taxi drivers and urban distribution of goods, introduction of electric bicycles in the fleet of mobility agents and so on, we achieved this goal.
The main lesson learnt is that the city has to set ambitious and long-term goals but, at the same, it must work in the short term with visible actions that help transform citizens’ daily habits into more sustainable ones.
ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability
European Secretariat
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79098 Freiburg
Germany
Tel.: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 0
Fax: +49 (0) 761 – 368 92 19
E-mail: info@sustainablecities.eu
Website: www.sustainablecities.eu