SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION INDICATORS: CASE STUDY OF USERS FROM KUALA LUMPUR AND PENANG

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1 SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION INDICATORS: CASE STUDY OF USERS FROM KUALA LUMPUR AND PENANG Leong Lee Vien, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia Ahmad Farhan Mohd. Sadullah, Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), Selangor, Malaysia ABSTRACT The issue of sustainability of transport is very recent in Malaysia and many different frameworks have been formulated with the hope of representing the best approach to address sustainable transport issues in Malaysia. The ultimate aim is to be able to evaluate the sustainability of transport in an area and to come up with ways to ensure better sustainability in the future. In order to attain this goal, a series of sustainable transportation performance indicators must be determined. Indicators for sustainable transportation system are generally categorized under three main groups. These groups represent categories most likely to affect and be affected by sustainable development and they are the economical indicators, social indicators and environmental indicators. In addition, these indicators must be unique for Malaysian transportation behaviour. Among the issues regarded as important for Malaysians and that could help in determining the sustainable transportation performance indicators are road safety, air pollution, transportation costs and public transportation. The study revealed on how enlightened local people are on sustainability but have a high resistance when it comes to change. INTRODUCTION Sustainable transportation is fast emerging as a guiding principle for transportation development activities worldwide. A sustainable transportation system points towards the attainment of certain transportation development criteria that focuses on easing access and mobility for people, services and resources. Attainment of sustainable transportation necessitates the development of vision and definition as frameworks to understand its objectives. Sustainable development has various definitions according to a variety of sources but it all comes down to meaning a development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland, 1987). The definition for sustainable transportation was then based on this definition and the general definition of sustainable transportation is given as meeting or helping meet the mobility needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Nevertheless, literature review of works done around the world presents formal definition of sustainable transportation advanced by various publications, most notably from the Brundtland Commission, the World Bank and the Centre for Sustainable Transportation. A sustainable transportation system is conceptually defined as a set of transport development activities that does not leave problems that affect the ability of future generations to enjoy equal or better quality of life. These problems are not limited to environmental externalities but also encompass social and economic impacts caused by transportation. Essentially, attainment of sustainable transportation requires a method of assessment to determine whether progress is being made towards its objectives. Performance indicators are a way to evaluate progress towards sustainable transportation by clarifying specific issues and presenting key data concisely. Indicators summarise valuable data into an easily readable format for decision-makers on transportation policies as they help transportation planners to take into account the full range of economic, social and environmental impacts of their decision in transportation policies. Indicators is an important tool to present a summary of the current state of transportation system, offering an insight if the system is progressing towards or away from a sustainable future. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

2 In year 2001, Meyer and Miller came up with a performance-based transportation planning in which indicators play a significant role in the planning process as shown in Figure 1. These indicators will serve as indications or markers on how sustainable the system is, either individually per indicator, or with some research, as a whole system. Once these indicators have been identified, they would help the system to monitor the transportation situation and to ensure that measures are taken so that the system would always be at its best. Figure 1: Role of indicators in transportation planning process (Meyer and Miller, 2001) Factors that influenced the selection of sustainability indicators often overlap in priority. In most situations, no single indicator is adequate; therefore a set of indicators should be selected. Such a set should reflect a broad range of sustainability planning goals and objectives. However, most works presents a long list of sustainability indicators that is almost similar to one another. A comprehensive summary of sustainable transportation performance indicators developed world wide is presented in Table 1 (Magilavy, 1988; Arnot, 1992; Hagbarth, 1998; Litman, 2005 and Miliband and Healey, 2006). Based on the summary in Table 1, literature review of eleven international research publications in the development of sustainable transportation indicators has revealed a long list of indicators. Some of the indicators are consistent with other studies while some have taken a different approach towards sustainability as in the case of Victoria Transport Policy Institute. The Victoria Transport Policy Institute is an independent Canadian transportation research organisation that develops transportation problem solution tools. This organisation has used a different set of selection criteria for sustainable transport indicators by focusing on transportation accessibility i.e. the ability of transport users to reach goods, services and destinations instead of the conventional focus on the system s ability to move vehicles by using traffic congestion measurement as an indicator. However, no information is provided by the institution as to how to quantify the indicators proposed (Litman, 2005). ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

3 Table 1: List of Sustainable Transportation Indicators Organisation City council of San Francisco Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions of the UK Environment Canada State of Environment Directorate World Bank Canada National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy Ontario Round Table on Environment and Economy Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Transport Association of Canada New Zealand Ministry for the Environment Victoria Transport Policy Institute Baltic 21 Sustainable Transportation Indicators Automobile registration Transit ridership Personal vehicle use Cost of transport Freight traffic Land use for road constructions Carbon monoxide, black smoke, lead, nitrogen dioxide, greenhouse gas emissions Fossil fuel consumption by transportation Urban transit and automobile use Carbon dioxide emissions Traffic accidents Fuel use Carbon dioxide, greenhouse gas emissions Paved roads Freight transport Air travel occupancy Average pollution level Transportation energy consumption Unit sales of cars and trucks Total kilometres driven Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation Carbon dioxide emission Cost of transit Urban transit ridership Land use for transportation infrastructures Fossil fuel use by transport Accessibility of transportation Transportation pricing and taxation Transportation fuel consumption Road infrastructures construction intensity Pollution emission by transport Safety risk of transportation Automobiles per capita Expressway lane-km per capita Transit mode share Total transit expenditures per household Fuel use per capita Carbon dioxide emissions per capita Level of road congestion over time Vehicle fleet composition Vehicle-kilometres travel by road users Freight tonne-kilometres Transportation land use Passenger travel by air Share of household expenditures on transportation Per capita automobile use Transport accessibility of non-drivers Quality of pedestrian environment Per capita land paved for roads Quality of public transit service Quality of transport users with mobility needs Affordability of public transit service Motor vehicle fatalities and accidents Per capita transport energy consumption Length of public transport network Annual greenhouse gas emissions Energy consumption by mode types Annual transport fatalities and injuries Total freight volume by modes Numerous effort were carried out by respective governments as well as organisations to develop appropriate performance indicators that allow significant trends to be monitored and assist in evaluating progress towards or away from a defined goal of sustainable transportation. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

4 However, the objectivity and accuracy of these indicators is questionable as transportation users behaviours and development circumstances vary from across the world. It is therefore imperative that a unique set of indicators be developed to reflect the state of sustainable development in Malaysia. This set of indicators has to be unique to the country as it would have to reflect the general transportation user behaviour of Malaysians and take into account public perceptions as to what constitutes attainment of sustainability in Malaysia. As Malaysia will continue to urbanize rapidly in the next few decades, decision-makers are more aware of the importance to implement solutions that promote the attainment of sustainable transportation. However, to date in Malaysia, no comprehensive tool has been developed to monitor the transportation systems progress towards or away from sustainability. This research will determine a set of sustainable transportation performance indicators in Malaysia with two target populations, namely from transportation users in Kuala Lumpur and Penang (two of the busiest cities in Malaysia). It will look into the suitability of indicators of sustainability developed previously by various researches world wide to be applied in Malaysia and also explore indicators that are unique to transportation system in Malaysia. In line with the effort of determination of sustainable transportation indicators, the initial set of indicators will also be used to monitor and analyse the current Malaysia transportation system to evaluate the level of sustainability in Malaysian transportation activities and its progress towards or away from its vision of a sustainable future. The list of appropriate indicators and results of sustainability analysis presented in the conclusion of this research would be a helpful tool for transport policy makers to influence future decision making process towards a sustainable transportation system. STUDY APPROACH The objective and scope of this research is to determine appropriate sustainable transportation indicators in Malaysia. Sustainable transportation indicators developed by other countries would not be entirely suitable to be applied in Malaysia. The long list of sustainability indicators made available by researches worldwide would provide a strong base for any effort in the development of similar indicators for transportation system in Malaysia. In general, most indicators developed around the world monitor similar transportation impacts but are worded and named differently to suit the availability of data in that country. Thus, sustainability indicators that are listed in more than three research publications and based on similar sustainability concepts are short listed for further analysis of application in Malaysia. The short listed indicators are presented to the Malaysian public to determine the level of relevance of Westerninspired concept of transportation sustainability in their lives. For this research, a survey of public opinion was used as the best method to better understand the Malaysian perception on sustainable transportation. The survey requires respondents to answer questions based on their understanding of current transportation system issues, travel behaviour and expectations for future transportation development. In the survey, respondents are required to indicate the level of priority and relevance placed on elements of sustainable transportation to gauge the public perceptions on sustainability concepts. The survey was given out randomly to respondents living in two target cities namely Penang and Kuala Lumpur. Public awareness to the concept of sustainable transportation requires to an extent, certain amount of exposures afforded by education and the media. As both target cities are the most developed cities in Malaysia, the education level and availability of media would ensure that the public already has a certain level of exposure to sustainable transportation. Also, as inter-state immigration rate is high among these two cities, it would create a balance between respondents who are aware of sustainable transportation and those who are not for this survey to be representative of Malaysia. Aside from the survey, interview sessions with transportation authorities were also carried out. This is to observe whether the public opinion is in alignment with national transportation development plans by the government. The same level of interest in sustainable transportation between the public and the authorities is essential to ensure a higher demand in the implementation of activities which move towards sustainability. Appropriate sustainability indicators are selected based on the level of relevance the Malaysian public placed upon each elements of sustainable transportation. Indicators that received low level of priority or relevance are not entirely omitted from analysis. This is so because certain ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

5 elements of sustainability may be deemed as irrelevant by the Malaysian public but would still be important to be monitored. For example, many Malaysians do not give priority to land use for the construction of more transportation infrastructures. However, uncontrolled land use would still have to be monitored as it has environmental impact that would move a system away from sustainability. Thus, indicators that are deemed irrelevant are listed and analysed separately. Transportation statistical data such as annual average daily traffic, vehicle registration, transit ridership, etc. are collected from various transportation planning agencies and analysed with the short listed indicators. The results of this analysis offer an insight into the current state of transportation sustainability in Malaysia. Transportation statistics can be used to verify the applicability and suitability of short listed transportation sustainability indicators. Indicators would not be of any use if transportation statistic data are not available for analysis to be done to evaluate the progress of current system towards or away from sustainability. These data are obtained from internet resources, Malaysian transportation journals and annual performance reports and also from the libraries of transportation agencies. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Survey respondents are selected randomly according to Malaysian census data on overall population gender and racial composition. This is to ensure public opinion polled will be representative of the country s population. A total of 1200 respondents from Penang and Kuala Lumpur were approached randomly in this survey in which 57% of the respondents are male and in terms of racial population, 51% of the respondents are Malay, 32% Chinese, 11% Indian and 6% of other races. Majority of the respondents are in the age group between 26 to 45 years old with the breakdown of 34% between age years old and 25% between years old. The response rate of 80% achieved in the survey further verifies the results to be meaningful for further analysis. Figure 2 presents the survey results that show a high level of support from majority of the respondents to the concept and objectives of transportation sustainability. This underlines an improvement in public awareness and augments well with future expanded effort in achieving more sustainability. Survey results revealed that respondents placed the highest priority in the issue of user safety for future transportation development. Environment protection and the reduction of pollution emission from transportation also received high public support. Affordability, efficiency and the availability of transport mode choices are important factors that helps transport users in meeting their basic access needs such as travel for the purpose of work, leisure or delivery of goods and services. Respondents give the least, albeit high priority to the issue of inter-generational equity that works towards the development of a sustainable transportation system that does not hinder the opportunity of future generations from enjoying equal or better quality of life than the present generation. Achievement of sustainable transportation hinges primarily on the understanding and definition of what is to be achieved and a means of determining whether achievement has occurred. Actual attainment of sustainability in Malaysia may be a distant prospect but a key first step is to establish an agreed framework of sustainability definition and objectives through public opinion survey. Results from the survey will be deconstructed and organized into three domains of environmental, economic and social equity sustainability to form the basis for indicators selection and analysis of whether the Malaysian transport system trend is moving towards or away from sustainability. Neither exhaustive nor definitive, the list does reflect robust sustainable transportation indicators that have all been either critiqued in the academic and professional literature, or have been incorporated into a sustainable transportation indicator program in the real world. This list became an important initial list for the determination of appropriate sustainable transportation indicators in Malaysia. Table 2 shows the short listed sustainable transportation indicators for Malaysia. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

6 Figure 2: Level of priority given by the public to definition and objectives of sustainable transportation. To evaluate the level of relevance for each short listed sustainable transportation indicators to the Malaysian transportation system, public respondents are asked their opinion of each of the indicators identified in the literature review from two perspectives. Respondents were first asked to rank each indicator in each domain of sustainability according to their level of priority. Secondly, they were asked to select the five most important indicators that they feel would reflect the overall sustainability of the Malaysian transportation system. This method of assessing the relevance of sustainability indicators to the Malaysian public offers a mathematical quantification approach determining indicators that would be most relevant to the public to evaluate the progress of the transportation system towards or away from sustainability. It also enables the rating of indicators to be done to enable further short listing of indicators towards a final set of appropriate indicators. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

7 Table 2: Short listed sustainable transportation indicators for Malaysia. Domain of Transportation Sustainability Environment Economy Social Equity Sustainable Transportation Indicators E1. Greenhouse gas emissions E2. Fuel consumption of transport mode E3. Unit sales of personal automobiles E4. Annual average daily traffic E5. Land use for transportation purposes EC1. Portion of transportation-related costs paid by public funding EC2. Percentage of household expenditures dedicated to transportation EC3.Transportation pricing EC4. Movement of freight EC5. Gas and diesel fuel prices at the pump EC6. Average commute travel time S1. Quality of accessibility for non-motorised road users S2. Quality of accessibility for disadvantaged people S3. Urban transit ridership S4. Quality of public transit service S5. Transportation injuries and fatalities The analysis of survey results in Figure 3 revealed sustainability indicators that monitor road safety, pollution level of transportation, pricing of gasoline and quality of transit service have high relevance value to transport users in Malaysia. These are important indicators that should be included in the final list of appropriate indicators. However, Malaysian public places insignificant consideration in sustainable indicators which monitor urban transit ridership, land use for transportation purposes, movement of freight and unit sales of personal automobiles. This could be due to lack of understanding towards the significance of these indicators in evaluating the sustainability of transportation system. Thus, to avoid indiscriminate elimination of indicators that could be useful, the final 16 sustainable transportation indicators were presented to various Malaysian transportation agencies for further reviews and validation. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

8 Figure 3: Most appropriate indicators to reflect overall sustainability. An important insight from the interview sessions with transportation authorities in Malaysia reveals that sustainable transportation is a relatively new concept of transport development in this country. Thus, although the existence of a set of sustainability indicators would be helpful as a framework for evaluation of progress, not all of the indicators listed above would be useful presently due to insufficient transportation data. The final selection of sustainability indicators would hinge upon the availability of statistical data to render the indicators relevant to the Malaysian public. In this last part of the selection process, the short listed 16 indicators will be put against the availability of transportation statistical data. If data is available, the effectiveness of the indicator is tested by using it to evaluate the progress of Malaysia transportation system towards sustainability. If data is not available, the indicator would be set aside for further discussions. For clarity, analysis is organized according to the three domains of sustainability. Environmental sustainability indicators Primary analysis of survey question results reveals a high priority from the public in regard to the definition of environmental and natural resources sustainability. For the initial effort in developing an indicator set, well-accepted indicators from literature review such as greenhouse gas emission from transportation, fuel consumption by transportation, unit sales of personal automobiles, annual average daily traffic and land use for transportation are used to monitor environmental sustainability. Interview session with officers from Ministry of Works, Malaysia revealed a lack of secondary data for substantial analysis of the land use for transportation indicator in Malaysia. Theoretically, urban use of land causes several adverse impacts such as the alteration of drainage patterns, displaces agricultural activity, destruction of ecosystems and interferes with other species use of the land. Officers from the Ministry of Works remarked that due to the 9th Malaysian Plan, a lot of new land has been opened for development of paved road infrastructures. Because of the strong links between increased land use and increased transport activities particularly from private vehicles, growth in land use in Malaysia indicates movement away from sustainability. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

9 Further survey questions to gather more elaborate insight into the consistency of Malaysian travel behaviour with the achievement of sustainable transportation revealed a high level of resistance in issues of reducing dependence on personal vehicles, increasing road, vehicle and gasoline pricing, minimizing use of land for road infrastructure constructions and considering pollution emission as a factor in choice of transportation mode. In general, the Malaysian public agrees in principle that sustainable transportation system development is vital for the future. However, the public does not support this idealism with a change in travel attitude and perception that is inconsistent with the attainment of sustainability objectives. High public resistance factor moves progress away from sustainability. Figure 4 shows the survey results on public resistance towards sustainability which indicates that majority of Malaysian public polled does not consider vehicle pollution emission to be an important issue to be accounted for in the personal selection of transportation choice. However, the public also holds that greenhouse gas emission indicator is needed for the monitoring of a more sustainable transport system. This inconsistency could be due to a lack of awareness and understanding of the role of users in affecting important system changes in the grassroots level. As vehicle pollution emission is not taken into account for choice of transport modes by Malaysians, there would be a higher inclination to not use public transit and a higher dependency on personal automobile instead that would lead to environmental detriments caused by greenhouse gas pollution. Nevertheless, air quality has worsened due to the rise in transportation, even as authorities have enforced reductions in emissions from vehicular sources. CO2 emissions from the transport sector in Malaysia form a major part of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. The growing focus on global warming and greenhouse issues places additional pressure on urban transport to reduce its CO2 output. A sustainable transportation system is one that limits emissions within the planet s ability to absorb them (Gilbert & Tanguay, 2000). Greenhouse gas emission from transportation makes a good sustainability indicator as when emissions decline, there is progress towards sustainable transportation. CO2 which is one of the identified greenhouses gases in Malaysia has increased from million metric tones to million metric tones over a period of two decades. This represents a large increase of almost 300% more emission from base level in 1980 and thus indicates movement away from sustainable transportation. Progress towards sustainability would have required a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transport. It follows that consumption of petroleum and greenhouse gases are interlinked, as vehicle ownership increases leads to more personal transport activity and thus a higher emission of CO2 due to the burning of petroleum. According to the greenhouse gas emission from transportation indicator, the environmental sustainability of Malaysian transportation system is moving away from sustainability. As transport users are not able to, or rather would not change their travel behaviour to consider pollution emission in transport choice, it is imperative for the government to actively intervene through transport policies to achieve a reduction in pollution emission. Active engagement by the government can be done through the implementation of policies that discourage the dependency on private automobile or road use by gradual removal of gasoline subsidy, increase road pricing and vehicle sale price and reduction in land use for the construction of road infrastructures such as paved roads and highway. Survey results revealed an initial high general public resistance towards active government intervention policies in moving the transportation system towards sustainability. Public sentiments are important in the attainment of sustainability as it provides political mandate for the implementation of more sustainable transport projects. Transport policy decision-makers would slow-drag any sustainable system initiatives without sufficient public support or if the plans would cause public uproar such as the recent user dissatisfaction at the removal of gasoline subsidy. To align public interest with the objectives of sustainable development, awareness of the need to change travel behaviour and perception towards supporting sustainability is vital. For instance, the reduction in land use for the construction of road infrastructures should not be construed as a sign that the government is neglecting the welfare of the public, rather such efforts should be applauded as more funds will be available for the construction and improvement of the public transit system that would progress towards a more sustainable system in the future. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

10 Figure 4: Survey results on public resistance towards environmental sustainability. In addition, the increasing trend of car registration which indirectly translates to higher car sales leads to reduction in the share of public use of transit. A strong factor that compels vehicle use is ownership. Once people purchase vehicles, they tend to use them. Like most average-income Asian cities, motorcycles form a significant part of the transport system in Malaysia. Motorcycles are the most manoeuvrable motorised mode for avoiding traffic queues and the most affordable form of motorised private transport for the moderate-income public of Malaysia. However, an increase in the number of motorcycles is a major cause of air pollution, noise and safety, especially in rural areas. Thus, using the unit sales of automobiles indicator, the increase in vehicle registration and ownership is an indication that the Malaysian transportation system is moving away from sustainability. Apart from that, the annual average daily traffic sustainability indicator is closely related to unit sales of car indicator. When vehicle ownership goes up, there is an increase in average daily traffic as more people are able and willing to drive. When the share of travel by the more polluting motorised modes goes up, there would be a smaller share of travel by less polluting modes such as transit and inter-city bus and train. Again, this indicator shows a trend that moves the Malaysian transport system away from sustainability. The number of vehicles also causes other environmental concerns such as fuel consumption, road safety as collisions increase land use for vehicle storage and construction of road infrastructures and waste from vehicle disposal. Fuel consumption by transportation indicator has close correlation to the amount of vehicle movement. As fuel consumption and pollution emission increase with vehicle activity, a larger population of vehicle owners will cause greater adverse effects of transportation on the environment and thus moves our system further from sustainability. As a sustainable transportation system is one that minimizes consumption of non-renewable resources, thus a useful performance indicator of sustainability in Malaysia is one that measures the consumption of petroleum by transport modes. Petroleum from which the vehicle fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene are refined is the main resource used for transport. Petroleum is a non-renewable energy resource. The consumption of petroleum in Malaysia has increased from around 150,000 barrels a day in year 1980 to more than 500,000 barrels a day in year Although the data accounts for petroleum consumption is in all industries, the transportation sector would take the largest share as electricity generation in Malaysian is primarily run by coal-fired generators. This represents a large increase in the ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

11 consumption of non-renewable resources for transport. Hence, the fast depletion of fossil fuels, together with the increasing awareness of environmental issues particularly on the increasing greenhouse gas emissions and escalating petroleum prices, have led to concerted efforts in the search for renewable and environmentally friendly alternative energy sources. As such, the Malaysia's National Biofuel Policy was formulated on March 2006, with the objectives of supplementing the depleting supply of fossil fuels with renewable resources, mobilising local resources for biofuels and exploiting local technology to generate energy for the transportation and industrial sectors (Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities Malaysia, 2006). Nevertheless, a contributing factor to the increase in transport energy use could be due to population growth. However, the population growth in Malaysia has been increasing on a slow and gradual scale in comparison to the steep increase in consumption. Thus, if all else had stayed the same or increased steadily, the steep increase in petroleum consumption is more likely be a cause of more Malaysians being able to travel more in their personal vehicles. Progress towards sustainability would have required a reduction in the consumption of nonrenewable resources. Increase in the consumption of petroleum indicates movement away from sustainable transportation as according to the fuel consumption by transportation indicator Economic sustainability indicators A sustainable system promotes self-sustaining (financing) system wherein users pay the full costs of system construction, operation and expansion. Transport cost represents the willingness from the public to actively participate in the future development of a sustainable system. For instance, if transport users believe that an efficient rail system is crucial to improving the present system; users would have to be willing to cover the extra costs incurred over the construction of such system. This is especially important as the effects of transportation system is long term and to the success of a system can only be ensured through the continuity of support from the public through financial means. Thus the portion of transportation-related costs paid by public funding indicator for economic sustainability would be useful to evaluate the financial self-sustenance of a transport system. However, interview session with officers from the Economic Planning Unit, Penang revealed that information on shares of transportation expenditures using public funds are not available to the public as they are classified materials. Data on the effect of gasoline price increase towards the affordability of transportation users are also not available. This has disabled significant application of the gasoline-price-at-pump indicator. Also, as gasoline is a controlled-price commodity in Malaysia and is protected from market forces, gasoline price indicator would not be useful in evaluating whether the demand for gasoline has increased. Average of commute travel time indicator cannot be analysed due to insufficient transportation data on commute time. In general, progress towards or away from sustainability can be influenced by the use of transportation pricing such as user charges and taxes as incentives for more efficient and sustainable use of transportation systems. However, if prices for less sustainable forms of transportation are raised substantially (by removing gasoline and vehicle price subsidy), without ensuring that more sustainable modes are available to replace them, there would be problems of affordability and equity. Malaysian public has expressed strong priority over the issue of transport affordability as shown in Figure 5. User charges are a means of internalizing external costs that are currently paid by the public rather than by individual users who create them (e.g. air emissions, publicly-paid costs of accidents, congestion costs). The transportation improvements which are funded from such present user charges and other current revenue sources (e.g. taxes) rather than by long-term debt financing could burden the next generation with ongoing payments for transportation infrastructures built by the present generation. The unwillingness of present transport users to fully finance present transportation development activity would affect inter-generational equity and move away from sustainability. Survey results (Figure 5) present strong public resistance in the issue of transportation cost such as construction, expansion and maintenance to be fully supported by users. This move away from sustainability could be due to the nature of Malaysia s development. Most people belong to the lower or middle income earning group, therefore the extra cost of transport besides fuel consumption and transit fares represents an additional share of their monthly expenditures that could be spent on other financial areas. This also explains public resistance towards the removal of gasoline and vehicle price subsidy and increase of road pricing thru mechanisms such as toll and parking price. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

12 Figure 5: Public response on economic sustainability of transport. Indicators that demonstrate progress towards or away from economic sustainability by quantifying system affordability in terms of percentage of household expenditures dedicated to transportation, influence of transportation pricing and ability to support a vibrant economy are further examined. Most survey respondents spend % of their monthly income on operating cost of transportation, mostly fuel and fares for public transit. Affordability of transportation system is relative. As a majority of Malaysian public belongs to low to middle income earning group, transportation pricing is important in affecting the use of a particular mode of transport. To encourage a higher public transit ridership, the relative cost of transit has to be cheaper than the cost of driving. Part of the reason people use their cars once they own them is because the operating cost of driving, that is price of fuel is less than the cost of urban transit. As increased urban transit use represents progress towards sustainability, a reduction in the cost of transit fare in relation to the cost of a litre of gasoline would support that objective. However, cheap transport operating cost will lead to increase in use of transport especially for modes that are cost-sensitive. For example, the introduction of low-cost carrier operation by Air Asia in Malaysia has resulted in overall increase of air travel. A 10% reduction in the cost of airline tickets would affect an increase in air travel by a similar margin. This trend would work against sustainability as air travel has a high consumption of non-renewable fuel and an even higher pollution emission level. Thus transportation pricing system has to be utilised conservatively. A high-priced public transit system such as high bus fare prices or high price for motorcycles would burden lower-income users from meeting their access needs. If transport takes a large share of household income and became less affordable, users would not be willing to pay for sustainability and would in turn leave debt financing problems for the future generation. Thus, transportation pricing is an important sustainability indicator to be used in Malaysia. However, as most public transportation operators in Malaysia are private-based entities, it is difficult to monitor transportation pricing due to the absence of a uniform pricing system. Malaysia is essentially a manufacturing-based economy that depends heavily on the profitability of her export and import trading business with other countries. Thus, freight transport is a significant part of Malaysia s economy and has important implications for economic sustainability. Reduced freight transport activity is generally consistent with progress towards sustainability in respect to many of the elements of the definition of sustainable transportation that the Malaysian public has established. However, there is also a need to recognize for a sustainable transportation system to support a vibrant economy of a country, to which freight ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

13 transport makes a strong contribution. Although deemed irrelevant by the public, interview with transport authorities revealed that freight movement sustainability indicator is vital for effective monitoring of the system. Freight is a cost for business and it would be beneficial for businesses to reduce their need for freight transport as long as this can be done without affecting the efficiency of their operations. Thus, on balance, reductions in the movement of freight represent progress towards sustainability. Delivery and movement of goods in freight or containers can be done by using modes of rail, sea, air and land. Movement of all freight and containers by air, rail and maritime modes of transport has generally increased in trend. The increase in total freight movement by air travel has almost doubled over the period of a decade. Such large increase represents considerable growth in the adverse impacts of transport on the environment and also represents increased cost to business as air travel is both environmentally-detrimental and expensive. Using the freight movement indicator, it shows movement away from sustainability. The increase of container movement by maritime modes of transport also shows similar trend. However, maritime transport does not pollute the environment as much as air travel although it relies on a high consumption of non-renewable resources to power the ships. Due to the difficulty in compromising economic benefits from freight movement with a sustainable transportation system, it is proposed that tonne-kilometres be used to represent freight activity. Tonnekilometres provide a consistent measure of the efficiency of freight movement. More freight has to be transported over a shorter period of time and distance to reduce the adverse effects of transportation on the environment and profitability of business. Freight transportation statistic reveals that the total freight tonne kilometres using rail transport has been decreasing consistently even as the amount of freight has increased consistently. A main contributor to the reduction in tonne-kilometre could also be due to the growth in the use of just-in-time method of business. Freight movements are more controlled and effective. As there are smaller margin of error in this approach, freights are ensured to be transported as efficiently as possible by ensuring that the train is loaded to its optimum capacity. This represents a more efficient approach to freight movement and would progress towards sustainability. However, the just-in-time method of business could also mean that more road transport is used for the movement of goods instead of rail. The increase of road transport represents more fuel consumption and adverse effects to the environment and thus moves the Malaysian system away from sustainability. Due to lack of complete data on freight movement, this factor of economic sustainability is inconclusive, although it can be concluded that freight movement indicator is useful for the monitoring of sustainability. Social equity sustainability indicators Social sustainability indicators measure whether the present transport system creates equities of access and protects the health and safety of users. Equity of access guarantees the interest of access to motorised and non-motorised vehicles alike without compromising the interest of users who walk or ride the public transit. The interest of those who are disadvantaged is important as the impact of congestion and poor access to transport fall most heavily on this group of users. Equity indicators should evaluate the quality of pedestrian infrastructures, ease of travel especially for the mobility disadvantaged, urban transit accessibility and quality. Survey results present high public priority in elements of social equity sustainability as shown in Figure 6. Interviews with transport decision-makers revealed increasing government initiatives in improvement of urban transit quality and provision of infrastructures for pedestrians and users with special mobility needs throughout the country. However, presently the only avenue for the monitoring of quality of urban transit and pedestrians available is through the submission of complaint forms by users. In line with the transport authorities initiative in improving both areas of facilities, the development of both the quality of infrastructures for non-motorised users and quality of transit indicators would have greater purpose in the future. Also, in general, the public would like to have an improvement in infrastructures that would encourage more pedestrian travel like shaded side walks and great route coverage. The provision of more accessibility to non-motorised transportation would encourage a shift in dependency from motorised vehicles to more sustainable non-motorised modes of transport. This public sentiment augments well with future government initiatives to allocate more expenditure in the construction and improvement of infrastructures for non-motorised travel and urban transit accessibility. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

14 Figure 6: Survey results of public priority towards social equity sustainability. Private vehicles monopolize the roads in Malaysia; pedestrians, cyclists and the handicapped have fewer and less safe choices of moving about. Since private vehicles are generally the privileges of the middle of upper classes, this means that in a rapidly urbanizing country such as Malaysia, the poor and mobility disadvantaged are left with fewer choices than others in meeting their basic access needs. Furthermore, there are growing inequities linked to safety and clean air in Malaysia. Those walking, cycling and riding motorcycles tend to breathe the worst air and above all, it is pedestrians and cyclists who suffer disproportionately from traffic accidents. Also, the personal security of people who are walking, cycling and riding on public transit is also more threatened than that of people who are driving. As a sustainable transportation system is defined as a system that would allow the basic needs of users to be met safely and with equity, all these issues had to be resolved for progress to be made towards sustainability. Thus the quality of accessibility indicator for disadvantaged people should be developed to monitor the sustainability of transportation system. The survey results show strong support from the public for the government to subsidize transportation systems for users with disadvantages in economic welfare and mobility. A more affordable transit system would allow greater accessibility by users who could not afford it previously. The urban transit ridership indicator shows progress towards social sustainability as it provides information on equity of access of the transportation system. Statistics are available to complement the use of the urban transit ridership sustainability indicator and it illustrates a steady increase in the level of ridership for public transit in Malaysia. Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTM) has shown overall increase in rail ridership while a slow decline in the commuter service. The registration of buses, taxis and hired cars has also increased over the same period and the introduction of more public vehicles represents a higher demand for public mode of transportation. Although a high urban transit ridership would represent higher proportionate of users with disadvantages being provided with access to transportation and thus a more equitable system of transport in Malaysia, caution should be observed with this indicator. Firstly, increasing transit ridership is beneficial only if the efficiency of the transit system is superior to the modes that the trips were diverted from. This can be an issue when load factors are low. For instance, a KTM commuter that runs on less than half its designed capacity would not be as sustainable as if all its users use their own personal vehicles. Also, because of there are environmental impacts associated with transit use, more transit ridership is not necessarily an environmental benefit, although it could provide economic and social benefits. Environmentally, ARRB Group Ltd and Authors

15 increased transit use may be beneficial only if the increase results from diversion from less sustainable modes. However, as Malaysia progresses public transport energy use is in the form of electricity such as the KTM Commuter, KL Monorail and the Kelana Jaya Light Rail Transit. Electricity generation can be derived from renewable resources such as hydroelectricity, wind and other sources, although majority of the fuel used now comes from coal and petroleum. As technology advances- urban transit would become more sustainable. As it is, public transport energy use per passenger kilometre stands at 65% that of cars; Malaysia needs to encourage higher dependency on public transit to progress towards sustainability. Urban transit ridership indicator shows that the transportation is progressing towards sustainability. Another factor of social sustainability is safety of human health that has been set out as the first attribute and most important attribute of a sustainable transportation system bye the Malaysian public. Policies improving safety impacts of transportation such as lower rate of accident fatalities and injuries support sustainable transportation. The rapid increase in motorization in Malaysia, especially cars and motorcycles has resulted in an associated growth in the number of traffic accidents. Total fatalities and injuries caused by accidents in Malaysia have been consistent in the period of 1996 to 2005 even though vehicle ownership and collision rate has increased. This could be due to better enforcement of seatbelt laws, speed restrictions and safety features in vehicles such as air bags, better brakes and also in highway designs such as better alignments and signage. It also needs to be taken into account that the irony of road accident statistics in developing countries such as Malaysia is that most victims of accidents are not in motorised vehicles but are pedestrians or cyclists. On a per capita basis, traffic accidents and fatalities in Malaysia seem low but measured on per passenger-km basis, the numbers run high. Road accidents cause unnecessary economic losses and additionally, an indirect consequence of rapid motorization is that pedestrians and cyclists increasingly must detour around motorised traffic to get where they are going, or risk fatal accidents while crossing traffic. A transportation system that is unsafe would also affect equity of access for users of non-motorised transport. According to the transportation injuries and fatalities indicator, the Malaysian transportation system is progressing towards sustainability. CONCLUSIONS Sustainable transportation is a relatively new concept of urban transport development in Malaysia. This research has established a general wide-acceptance from the public in regards to sustainable transport development initiatives. Future sustainable transportation planning requires a comprehensive, balanced set of indicators that would reflect the complex inter-linked relationship of environmental, economic and social equity objectives of sustainability. Sustainability indicators are used to represent significant trends, to be monitored by comparison of different phenomena and evaluating progress towards or away from the defined goal of sustainability. Presently, there are no standardized set of indicators for sustainable transportation planning available in Malaysia. The initial work set out by this study would be useful for further effort to develop a unique set of indicators based on Malaysian travel behaviour and public perceptions and transportation demands. Ultimately, the establishment of a system of sustainability indicators will provide transport decision-makers with powerful tools for policy making. In this research, a literature review of sustainable transportation indicator development works around the world is used to form an initial base of available indicators. As most of the indicators developed share similar objectives or purpose of monitoring, these indicators are short listed to a more comprehensive list for further research work to be done to determine the appropriate indicators for Malaysia. A short-list of 16 sustainable transportation indicators was presented to the Malaysian public to understand their perception and level of priority on those indicators. It is important that sustainable indicators developed for Malaysia reflect the general public s travel behaviour and receives high level of support. Otherwise, it would be counter-productive to develop indicators that are meaningless to the public as they would not affect any changes in policy. ARRB Group Ltd and Authors