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Commuter's personal exposure to air pollutants after the implementation of a cable car for public transport: Results of the natural experiment TrUST.
- Source :
-
The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2023 Mar 20; Vol. 865, pp. 160880. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 11. - Publication Year :
- 2023
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Abstract
- Commuters in urban settlements are frequently exposed to high concentrations of air pollutants due to their proximity to mobile sources, making exposure to traffic-related air pollutants an important public health issue. Recent trends in urban transport towards zero- and low-tailpipe emission alternatives will likely result in decreased exposure to air pollutants. The TrUST (Urban transformations and health) study offers a unique opportunity to understand the impacts of a new cable car (TransMiCable) in underserved communities within Bogotá, Colombia. The aims of this study are to assess the personal exposure to fine particulate matter (PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> ), equivalent Black Carbon (eBC), and Carbon Monoxide (CO) in transport micro-environments and to estimate the inhaled dose per trip during mandatory multimodal trips before and after the implementation of the TransMiCable. We collected personal exposure data for Bus-Rapid-Transit (BRT) feeder buses, regular buses, informal transport, pedestrians, and TransMiCable. TransMiCable showed lower exposure concentration compared to BRT feeder and regular buses (PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> : 23.6 vs. 87.0 μg m <superscript>-3</superscript> (P ≤ 0.001) and eBC: 5.2 vs. 28.2 μg m <superscript>-3</superscript> (P ≤ 0.001), respectively). The mean concentration of PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> and eBC inside the TransMiCable cabins were 62 % and 82 % lower than the mean concentrations in buses. Furthermore, using a Monte Carlo simulation model, we found that including the TransMiCable as a feeder is related to a 54.4 μg/trip reduction in PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> inhaled dose and 35.8 μg/trip in eBC per trip. Those changes represent a 27 % and 34 % reduction in an inhaled dose per trip, respectively. Our results show that PM <subscript>2.5</subscript> , eBC, and CO inhaled dose for TransMiCable users is reduced due to lower exposure concentration inside its cabins and shorter travel time. The implementation of a cable car in Bogotá is likely to reduce air pollution exposure in transport micro-environments used by vulnerable populations living in semi-informal settlements.<br />Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.<br /> (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1879-1026
- Volume :
- 865
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- The Science of the total environment
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 36516922
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160880