10-year Action Programme to address EU mobility challenges

To mark European Mobility Week 2015, more than a hundred European politicians, decision-makers and experts met in Brussels, at the initiative of the IRU coordinated European Citizens Mobility Forum (ECMF), to debate the best ways to answer current and future mobility challenges, and unlock the unused potential of collective road- and rail-based transport in the EU.

This debate followed the publication, by the ECMF, of its blueprint for an EU Action Programme on doubling the use of collective land transport in the European Union in the period 2015-2025. This Action Programme presents concrete policy proposals, notably in the field of sustainability, innovation and infrastructure, on how to reach this objective. It also advocates the creation of a dedicated EU funding instrument, to enhance collective mobility in Europe.

ECMF Members are calling on European institutions to adopt the Action Programme and support the doubling of collective land transport use as an overall EU mobility strategy. A joint European funding instrument should be adopted by the European institutions to support this.

EIM’s Executive Director Ms. Monika Heiming said: – ‘’EIM strongly supports the creation of a new mobility paradigm capable of delivering high-quality mobility services to people in their day-to-day lives. A combination of converging factors – such as the increasing urbanisation across Europe, the environmental and energy challenges as well as the new streams of digital innovations – would require a sensible answer from the EU’s decision-makers’’ –.

Wim van de Camp, Transport Coordinator of the EPP group in the European Parliament said – “The ECMF EU Action Programme is welcome as it reflects the goals of the EU Transport Policy White Paper by focusing on safety, attractiveness, service quality and clean technologies’’ –.

Ismail Ertug, Transport Coordinator of the S&D group in the European Parliament said – “For years the European Union has been lagging behind its self-determined goals of reducing emission, congestion and oil dependency. The EU’s job is to ensure the effective and long-term promotion of sustainable collective transport and the ECMF Action programme provides policy proposals to do just that’’ –.

Gesine Meissner, Transport Coordinator of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, said: –“Satisfying higher mobility demands, reducing pollution, ensuring access and creating economic opportunities – these are the future challenges for European transport. Collective road- and rail-based transport presents an adequate solution. It opens the doors for entrepreneurial freedom, innovation, accessible infrastructure as well as higher sustainability, which is what we support’’ –.

Karima Delli, Transport Coordinator for the Greens in the European Parliament said – “The target of doubling the use of collective land transport in the EU is a growing consensus in the European Parliament. This should be a lever in the fight against pollution. The doubling of public transport, for example, is defended in my report on sustainable urban mobility’’ –.