Plenary (December 2020)

Innovation will be critical for economic recovery – and the transport sector offers many opportunities for innovation to help drive the post-pandemic economy forward. The European recovery plan, centred around the Green Deal, places great emphasis on the growth potential of transforming the economy to a greener model and taking advantage of technological advancements and digitalisation to bolster European industrial competitiveness. The strategy for sustainable and smart mobility to be tabled at the end of 2020, as part of the Green Deal initiatives, will play a significant role in defining the way ahead, as well as in addressing pandemic-related concerns, in the field of mobility.

In 2050, approximately 84 % of Europeans will be living in an urban area. A common challenge for all urban areas is to enhance mobility and reduce congestion, accidents and air pollution. The search for appropriate solutions to urban transport challenges has been part of EU policy in various fields for a long time. This paper provides an overview of the EU initiatives and funding opportunities to support sustainable urban mobility in Europe.

To limit global warming in line with the Paris Agreement, Europe aims to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To speed up this transition, the European Commission has proposed to raise the level of ambition, and reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55 % by 2030. On 7 October, in its position on the proposed European Climate Law, the European Parliament voted to raise the 2030 target to a 60 % reduction. This overview shows how transport activities resulted in about 29 % of total EU CO2 emissions in 2018.

The general objective of TEN-E policy is to link the energy infrastructure of EU countries. The current guidelines for the trans-European energy infrastructure were established by Regulation (EU) No 347/2013 (the TEN-E Regulation). The European Commission is currently carrying out a multi-step revision process of the regulation, with a view to making the EU energy infrastructure fully consistent with and a driver for the EU's 2050 climate neutrality ambition. In this respect, a new proposal is expected by the end of 2020.

In the December 2019 European Green Deal communication, which aims to reboot the EU's efforts to tackle challenges related to climate change and the environment, the European Commission proposed to review the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive. The Directive was adopted in 2014 to encourage the development of alternative fuel filling stations and charging points in EU countries, and required Member States to put in place development plans for alternative fuels infrastructure. However, according to a 2017 Commission evaluation, the plans did not provide sufficient certainty for fully developing the alternative fuels infrastructure network, and development has been uneven across the EU.

One of the first, and most visible impacts of the Covid-19 crisis was on transport, travel and mobility. In early March 2020, European Union (EU) Member States had already reintroduced border controls at internal Schengen borders on the grounds of an immediate threat to public policy and on 17 March 2020, the Heads of State or Government agreed to reinforce the external borders by applying a coordinated temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU. Travel restrictions and containment measures adopted to limit the spread of the disease, within and at the external border of the EU, have led to drastic reductions in traffic in all transport modes. In a communication on the coordinated economic response to Covid-19 published on 13 March 2020, the European Commission underlined that the pandemic is having a major impact on transport systems and that disruption in the flow of goods leads to severe economic damage.

One of the main evolving trends in the transport system is the assimilation of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and other sophisticated hi-technology innovations into it. Those processes and practices are increasingly referred to as the “Smart Mobility” paradigm. In this paradigm, ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’ are often considered synonymous, or at least complementary to each other. This research aims to examine the extent to which ‘smart’ and ‘sustainable’ are aligned with each other by conducting a survey amongst the main actors within smart mobility.

As one of the four global goals framing sustainable mobility in the Global Mobility Report (GMR), green mobility aims to reduce both air and noise pollution from transport, and to address climate change in the transport sector through mitigation and adaptation. Transport currently contributes to 23 percent of global energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 18 percent of all man-made emissions in the global economy. In one projection, energy related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are expected to grow by 40 percent between 2013 and 2040.1 Air pollution—both ambient (outdoor) and household (indoor)—is the biggest single environmental risk to health; ambient air pollution alone kills about three million people each year. In addition, evidence from several countries suggests that traffic noise has the second biggest environmental impact on health.

This paper investigates where and how sustainable transport goals are translated into public transport planning and operations. The case where this is explored is the Regional Public Transport Authority (RPTA) in Stockholm, Sweden.

The paper discusses problems related to the functioning of passenger transport in Rzeszow. The dynamic development of the city and the increase in the income of its inhabitants have led to significantly increased traffic within the city, which is detrimental both to the environment and the city's inhabitants. It limits the quality of life in the city and in the end generates additional costs for businesses and people in urban areas due to the congestion. In compliance with the policies of the European Union, this harmful tendency needs to be limited. Developing sustainable transportation should largely contribute to this objective.

This article has taken up an issue concerning the influence of the implementation of electromobility assumptions on reduction of air pollution in cities in terms of sustainable urban transport systems. The essential nature of the subject is confirmed by the following figures: transport is responsible for almost 25% of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe and is the main cause of air pollution in cities, almost 90% of city dwellers in the EU are exposed to levels of air pollutants deemed harmful by the WHO, and approximately 95% of vehicles on European roads still use fossil fuels. Therefore, the implemented transport policy, both in the international and domestic aspect of particular countries, is facing the need to significantly reduce the negative influence of transport on people and the environment.

This article focuses on free fare public transport policy (FFPT) as an example of the sustainable mobility paradigm FFPT is one of a number of instruments through which a balance between the economic costs and efficiency in the public transport system can be reached.

The File Note focuses on public transport in metropolitan regions, one of the core competences of Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs). It starts with analysing the role of LRAs in green public transport and integrated urban planning. Then, specific urban planning aspects are considered: spatial planning needs for alternative fuels infrastructure, linkages with intermediate and rural areas and the use of public space for mobility. Funding of public urban transport (PUT) as well as social aspects of mobility complement the analysis.

Demographic changes in peripheral areas are pressuring the regional public transport systems to adopt innovative strategies. The employment of internet of things (IoT) technologies has proven to be a valid response to mobility challenges in rural areas, and has brought up the concept of “smart land”. Framed within the context of the Interreg Central Europe project RUMOBIL, this study tries to shed light on how the deployment of smart mobility solutions within the rural context compare to that within the urban context.

The unprecedented global shutdown that resulted from the COVID pandemic presents an opportunity to reconfigure future transport policy and practice for the benefit of the global environment and individual citizens alike. Before COVID, much of the emphasis in transport policy was on demand management, ‘smart’ technological interventions and sustainable mobility. The public health crisis has necessitated an urgent reconsideration of transport and its contribution to post-COVID economic recovery. In recognition of the importance of individual behaviour and collective responsibility in protecting both personal and public health during the crisis, this think piece proposes a new concept of Responsible Transport to help inform and shape transport policy and practice responses to COVID. The novelty of this proposal lies in the fact that it incorporates not only environmental considerations with respect to sustainability but also encompasses considerations of individual and community health and wellbeing.