Besides the increase in energy prices, public transport companies also face a rise in their energy consumption due to services expansion and/or improved service levels. The objective to reduce energy use and carbon emissions needs to be balanced with the wider objective of reducing overall transport sector emissions by encouraging more users to switch from private car to public transport and other low-carbon modes.

Initiatives to encourage this change in behaviour can result in increases in energy use and emissions for the public transport sector, due to the provision of additional services and equipment. Nevertheless, the promotion of public transport should help reduce the global energy use of the transport sector.

Reducing energy use is a good way of improving the energy independency of a country, especially in regions that rely almost exclusively on imports because fossil sources such as oil or coal are not available. Investing in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro or geothermal energy will also decrease energy dependency by ensuring a local and resilient energy production.