Skip to main content

Sustainable urban mobility takes centre stage in Europe

The European Commission has indicated that it will step up its support to towns and cities, and encourage the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. These initiatives form the cornerstones of the new Urban Mobility Package which the European Commission adopted in December 2013. Vice-President Siim Kallas, EU commissioner for mobility and transport, said, ‘Addressing the problems of urban mobility is one of the great challenges in transport today. With coordinated action we can be more successf
January 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The 1690 European Commission has indicated that it will step up its support to towns and cities, and encourage the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. These initiatives form the cornerstones of the new Urban Mobility Package which the European Commission adopted in December 2013.
 
Vice-President Siim Kallas, EU commissioner for mobility and transport, said, ‘Addressing the problems of urban mobility is one of the great challenges in transport today. With coordinated action we can be more successful. Local authorities are the key decision makers. They are best placed to take important local decisions, but they should benefit from support at national and EU level.’
 
With the package, the Commission bolsters its supporting measures in the area of urban mobility by reinforcing the exchange of best practice and enhancing cooperation, providing targeted financial support and investing in research and development. It also identifies concrete initiatives in relation to urban logistics, access regulations and road user charging, intelligent transport systems (ITS) as well as urban road safety.

Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans play an important role in achieving the Commission’s aims. Following years of exchange and analysis of best practice that involved experts and stakeholders across Europe, a concept for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans has emerged as an effective approach to stimulate a shift towards more sustainable mobility and a higher quality of life in urban areas.

A European platform on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans will be launched to coordinate all Commission-supported activities in this area and foster broader exchange. The present portal on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans, www.mobilityplans.eu, will be expanded into a virtual knowledge and competence centre and be integrated into the Eltis portal.

More information on the Urban Mobility Package is available on the European Commission’s %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal website http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/ump_en.htm false http://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/ump_en.htm false false%>.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • EU government joins forces with industry to transform road safety
    January 16, 2013
    The first V2X for Auto Safety & Mobility Conference, to be held in Frankfurt on 20-21 February, will bring together expert speakers from ITS UK, European Commission, BMW, Renault and Scania to devise a unified commercialisation and deployment strategy for vehicle and infrastructure technology to accelerate safety and mobility. Telematics Update, organisers of the conference, say that vehicle to vehicle communication will transform automotive safety, enabling deployment of effective active safety features fo
  • Fostering ITS Policy and the IRF manifesto
    November 26, 2012
    Fostering ITS Policy, an international workshop jointly organised by TTS Italia (National Association for Telematics for Transport and Safety) and the IRF Policy Committee on ITS, aims to bring together key partners from the public, private and academic sectors in Italy to discuss ITS policy frameworks and developments in ITS university education. The workshop takes place as part of the New World Conference The New World II, the ITS for mobility management convention in Bologna on 5 December 2012 at Savoia
  • Vietnam strengthens pledge to sustainable transport
    November 8, 2019
    Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has announced plans to bolster its activities to improve sustainable transport. The news came at the Intergovernmental Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum, an annual event which aims to boost Asian countries’ awareness of environmental protection in the transport sector as well as building more sustainable urban areas and communities. Deputy minister of transport Lê Anh Tuấn told Vietnamnews: “The ministry will be proactive in working with other countries i
  • Austrian Ministry of Transport to bring Gerd Leonhard to TRA 2018
    January 25, 2018
    The Austrian Ministry of Transport will bring author and futurist Gerd Leonhard to the Transport Research Arena (TRA) 2018 in Vienna where he will speak about the importance of new technologies and the role of humans in the digital world of mobility. This year’s overall theme is on digitalisation in mobility and will focus on the compatibility between technology and user-friendly mobility.