The European Commission adopted the 30th September a comprehensive Action Plan on Urban Mobility. The Action Plan proposes twenty concrete measures to help local, regional and national authorities achieve their goals for sustainable urban mobility.
The Action Plan is a follow-up to the Green Paper on Urban Mobility that was adopted on 25 September 2007. The debate that followed the adoption of the Green Paper confirmed the added value of action at EU level in the area of urban mobility while at the same time respecting national, regional and local competences.
The action plan includes a mix of proposals. For example, to improve passenger rights in urban public transport, the Commission will work with the sector on a set of voluntary commitments. It will continue to support research and demonstration projects, for example on lower and zero-emission vehicles. And in addition practical links will be established between urban mobility, and existing EU policies for health, cohesion and disability.
Other actions include an initiative to improve travel information and the continuation of the Commission’s support for public awareness campaigns such as the European Mobility Week. To accelerate the take-up of sustainable urban mobility plans by local authorities the Commission will prepare information material and launch training and promotional activities. It will also produce guidance documents on important aspects of these plans such as urban freight distribution and intelligent transport systems for urban mobility. The Commission will improve the availability of harmonised statistics, facilitate the exchange of information, including with Europe’s neighbours, and set up a database with information on best practices for urban mobility. Finally, the Commission will work to optimise existing EU funding sources and look at future funding needs.
The actions will be launched over the next four years. The Commission will review progress in the year 2012 and assess the need for further action.
For further information
http://ec.europa.eu/transport/urban/urban_mobility/urban_mobility_en.htm
