10-09-2007

As the last Eurobarometer on transport reveals, awareness about the impacts of transport on the environment has increased considerably. Rising fuel prices and the debates on climate change have contributed substantially to this awareness. Nevertheless, there is a large gap between people’s awareness of a problem and changing one’s behaviour to tackle it. Even though environmental concerns are recognised as a priority, solutions to these concerns are still not well-known. There is a clear need for stakeholders at all governance levels to take responsibility and implement environmentally sound solutions that are acceptable and user-friendly for the general public. It is also necessary for local, regional and national authorities to promote and facilitate sustainable urban mobility in order to encourage people to switch from their car to sustainable forms of transport.

What is the main result the European Mobility Week seeks to achieve?

The European Mobility Week's central aims are to raise awareness of the need to make transport in our cities more sustainable and to provide an opportunity for citizens all over Europe to test alternatives to the car. The main result would therefore be to convince as many people as possible that the bus or the bicycle is imaginable as a daily transport mode also beyond the Week and to get as many local stakeholders as possible engaged in sustainable company travel plans or shopping-by-bike initiatives, just to mention a few possibilities where people can get engaged.

The European Mobility Week is an overarching European initiative for all local authorities committed to sustainable mobility. One week per year, from 16 to 22 September, all cities and municipalities are invited to promote their public transport services or the new car sharing scheme, to inaugurate new cycling paths etc. The European Mobility Week should be a tool to help local authorities to complete their work. Transport planners can use this initiative as a platform or lever to push forward an existing agenda or try out new ideas. During the Week, local authorities also have the opportunity to convey the clear message towards all actors in the society that everyone can contribute in his/her own way to improving the situation. With more than 1200 cities participating again this year, this concept seems to work out.

For the moment, our cities are built to give priority to car traffic. Therefore, a permanent reallocation of road space in favour of sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling and public transport is necessary. The focal theme of this year’s European Mobility Week, ‘Streets for People’, aims to accommodate this concern. A stronger integration of transport policies with land use planning policies is also needed urgently in order to decrease the demand for long journeys or for travelling at all. Such policies will support the everyday decisions of citizens on which transport mode to choose and will contribute to a new mobility culture. Although most local authorities in Europe have competence in these matters, they definitely need more support from the national level.

Together with the citizens, local authorities also became more aware that urban planning and urban transport have to be reoriented. What local authorities need, is a backing from the European, national and regional levels, be it a political support, an adequate legal framework or a reallocation of financial means for the implementation of permanent measures, which contribute to a modal transfer from the private car to environmentally-friendly means of transport.

Could you name examples of cities that are performing very well?

One of the cities 'on the right track' and having achieved a considerable progress is Copenhagen, having used the Week for ‘traffic experiments’, such as new parking strategies, new speed limits or urban renewal measures, and aiming for permanent implementation afterwards. The European Mobility Week Award has also seen Budapest as a finalist for the last three years, mainly due to a concerted improvement of the public transport system. Others are the London Borough of Camden, where each European Mobility Week is taken as an opportunity to make one more street permanently car free, or San Sebastian, where the cycling culture has been developed considerably over the last five years. This is just to mention a few examples selected amongst the many cities that systematically integrate the Week into their sustainable transport policy.