Skip to main content

Transport MEPs call for more efforts in ensuring sustainable urban transport

Ambitious emissions ceilings and a timeframe for real-world emissions testing should be set, say transport MEPs in an own-initiative report on sustainable urban mobility voted on this week by the Transport and Tourism committee. Ensuring reliable public transport and promoting car-sharing as well as ICT to help reduce the need for journeys to work would help reduce traffic congestion and cycling and walking should be encouraged, they say. European transport MEPS believe the Commission should set effectiv
November 12, 2015 Read time: 3 mins
Ambitious emissions ceilings and a timeframe for real-world emissions testing should be set, say transport MEPs in an own-initiative report on sustainable urban mobility voted on this week by the Transport and Tourism committee. Ensuring reliable public transport and promoting car-sharing as well as ICT to help reduce the need for journeys to work would help reduce traffic congestion and cycling and walking should be encouraged, they say.

European transport MEPS believe the Commission should set effective and ambitious emission ceilings under the National Emission Ceilings directive (NEC), ambitious car emission performance standards and a clear timeframe for putting in place real-world driving emission testing for private vehicles.

In an own-initiative report on sustainable urban mobility voted on this week by the Transport and Tourism committee, they say cities could support shifts towards alternative means of transport and less-polluting vehicles. Electric vehicles and vehicles powered by alternative fuels are important to the reduction of emissions in cities, they add, and encourage the EU countries together with the industry to develop relevant refuelling and recharging infrastructure.

The report proposes that use of public transport should be promoted and ICT technologies and tele-working could help reduce the need for journeys into work; car-sharing, ride-sharing and car-pooling services make better use of existing resources and help to reduce cars in cities.

MEPs also encourage EU members states to improve connectivity of suburban parking spaces with rail or public transport services through initiatives such as park and ride options and encourage local authorities to provide support and/or incentives to freight operators to make urban freight transport more sustainable.  They also recommend the use of non-motorised transport and conditions for walking and cycling. The Commission and EU countries could raise awareness for cycling and alternative transport modes and cities could organise bicycle sharing systems.

MEPs call on the Commission and the Member States to support research programmes on new technologies, new business models, and new integrated sustainable urban mobility practices and urban logistics and to promote and encourage best practice exchanges and guidance in order to tackle urban mobility challenges and facilitate the transfer of skills and technologies in the field of sustainable mobility.

They also call on the Commission and the Member States to put ambitious measures on sustainable urban mobility high on the agenda of the COP in Paris in December 2015.

Related Content

  • Virtual traffic management centres, a new direction in traffic monitoring
    January 30, 2012
    David Crawford picks up a new direction trend in traffic monitoring The surprise winner in the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) category of the recently-announced 2011 OSMOSE (Open Source for MObile and SustainablE city) Awards for European innovations in urban transport, is the Danish city of Aalborg - which doesn't have a TMC. Alternatively, one might consider its 'virtual' TMC as a signpost for the future in medium-sized cities.
  • New Haven shows small can be beautiful
    October 22, 2014
    Connecticut’s new administration is using smart policy and ITS solutions to bridge social divides. Andrew Bardin Williams investigates. With only 130,000 residents, New Haven can hardly be called a metropolis. Measuring less than 502km (18 square miles), the city is huddled against the coast, squeezed between two mountains (appropriately called East Rock and West Rock) that, at 111m and 213m (366ft and 700ft) respectively, can hardly be called mountains. The airport is small and has limited service, and th
  • Flexibility, interoperability is key to future traffic management
    February 3, 2012
    Jon Taylor of Faber Maunsell and Tabatha Bailey of Transport for London describe how an unusual mix of traffic practitioners, researchers and industry are working together to build new tools for the future. As we face higher expectations for managing congestion from both citizens and politicians, and as more and more data is becoming available from new sources, our traffic management challenge is changing.
  • Favourable government initiatives and new business models boost Poland’s EV market
    June 29, 2017
    Poland’s electro-mobility market is ripe for growth, according to research organisation Frost & Sullivan. Favourable government initiatives such as the Electro-mobility Plan and Electro-mobility and Alternative Fuels Act are reshaping local mobility and igniting innovative clean technologies to achieve higher competitiveness and energy optimisation.