Skip to main content

Moving in the right direction: promoting sustainable transport in European Mobility Week

European Mobility Week (16-22 September 2012) sees the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) reaffirming its stance that a long-term commitment to invest in public transport is key to reducing congestion in European cities and encouraging the development of sustainable economies. With around 80% of Europeans expected to be living in urban environments by 2020, public transport is essential for ensuring quality of life and delivering green growth. Encouraging a modal shift from private motori
September 10, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
European Mobility Week (16-22 September 2012) sees the 3833 International Association of Public Transport (UITP) reaffirming its stance that a long-term commitment to invest in public transport is key to reducing congestion in European cities and encouraging the development of sustainable economies.

With around 80% of Europeans expected to be living in urban environments by 2020, public transport is essential for ensuring quality of life and delivering green growth.

Encouraging a modal shift from private motorised modes to public transport will unblock gridlocked cities, lower energy consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Public transport also plays an important socio-economic role, allowing access to education, health services and economic activities, enabling them to function properly whilst providing all social classes with a form of mobility that is affordable, clean and pleasant.

“This year’s European Mobility Week highlights the importance of relieving congestion, improving quality of life and providing sustainable and fluid mobility solutions in our cities,” said UITP Secretary General, Alain Flausch. “We are convinced that public transport, which is both environmentally friendly and socio-economically beneficial, is ideally placed to meet the challenges of increasing urbanisation in the coming years. There are many positive examples around the world and the cities taking part in the European Mobility Week are good examples of the willingness to work towards this objective.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Outlook good for transportation technology funding
    January 25, 2012
    Chris Cheever and Chris Thomas of Fontinalis Partners discuss the funding outlook for the ITS industry – where the money’s going to come from, and what needs to happen to facilitate change
  • Asecap prepares for ‘interoperability on steroids’
    March 31, 2023
    The gathering of Europe’s toll professionals offers a chance for views to be exchanged by senior people on a number of big issues: and there’s currently an awful lot to think about, reports Geoff Hadwick
  • Enlarged transportation data highlights wider issues
    October 18, 2013
    Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Canada makes the case for enlarged and improved transport-related data. Comprehensive, high quality data is useful, or even essential, for many types of decision making and transport is no exception. Planners and researchers can cite countless situations where their understanding of transport problems and their ability to evaluate potential solutions is constrained by inadequate data.
  • Trends in automotive technology
    March 14, 2012
    Continental has become a leading player in vehicle technology and telematics. The firm’s executive board chairman Elmar Degenhart describes to Jason Barnes Continental’s views on the ‘megatrends’ of the automotive industry Strategic moves to diversify Continental’s business from rubber-related products began in the late 1990s with the acquisition of ITT Teves and its brake business. This brought on board know-how relating to the then new electronic stability control (ESC) systems which today form an import