THE ELECTRIC BUS THROUGH THE EYES OF THE TOWNSPEOPLE

Abstract

Decarbonization of the transport sector can play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change and its damage to ecosystems. From 07/01/2024 to 12/01/2024, a team of authors conducted a survey of residents of Volgograd, the purpose of which was to assess the city's transport infrastructure, the level of dynamic impact of public transport on buildings and structures, its environmental friendliness, comfort, safety, and identification of consumer properties of a new type of public transport - electric bus. 435 people were interviewed. The survey results showed that 56.2% of residents prefer buses to travel around the city, while almost every fifth resident prefers to use an electric bus. 52.2% of residents consider the most effective measures to reduce noise and dynamic impact on buildings to be landscaping of roadside areas and the replacement of diesel public transport with electric buses. 85.6% of respondents consider electric buses to be an environmentally safe mode of transport. 61.2% supported the replacement of diesel buses with electric buses. The majority (95.0%) of the surveyed citizens consider a comfortable acoustic environment to be one of the important advantages, and 2/3 of the respondents believe that an electric bus is the safest form of public transport. 85.1% of citizens would like to replace buses with electric buses. The results clearly show the need for further development of electric buses as an energy efficient, environmentally safe and economical form of public transport in megacities.