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

  • Alternative fuel buses gaining significant traction
    April 25, 2012
    According to a recent report from Pike Research, the trend toward cleaner transit buses will continue over the next several years, and by 2015 the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that alternative fuel vehicles will represent more than 50 per cent of the 64,000 total transit buses that will be delivered worldwide during that year, up from 28 per cent of total bus deliveries in 2010.
  • New website highlights EU ITS standards
    August 30, 2022
    The European Commission has provided a valuable resource tool for ITS implementers. Bob Williams, who led the project, walks us through the EU-ICIP Guide to ITS Standards…
  • New Zealand seeks comprehensive CBA framework
    October 5, 2016
    New report highlights how assessing the financial benefit of deploying ITS is an involved and evolving calculation Following a global search, five key action areas have emerged from the New Zealand Transport Agency’s recent scoping of a more comprehensive cost–benefit analysis framework for evaluating planned ITS deployments. A report commissioned from engineering consultancy Aecom New Zealand sets out the groundwork for more closely-defined assessments that will convincingly support public-sector policy ma
  • Cycling and public transport lobby join forces
    September 15, 2015
    The first memorandum of understanding between the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) and the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF) will see the two organisations work more closely on policy initiatives in order to strengthen the voice of sustainable urban transport. They will work to achieve more sustainable and active mobility in Europe and support each other’s missions to increase the number of cycling trips to 15 per cent and double the modal share of public transport by 2025, which w