Sixty percent of Romanian cars have only one passenger, study shows

Newsroom 23/05/2011 | 17:25

Bucharest ranks first on what concerns pollution, shows a recent study published by the European Union and quoted by the EcoDialogica association. The study also shows that the main source for pollution in Bucharest is road traffic. Therefore, the EcoDialogica association has developed a pilot research in association with the Bucharest city hall, which showed that over half of Romanians (58.53 percent) circulate without other companions in their vehicles.

The study was pulled between May 11 and 13 in four major Bucharest intersections, located in the four cardinal directions (North – Arcul de Triumf, East – Obor, South – Berceni, West – Razoare). The most numerous one-passenger vehicles were found in the south of the capital city, in a percentage of 70.42 percent. Easterners seem to be more environmental-friendly, as they drive alone in a 48.89 percentage.

The monitoring was developed for three hours, between 6.30 and 9.30 am, since it is a rush hour in Buharest, the time when the majority is heading to work.

For the time to come, Eco Dialogica intends to draw up a profile of the drivers circulating by themselves in their cars and create some measures to stimulate car sharing in Bucharest. By reducing the number of these drivers by 50 percent, traffic would be reduced by 30 percent, which would translate as a pollution reduction of 21 percent.

A first target group might be the one represented by those who stay over time at their working places, especially if they have fixed hours for arriving and leaving work.

Another solution for reducing traffic would be encouraging public transport, which in the future might be done with electrical, eco-friendly vehicles.