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Public awareness
European Mobility Week
| UITP : Key international official partner |
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 UITP signed ‘European
Mobility Week Pledge’ at a ceremony during the European Commission’s Green Week in April 2002. Since then, the association
became an official partner of European Mobility Week and the Car Free Day. These initiatives supported and financed by the European
Union offer a unique opportunity to all mobility actors to play a key role in sustainable mobility and enhance their own public
image.
European Mobility Week has been running for ten years and aims to influence
mobility and urban transport issues for the long-term as well as to improve health
and quality of life of European citizens. It is organised each year from 16 to
22 September and represents a perfect opportunity to present sustainable alternatives
to European citizens, to explain the challenges that cities and towns are facing
in order to induce a change of behaviour and make progress towards a more sustainable
transport strategy for Europe. It gives people space to think about what our urban
streets are really for and to debate concrete solutions for tackling urban challenges
such as air pollution.
The European Mobility Week Award rewards the city of Bologna
From 16 to 22 September 2011, a record number of 2, 2268 cities and towns from 43 countries took part in the 10th edition of the European Mobility Week.
Participating cities offered various activities to their citizens in order to promote more sustainable modes of transport and make them change their travel habits. Under the focal theme of Alternative Mobility, the EMW chose to focus on the importance to reduce energy-consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the transport sector, the largest energy-consuming sector within Europe. In line with the climate and energy targets recently adopted by the European Union and with UITP PTx2 strategy, the campaign was a call to foster a shift towards more sustainable modes of transport, including public transport, cycling and walking.
After the campaign, all participating cities complying with the criteria of the European Mobility Week Charter had the opportunity to compete for the EMW Award 2011. This prize rewards the city which has best succeeded in organising creative activities to raise awareness among citizens and implement permanent measures.
An independent jury of experts selected 10 finalist cities, among which the three finalists: Bologna (Italy), Larnaka (Cyprus) and Zagreb (Croatia). On 5 March, on the occasion of an official ceremony held in Brussels, the award finally went to the Italian city of Bologna. It was recognised as the best city in promoting clean alternatives to using cars and involving citizens in activities in favour of sustainable urban mobility. Among other initiatives, Bologna organised a Car Free Weekend instead of just one day. It also implemented several permanent measures, including the extension of the cycling paths' network.
Urban mobility plans at the heart of the campaign in 2012
As expressed in the slogan, "Moving in the right direction", the 11th edition of the EMW will demonstrate how sustainable urban mobility can be reached through an integrated planning approach which considers all modes of transport in a city, a message totally in line with UITP's PTX2 strategy.
Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) provide a set of measures trying to meet better the needs of citizens and business. The European Commission has adopted an Action Plan on Urban Mobility to foster the take-up of such plans in Europe. This Action Plan aims at helping local authorities to develop SUMPs by providing some guidance material.
The European Mobility Week will take place from 16 to 22 September 2011.
Local actions:
Local authorities have a crucial role to play in the implementation of national and European legislation. An integrated transport
policy and travel plans fostering sustainable mobility are fundamental to protect citizens from harmful air pollution
Local authorities could take the following actions to improve city climates:
- Plan the city so that people do not need to travel so far or so often.
- Develop a sustainable urban mobility plan.
- Restrict car access and parking in certain areas.
- Introduce low emission zones.
- Introduce a standard urban 30kph speed limit.
- Abolish fast multi-lane one-way systems.
- Work with local businesses to help them establish workplace travel plans.
- Work with schools to develop school travel plans.
- Invest in public transport to ensure it is of high quality, frequent, reliable, punctual, safe and clean as well as
affordable.
- Ensure that pedestrians and cyclists can move safely and directly around the city (for example permit cyclists to use
one-way streets in both directions).
- Set a future date for zero road deaths target.
- Undertake information campaigns to encourage citizens and businesses to reduce their car use.
- Exchange best practice on sustainable mobility with other cities in Europe.
- Monitor air quality and publish results on a regular basis.
UITP fully recognises the importance of raising awareness on the environmental impacts of everyone’s modal choice and
encouraging the use of sustainable modes of transport. This is why we invite all our members to participate in this event and
take this opportunity to promote public transport.
For plenty of ideas and inspiration to get involved, read our Core
Brief on European Mobility Week.
You can also read the Position Paper:
Towards low/zero-carbon urban mobility in Europe
Previous campaigns
Following EMW 2002, UITP has compiled a report ‘Public Transport Initiatives for the European Mobility Week’.
Click here to read it.
More information
Click here to visit the official European Mobility Week website
For more information, please contact UITP Communications Department:
Géraldine Dumonceau
| Communications & Publications Assistant
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