The European Parliament adopted by 558 votes to 100, with 33 abstentions, a resolution on a new culture of urban mobility, in response to the Commission’s Green Paper on the subject.

The own initiative report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Reinhard RACK (EPP-ED, AT) on behalf of the Committee on Transport and Tourism.

Role of the EU : while recognising the principle that local authorities are free to adopt their own mobility policies, the Parliament considers that the EU should define an overall strategy on urban mobility leading to a more rational use of private cars and promote a modal shift towards sustainable modes of transport, to support the EU's commitments on environmental protection and on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. MEPs believe that action must be taken at European level in the following areas and call for:

the development of an integrated European global approach to urban mobility which will serve as a common frame of reference for European, national, regional and local players (municipalities, citizens, businesses and industry); reliable, comparable data on all aspects of urban and suburban mobility to be gathered and effectively disseminated, taking into account demographic changes, economic growth and climate change; an evaluation of the implementation and application by Member States of European legislation affecting urban transport, in particular public passenger transport;

· a list of the local initiatives aiming to tackle some of the problems referred to in the Green Paper (e.g. road charging, green zones, safety on public transport, protection of cyclists etc.);

a "European Platform for Urban Mobility" or any other effective forum that brings together all data, best practices and policy information on urban mobility in a comprehensible way; an evaluation of the external costs of the various modes of transport and an assessment of the possibility of internalising these.

Legislation : the Parliament considers it necessary for the EU to take into account the particular needs of urban transport in the policy areas where it has legislative power (e.g. budget policy, environment policy, social and labour market policy, competition policy, industry policy, regional and cohesion policy, transport and road safety policy, and energy policy).

Standardisation and harmonisation : MEPs call for specific European rules and/or guidance to be adopted, particularly concerning the following: (i) the design and functioning of green zones and road pricing; (ii) technical and organisational requirements for the interoperability of the various modes of passenger and freight transport; (iii) the mobility of people with disabilities, the elderly, people with young children and the least affluent; (iv) an improvement of road safety according to European and national legislation; (v) the accessibility and interoperability of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies for EU-wide applications.

Dissemination and exchange of best practices : the resolution calls for suitable measures to promote the exchange of best practices, particularly concerning: (i) flexible road use concepts; (ii) the adoption of multimodal transport (road, rail, water); (iii) integrated ticketing and billing systems that simplify access to different transport modes; (iv) innovative solutions for efficient goods transport, particularly for local goods distribution in cities; (v) guidelines for an environmentally aware public procurement policy; (vi) improvements in clean public local passenger transport; (vii) the promotion of sustainable mobility chains: walking-cycling-car-sharing-car-pooling-collective taxis-public mobility; (viii) a better organisation of short-distance transport; (ix) the introduction of parking guidance systems; (x) measures to promote virtual mobility, for example e-learning, e-banking, teleshopping and teleconferencing.

Financing : noting that the EU can make an important contribution to financing urban passenger and freight transport measures, for example by using the Structural and Cohesion Funds, MEPs call on the Commission to honour its responsibility in this respect. The Commission is called to draw up specific market economy-oriented instruments to create a balanced and favourable framework for sustainable mobility in urban centres. In the context of the forthcoming review of the EU budget, MEPs call for the financing of projects from EU funds to be more closely linked to conditions and requirements relating to sustainable transport and environmental protection in future. The Commission is called to work, alone or together with the European Investment Bank, for example, on examining the current and future possibilities for financing urban transport.

Individual responsibility : MEPs believe that it is necessary to encourage citizens to critically assess their behaviour as road users and, if possible, actively participate in local urban mobility forums. They call on European, national, regional and local authorities to organise education and information campaigns, targeting the younger generation in particular, to make citizens more aware of their traffic behaviour. Highlighting the growing success of the "Car-free Day", organised in the context of EU Mobility Week, MEPs call on the Commission and Member States to continue to encourage this initiative and work towards its widespread adoption.

The Committee on Transport and Tourism adopted an own initiative report by Reinhard RACK (EPP-ED, AT) on ‘Towards a new culture of urban mobility’, in response to the Commission’s Green Paper on this issue.

The committee believes that the EU should define an overall strategy on urban mobility leading to a reduction in the high use of private cars and promote modal shift towards sustainable modes of transport, to support the EU's commitments on environmental protection and on cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

MEPs believe that action must be taken at European level in the following areas and call for:

the development of an integrated European global approach to urban mobility which will serve as a common frame of reference for European, national, regional and local players (municipalities, citizens, businesses and industry); reliable, comparable data on all aspects of urban and suburban mobility to be gathered and effectively disseminated, taking into account future changes in the framework conditions (e.g. demographic changes, economic growth, climate change); a complete list of Community rules currently in force and an evaluation of the implementation and application by Member States of European legislation affecting urban transport, in particular public passenger transport; a list of the local initiatives to tackle some of the problems referred to in the Green Paper (e.g. road charging, green zones, safety on public transport, protection of cyclists etc.); a "European Platform for Urban Mobility" or any other effective forum that brings together all data, best practices and policy information on urban mobility in a comprehensible way.

The Commission is called upon to work with Member States to overcome national barriers to urban schemes without however proposing EU legislation, which could limit the local flexibility that is required to solve mobility problems.

Furthermore, MEPs call for specific European rules and/or guidance for the standardisation and harmonisation of: the design and functioning of green zones and road pricing; the technical and organisational requirements for the interoperability of the various modes of passenger and freight transport, the mobility of people with disabilities, the elderly, people with young children and the least affluent; the improvement of road safety; the accessibility and interoperability of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies for EU-wide applications.

Lastly, they call for suitable measures to promote the exchange of best practices , particularly concerning: flexible road use concepts; the adoption of multimodal transport (road, rail, water); innovative solutions for efficient goods transport, particularly for local goods distribution; guidelines for an environmentally aware public procurement policy; improvements in clean public local passenger transport; the promotion of sustainable mobility chains: walking-cycling-carsharing-carpooling-taxi-collective/public mobility; better organisation of short-distance transport; the introduction of parking guidance systems.

Noting that the EU can make an important contribution to financing urban passenger and freight transport measures (for example by using the Structural and Cohesion Funds), MEPs call on the Commission to honour its responsibility in this respect.

The Commission is called upon to draw up specific market economy-oriented instruments to create a balanced and favourable framework for sustainable mobility in urban centres. In the context of the forthcoming review of the EU budget, MEPs call for the financing of projects from EU funds to be more closely linked to conditions and requirements relating to sustainable transport and environmental protection in future. They consider this to be a suitable instrument for promoting environmentally friendly and widely accessible transport concepts.

PURPOSE: to launch a debate on a European urban mobility strategy (Green Paper).

BACKGROUND: in the European Union, over 60% of the population lives in urban areas. Just under 85% of the EU's gross domestic product is created in urban areas. Towns and cities are the drivers of the European economy. They attract investment and jobs. They are essential to the smooth functioning of the economy. Although European towns and cities are all different they face similar challenges (increased traffic in town and city centres; air and noise pollution; road traffic accidents) and are trying to find common solutions.

Local authorities cannot face all these issues on their own; there is a need for cooperation and coordination at European level. Therefore, the Commission has decided to present a Green Paper on urban mobility in order to explore if and how it can add value to action already taken at local level.

The consultations exercise organised by the Commission in view of the preparation of the

Green Paper provided information resulting in a set of policy options and 25 open questions about these options. With this Green Paper, the Commission launches a second consultation process until 15 March 2008, with a view to presenting, in early autumn 2008, an Action Plan which will identify a series of concrete actions and initiatives towards better and sustainable urban mobility. For each proposed action, the Action Plan will indicate a time line for implementation and the allocation of responsibilities between the various actors.

CONTENT: urban mobility should make possible the economic development of towns and cities, the quality of life of their inhabitants and the protection of their environment. To this end, European towns and cities face five challenges which need to be met as part of an integrated approach.

(1) Towards free-flowing towns and cities : in order to reduce congestion in towns and cities, alternatives to private car use, such as walking, cycling, collective transport or the use of the motorbike and scooter, should be made attractive and safe. Citizens should be able to optimise their travel through efficient links between the different modes of transport. Authorities should promote co-modality and reallocate space that becomes available after congestion mitigation measures. An adequate parking policy is also necessary to reduce the use of cars in the centre of the cities. Finally, intelligent and adaptive traffic management systems have also proven their efficiency in reducing congestion.

Issues : (1) Should a "labelling'" scheme be envisaged to recognise the efforts of pioneering cities to combat congestion and improve living conditions? (2) What measures could be taken to promote walking and cycling as real alternatives to the car? (3) What could be done to promote a modal shift towards sustainable transport modes in cities?

(2) Towards greener towns and cities : CO2 emissions from new passenger cars sold in the EU decreased by 12.4% between 1995 and 2004, following a voluntary agreement between the European Commission and the industry. To enable the EU to reach its 120g objective by 2012, the Commission, in a Communication of February 2007, outlined a comprehensive new strategy. However, despite these improvements, environmental conditions are still not satisfactory: local authorities are facing serious problems to meet the requirements on air quality, such as the limits of particulates and nitrogen oxides in ambient air. In addition, noise reduction at source could be reduced by tightening EU standards for noise emissions from road and rail vehicles and from tyres. Extension, rehabilitation and upgrading of clean urban public transport, as well as other sustainable urban transport projects, should also continue to be promoted and supported by the EU.

Issues : (1) How could the use of clean and energy efficient technologies in urban transport be further increased? (2) How could joint green procurement be promoted? (3) Should criteria or guidance be set out for the definition of Green Zones and their restriction measures? (4) How could eco-driving be further promoted?

3) Towards smarter urban transport : European towns and cities are confronted with a constant increase in freight and passenger flows. However, there are substantial limits to the development of the infrastructure needed to cope with this increase, as a result of a lack of space and environmental constraints. Against this background, stakeholders have highlighted that Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications are currently underexploited for the efficient management of urban mobility, or are developed without due attention to interoperability.

Issues : (1) Should better information services for travellers be developed and promoted? (2) Are further actions needed to ensure standardisation of interfaces and interoperability of ITS applications in towns and cities? Which applications should take priority when action is taken? (3) Regarding ITS, how could the exchange of information and best practices between all involved parties be improved?

4) Towards accessible urban transport : accessibility primarily concerns people with reduced mobility, disabled people, elderly people, families with young children, and young children themselves: they should have easy access to urban transport infrastructure. Accessibility also refers to the quality of access that people and businesses have to the urban mobility system, made up of infrastructure and services.

According to stakeholders, there is insufficient attention to co-modality and a lack of integrated collective transport solutions, such as suburban railway systems, tram-train systems, and well-located Park&Ride facilities at collective transport terminals in the outskirts of towns and cities.

Issues : (1) How can the quality of collective transport in European towns and cities be increased? (2) Should the development of dedicated lanes for collective transport be encouraged? (3) Is there a need to introduce a European Charter on rights and obligations for passengers using collective transport? (4) What measures could be undertaken to better integrate passenger and freight transport in research and in urban mobility planning? (5) How can better coordination between urban and interurban transport and land use planning be achieved?

5) Towards safe and secure urban transport : in 2005, 41 600 people were killed on the roads in the EU. This is far from the joint target of no more than 25 000 fatalities a year by 2010. The European road safety policy covers behavioural, vehicle and infrastructure issues (the safety and security of vehicles and infrastructures must be improved).

Issues : (1) What further actions should be undertaken to help cities and towns meet their road safety and personal security challenges in urban transport? (2) How can operators and citizens be better informed on the potential of advanced infrastructure management and vehicle technologies for safety? (3) Should automatic radar devices adapted to the urban environment be developed and should their use be promoted? (4) Is video surveillance a good tool for safety and security in urban transport?

Finally, regarding financial resources , the Paper poses the following questions, amongst others: how could existing financial instruments such as structural and cohesion funds be better used in a coherent way to support integrated and sustainable urban transport? How could economic instruments, in particular market-based instruments, support clean and energy efficient urban transport? Should towns and cities be encouraged to use urban charging? In the longer term, what added value could targeted European support for financing clean and energy efficient urban transport bring?

PURPOSE: to launch a debate on a European urban mobility strategy (Green Paper).

BACKGROUND: in the European Union, over 60% of the population lives in urban areas. Just under 85% of the EU's gross domestic product is created in urban areas. Towns and cities are the drivers of the European economy. They attract investment and jobs. They are essential to the smooth functioning of the economy. Although European towns and cities are all different they face similar challenges (increased traffic in town and city centres; air and noise pollution; road traffic accidents) and are trying to find common solutions.

Local authorities cannot face all these issues on their own; there is a need for cooperation and coordination at European level. Therefore, the Commission has decided to present a Green Paper on urban mobility in order to explore if and how it can add value to action already taken at local level.

The consultations exercise organised by the Commission in view of the preparation of the

Green Paper provided information resulting in a set of policy options and 25 open questions about these options. With this Green Paper, the Commission launches a second consultation process until 15 March 2008, with a view to presenting, in early autumn 2008, an Action Plan which will identify a series of concrete actions and initiatives towards better and sustainable urban mobility. For each proposed action, the Action Plan will indicate a time line for implementation and the allocation of responsibilities between the various actors.

CONTENT: urban mobility should make possible the economic development of towns and cities, the quality of life of their inhabitants and the protection of their environment. To this end, European towns and cities face five challenges which need to be met as part of an integrated approach.

(1) Towards free-flowing towns and cities : in order to reduce congestion in towns and cities, alternatives to private car use, such as walking, cycling, collective transport or the use of the motorbike and scooter, should be made attractive and safe. Citizens should be able to optimise their travel through efficient links between the different modes of transport. Authorities should promote co-modality and reallocate space that becomes available after congestion mitigation measures. An adequate parking policy is also necessary to reduce the use of cars in the centre of the cities. Finally, intelligent and adaptive traffic management systems have also proven their efficiency in reducing congestion.

Issues : (1) Should a "labelling'" scheme be envisaged to recognise the efforts of pioneering cities to combat congestion and improve living conditions? (2) What measures could be taken to promote walking and cycling as real alternatives to the car? (3) What could be done to promote a modal shift towards sustainable transport modes in cities?

(2) Towards greener towns and cities : CO2 emissions from new passenger cars sold in the EU decreased by 12.4% between 1995 and 2004, following a voluntary agreement between the European Commission and the industry. To enable the EU to reach its 120g objective by 2012, the Commission, in a Communication of February 2007, outlined a comprehensive new strategy. However, despite these improvements, environmental conditions are still not satisfactory: local authorities are facing serious problems to meet the requirements on air quality, such as the limits of particulates and nitrogen oxides in ambient air. In addition, noise reduction at source could be reduced by tightening EU standards for noise emissions from road and rail vehicles and from tyres. Extension, rehabilitation and upgrading of clean urban public transport, as well as other sustainable urban transport projects, should also continue to be promoted and supported by the EU.

Issues : (1) How could the use of clean and energy efficient technologies in urban transport be further increased? (2) How could joint green procurement be promoted? (3) Should criteria or guidance be set out for the definition of Green Zones and their restriction measures? (4) How could eco-driving be further promoted?

3) Towards smarter urban transport : European towns and cities are confronted with a constant increase in freight and passenger flows. However, there are substantial limits to the development of the infrastructure needed to cope with this increase, as a result of a lack of space and environmental constraints. Against this background, stakeholders have highlighted that Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) applications are currently underexploited for the efficient management of urban mobility, or are developed without due attention to interoperability.

Issues : (1) Should better information services for travellers be developed and promoted? (2) Are further actions needed to ensure standardisation of interfaces and interoperability of ITS applications in towns and cities? Which applications should take priority when action is taken? (3) Regarding ITS, how could the exchange of information and best practices between all involved parties be improved?

4) Towards accessible urban transport : accessibility primarily concerns people with reduced mobility, disabled people, elderly people, families with young children, and young children themselves: they should have easy access to urban transport infrastructure. Accessibility also refers to the quality of access that people and businesses have to the urban mobility system, made up of infrastructure and services.

According to stakeholders, there is insufficient attention to co-modality and a lack of integrated collective transport solutions, such as suburban railway systems, tram-train systems, and well-located Park&Ride facilities at collective transport terminals in the outskirts of towns and cities.

Issues : (1) How can the quality of collective transport in European towns and cities be increased? (2) Should the development of dedicated lanes for collective transport be encouraged? (3) Is there a need to introduce a European Charter on rights and obligations for passengers using collective transport? (4) What measures could be undertaken to better integrate passenger and freight transport in research and in urban mobility planning? (5) How can better coordination between urban and interurban transport and land use planning be achieved?

5) Towards safe and secure urban transport : in 2005, 41 600 people were killed on the roads in the EU. This is far from the joint target of no more than 25 000 fatalities a year by 2010. The European road safety policy covers behavioural, vehicle and infrastructure issues (the safety and security of vehicles and infrastructures must be improved).

Issues : (1) What further actions should be undertaken to help cities and towns meet their road safety and personal security challenges in urban transport? (2) How can operators and citizens be better informed on the potential of advanced infrastructure management and vehicle technologies for safety? (3) Should automatic radar devices adapted to the urban environment be developed and should their use be promoted? (4) Is video surveillance a good tool for safety and security in urban transport?

Finally, regarding financial resources , the Paper poses the following questions, amongst others: how could existing financial instruments such as structural and cohesion funds be better used in a coherent way to support integrated and sustainable urban transport? How could economic instruments, in particular market-based instruments, support clean and energy efficient urban transport? Should towns and cities be encouraged to use urban charging? In the longer term, what added value could targeted European support for financing clean and energy efficient urban transport bring?