New urban transport systems: ongoing experiments and application fields

The paper is a result of the research work developed within the RTD project UTOPIA (EC DG Transport - 4th Framework Programme). One of the aim of this project is to build up a methodological framework for the selection of the most promising transport systems in a wide set of different environmental conditions and urban contexts, facing different demand cases. The objective of the paper is to define the basic principles for the formulation of a model capable to support the selection of the most promising system in a context defined by both qualitative and quantitative variables. The main contents of the paper are the following: i) critical analysis of the ongoing experiences, classified on the basis of their innovation factors; ii) formulation of the basic principles for supporting the selection of the most promising systems in particular urban contexts and demand cases; iii) statement of the relationships between the objectives (represented by evaluation factors) and the technical parameters describing the experiments; iv) analysis of the projects effectiveness against the targets and of their possible application fields.