Assessment of urban transport – a comparative analysis of selected cities by taxonomic methods

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to perform comparative analysis of urban transport in selected global cities and to verify the existence of clusters. It was based on data source from the World Organization Data Urban. It used Indicators proposed in ISO 37120 Sustainable Community Development. The test procedure exploited taxonomic methods as Ward’s hierarchical analysis and the deagglomerating k-means analysis. The empirical analysis comprises four indicators: (I) high capacity public transport system, (II) light passenger public transport system, (III) annual number of public transport trips and (IV) number of personal automobiles. Main results are the classification of selected global cities, identification and characterization of trends in the field of urban transport in each group. The empirical analysis confirms a substantial diversity of urban transport in selected cities. These differences arise from their past, geographical location, size, different reactions to the transition process and the different economic structures. The taxonomic analysis of the urban transport in selected cities separated five independent classes typological. This elaboration aims to examine the role of urban transport in city management based on a literature review, databases and reports of the European Union.