Institutional Brochure

See our fold-out brochure, describing the EMBARQ Network objectives, plus three case studies of our work in Mexico City, Arequipa, and Indore.

Available in English and Spanish.

Annual Report

EMBARQ's first institutional report, published in 2008, charts the first six years of the Network's progress. Starting in 2009, EMBARQ began publishing yearly reports, which present the biggest outcomes across the Network over the previous 12 months.

Forward Progress: Six Years of Innovation in Transport 2002-2008

Published in August 2008, Forward Progress: Six Years of Innovation in Transport, details EMBARQ's major accomplishments in cities as diverse as Arequipa, Peru and Xi'an, China.

Download the publication here.

EMBARQ - Forward Progress (2002-2008)

China Motorization Trends: Policy Options in a World of Transport Challenges

This study focuses on automobile technology, alternative fuel, and mobility options for China, as well as policy prescriptions that can reduce oil consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

From "Growing in the Greenhouse: Protecting the Climate by Putting Development First".

Cleaner Buses for Mexico: An opportunity to save lives

This policy paper urges the Mexico city government to retire, replace, and retrofit its current fleet of buses that run on heavy diesel. It also emphasizes the need for PEMEX, Mexico's public oil company, to produce diesel with a lower sulfur content. These two changes, the paper shows, will significantly improve air quality in the Mexican capital.

Delhi Bus Corridor Evaluation

EMBARQ transport experts Dr. Dario Hidalgo and Madhav Pai evaluated the Delhi bus corridor in February 2009. A set of meetings and interviews with local planning and implementing agencies formed the basis of recommendations and analysis presented in this report. On three separate occasions, Dr. Hidalgo and Mr. Pai visited the bus corridor, where they examined pedestrian and cycle facilities, bus lanes and stations, and motor vehicle lanes. Although the study is primarily intended for a technical audience, it also addresses several of the major concerns raised by the general public and news media. Its findings were presented to Rakesh Mehta, chief secretary of the Delhi Government and DIMTS.

India Transport Indicators

This study compares basic transport and air quality indicators for 12 Indian cities. These indicators are reported in city development plans, comprehensive mobility plans, comprehensive traffic and transport studies and detailed project reports submitted to the
Ministry of Urban Development between 2005 and 2007. The list was created with an intention to include, metropolitan cities, cities with ongoing or future BRT projects. We divided the 12 cities into three categories: “Metro” cities (Chennai, Mumbai, and Delhi),
“Millennium Bloomers” (Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Pune) and “Now Exploding” (Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Mysore, Rajkot and Surat).

Measuring the Invisible

As demand for transportation continues to rise at unprecedented rates, the need to compare alternative transport policies and their impacts on both CO2 emissions and local air pollution is becoming more and more critical.

The challenge of quantifying these impacts, however, has hindered transparent and well-informed decision making. To address this barrier, EMBARQ and the World Resources Institute have developed three case studies that illustrate methods for quantifying emissions from transportation solutions.

Porto Alegre, Brazil

Porto Alegre, a medium size city in the State of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, is planning to implement a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor and a fare integration scheme to reduce the number of buses and terminals in the city center and to increase bus ridership. EMBARQ/WRI worked with local partners to estimate the impact of these two proposed initiatives on air pollutants and CO2 emissions in the city.

The results of this case study showed that the BRT system would reduce emissions by 25-31 thousand tones of CO2 per year, when compared to the business as usual scenario with fare integration. Interestingly, the study estimated that the fare integration plan, if implemented on its own, could actually increase emissions. Further analysis shows that cleaner fuels and emission control technologies would have a significant impact if applied to fleets with high annual mileage, such as the municipal or the metropolitan bus fleets.

Download the publication here.

Hanoi, Vietnam

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, has a transport master plan that provides alternative scenarios for the City’s transport system. EMBARQ/WRI and local partners studied how these scenarios would impact on air pollutant and CO2 emissions. The results of the analysis show that if government officials decide to further promote public transportation and to mandate stricter fuel quality and vehicle emission standards, it will be possible to stabilize emissions in 2020 at 2005 levels, while still ensuring the same level of mobility to Hanoi residents.

Nevertheless, without measures to restrain the growth in overall vehicle traffic - particularly that of private cars - fuel use and transport emissions will grow significantly. A continued shift from two-wheelers to cars will mean an enormous increase in fuel use, even if the cars are very efficient. Such a shift is expected to cause enormous congestion problems because of the lack of space in Hanoi.

Download the publication here.

Queretaro, Mexico

Like many fast growing medium-sized cities, Queretaro, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the center of Mexico, must upgrade its public transportation system if it wishes to avoid succumbing to unmanageable levels of traffic congestion.

EMBARQ/WRI worked with the city of Queretaro to quantify the emissions from the city’s existing bus system, and showed that introducing a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and improving the efficiency of the bus network could yield substantial emissions reductions. Introducing alternative fuel and vehicle and emission control technologies, on the other hand, were predicted to yield few additional reductions.

Download the publication here.

Movilidad Amable (Friendly Mobility)

Every year CTS-Mexico publishes Movilidad Amable - Friendly Mobility - a bilingual magazine addressing sustainable transport developments in Mexico.

Movilidad Amable - Volume 1

The first volume, Metrobus - Welcome Aboard, marks the launch of Mexico City's Bus Rapid Transit System. The magazine includes information about the new system as well as other mass transport developments in the country.

Movilidad Amable - Volume 3

Cleaner, healthier air - Retrofit: a step forward

An overview of Mexico City's diesel retrofit program, in which EMBARQ and CTS-México, working with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and Mexico’s Secretary of the Environment, showed how new particulate filters, catalysts, and clean fuel could be used in Mexico City’s buses to reduce air pollution.

Movilidad Amable - Volume 4

Published in September 2007, this issue examines CTS-México's approach to sustainable urban mobility solutions, covering themes like Space and Society, Public Transport and Private Transport.

Movilidad Amable - Volume 5

The fifth issue of Movilidad Amable, published in October 2008, includes articles written by experts in the field of urban mobility, health, climate change and transport.

Sustainable Urban Transport in Asia

Very few cities in Asia have factored in the actual economic costs of air pollution and congestion when forming their transport policies. The objective of this report is to develop a set of quantitative transport indicators so that Asian cities can formulate policies based on reliable data.

Urban Transport Options in China: The Challenge to Choose

In 2006, EMBARQ commissioned a series of papers on the environmental and energy impacts of current and future transport policy options for China. Topics covered range from land use and access, transport’s environmental impacts, fuel use and technology, and pricing options for transport and fuel. The project was conducted with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Energy Foundation. In order to present a comprehensive view of transport challenges and solutions, each chapter was produced by a team of both Chinese and international authors.

The objective of these papers is to provide Chinese policymakers from government, multilateral development banks, donor agencies, and the private sector with guidance on how to develop sustainable urban transport policies in their country. This has been done by identifying the transport challenges specific to China, the policy options available, the current state of such policies, and priority areas for decision makers. A second goal of the project is to use it as a platform for establishing trust and partnerships between Chinese and other international experts, so as to create future opportunities for collaboration.

The full text will be published in 2007 in Chinese. This document summarizes the full report written for Chinese decision makers.