12 Urban mobility
| (30993) 14030/09
+ ADDs 1-2 COM(09) 490
| Commission Communication: Action plan on urban mobility
|
| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 30 September 2009
|
| Deposited in Parliament | 8 October 2009
|
| Department | Transport |
| Basis of consideration | EM of 29 October 2009
|
| Previous Committee Report | None
|
| To be discussed in Council | Not known
|
| Committee's assessment | Politically important
|
| Committee's decision | Cleared
|
Background
12.1 In September 2007 the Commission published a Green Paper
Towards a new culture for urban mobility as a first step
to developing an action plan for urban transport.[34]
The document
12.2 In this Communication the Commission presents an action plan,
which builds on the suggestions made by stakeholders in response
to the Green Paper. It is intended to set out a framework of Community
initiatives in urban mobility while respecting the principle of
subsidiarity. It proposes short- and medium-term practical actions
to be launched progressively from now until 2012. The Commission
has grouped activity under six key themes each with a number of
actions from the 20 that emerged from the Green Paper consultation.
12.3 The first theme is "promoting integrated
policies" and covers three of the actions proposed. This
is described as an integrated approach for the development of
transport infrastructure and services, also linking transport
with environment protection, healthy environments, land use planning,
housing, social aspects of accessibility and mobility and industrial
policy.
12.4 The second theme is "focusing on citizens"
and covers six of the actions. This is described as ensuring a
high level of protection of passenger rights, particularly passengers
with reduced mobility. As part of this the Commission will moderate
a dialogue with stakeholders, including organisations representing
operators, authorities, employees and user groups, in order to
identify Community-wide best practices and conditions for strengthening
passenger rights in urban public transport. Building on sectoral
initiatives and complementing the Commission's regulatory approach,
the aim is to put a set of ambitious voluntary commitments in
place, including quality indicators, commitments to protect the
rights of travellers and of persons with reduced mobility as well
as commonly agreed complaint procedures, and reporting mechanisms.
Legislation exists for rail services and similar legislation has
recently been proposed for bus and coach services and for maritime
and inland waterway services.[35]
12.5 The next theme is "greening urban transport"
and covers four of the actions. Here the Commission will help
to strengthen markets for new clean vehicle technologies and alternative
fuels through research and demonstration projects funded through
the Seventh Framework Research and Development Programme and,
in 2009, will fund new projects related to electric vehicles.
12.6 The fourth theme is "strengthening funding"
and covers two of the actions. In the short term the Commission
will assist authorities and stakeholders to explore existing funding
opportunities and develop innovative public-private partnership
schemes.
12.7 The fifth theme is "sharing experience
and knowledge and covers three of the actions. Here the Commission
will:
- help in the exchange of information,
in particular about model schemes developed through Community
programmes;
- launch a study on how to improve
data collection for urban transport and mobility; and
- set up an urban mobility observatory for urban
transport practitioners in the form of a virtual platform to share
information, data and statistics, monitor developments and facilitate
the exchange of best practices.
12.8 The final theme is "optimising urban mobility"
and covers two of the actions — facilitating modal shift
towards more environmentally friendly modes of transport and efficient
freight logistics; encouraging less car-dependency and using public
transport more; using alternative means of transport such as electric
bicycles, scooters and motorbikes and workplace support through
financial incentives and parking regulations. The Commission will
also look at electronic ticketing and payment, traffic management,
travel information, access regulation and demand management, and
address the opportunities opened up by the European Galileo GNSS
system. As a start, the Commission will launch a study on improving
the interoperability of ticketing and payment systems across services
and transport modes, including the use of smart cards in urban
transport with a focus on major European destinations (airports,
rail stations).
12.9 The Commission annexes a timetable for launching
the actions proposed, which we reproduce. It also accompanies
its Communication with an impact assessment, which rates expected
cost and administrative burdens of all the actions as low or very
low. In 2012 the Commission will conduct a review of the implementation
of the action plan and will assess the need for further action.
The Government's view
12.10 The Minister of State, Department for Transport
(Mr Sadiq Khan) tells us that, in principle, the Government supports
the Commission's action plan, which is broadly in line with its
urban transport policies. He comments that the themes of capacity
building and sharing best practice that run through the action
plan align with some of the work the Department for Transport
will be doing with local authorities over the next few years.
12.11 The Minister continues that the Government
will seek further clarification on some specific provisions in
the action plan. On the first of these, Action 4 "Platform
on passenger rights in urban public transport" (under the
"focusing on citizens" theme), the Minister says that:
- the Commission is proposing
to work with stakeholders to identify Community-wide best practices
and conditions for strengthening passenger rights in urban public
transport with the intention of developing a set of voluntary
commitments;
- Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 on rail passenger
rights comes into effect on 4 December 2009 and a proposal for
bus and coach services is currently being negotiated;[36]
- for rail it is unclear to the Government why
further work is needed for strengthening passenger rights, beyond
the Commission's regulatory approach;
- the Government feels it would be best for the
Commission to first assess the impact of the Rail Passengers'
Rights Regulation before considering what if any additional strengthening
is needed;
- in respect of the bus and coach passenger rights
draft Regulation the final scope has yet to be agreed;
- the Government is seeking exclusion of all local
bus services, as it feels that Member States are best placed
to decide on any requirements that apply to such services;
- whilst voluntary commitments would be better
than legislation, the Government believes it is too early to consider
further action in this area, when it is still unclear what the
final Regulation on bus and coach passenger rights will look like;
and
- the proposed Regulation is unlikely to come into
force until after 2010, when the Commission is proposing to carry
out this action.
12.12 On Actions 12 and 20, "Study on urban
aspects of the internalisation of external costs" and "Intelligent
transport systems for urban mobility" (under the "greening
urban transport" and "optimising urban mobility"
themes), the Minister says that the Government would want to resist
attempts to advocate specific technologies rather than setting
objectives or common standards — it believes that selecting
specific technologies could restrict development to one path instead
of promoting innovation.
12.13 On Action 16, "Upgrading data and statistics"
(under the "sharing experience and knowledge" theme),
the Minister says that:
- there have been various initiatives
in the past to collect better urban data;
- this is intrinsically difficult for urban transport,
as many systems cover both urban and non-urban areas;
- there are also issues about how different countries
define urban areas;
- any study should start by looking at what has
been done before and should aim to improve data collection in
countries that do not have a good tradition in this area; and
- it should not impose undue burdens on countries
with good data systems, simply for conformity to a standard pattern.
12.14 On Actions 17 and 18, "Setting up an urban
mobility observatory" and "Contributing to international
dialogue and information exchange" (also under the "sharing
experience and knowledge" theme), the Minister says that:
- an urban mobility observatory
and the other measures suggested could form a more flexible approach
than specifying data collection as proposed in Action 16;
and
- urban areas, however, have very different transport
issues and needs according to their development — some need
solutions to congestion, others would welcome more traffic as
a sign of economic vitality.
Conclusion
12.15 Although we have no questions to raise on
this document, and we clear it from scrutiny, we draw it to the
attention of the House because of its relevance to, amongst other
matters, transport, environmental and planning issues.
Annex
TIMETABLE OF URBAN MOBILITY ACTIONS
Launch in 2009
|
| Action | Number
|
| Accelerating the take-up of sustainable urban mobility plans
| 1 |
| Improving travel information |
6 |
| Access to green zones | 7
|
| Research and demonstration projects for lower and zero emission vehicles
| 10 |
| Internet guide on clean and energy-efficient vehicles
| 11 |
| Information exchange on urban pricing schemes
| 13 |
| Optimising existing funding sources
| 14 |
| Setting up an urban mobility observatory
| 17 |
Launch in 2010
|
| Action | Number
|
| Transport for healthy urban environments |
3 |
| Platform on passenger rights in urban public transport
| 4 |
| Campaigns on sustainable mobility behaviour
| 8 |
| Energy-efficient driving as part of driving education
| 9 |
| Analysing the needs for future funding |
15 |
| Upgrading data and statistics | 16
|
| Contributing to international dialogue and information exchange
| 18 |
Launch in 2011
|
| Action | Number
|
| Sustainable urban mobility and regional policy
| 2 |
| Improving accessibility for persons with reduced mobility
| 5 |
| Study on urban aspects of the internalisation of external costs
| 12 |
Launch in 2012
|
| Action | Number
|
| Urban freight transport | 19
|
| Intelligent transport systems (ITS) for urban mobility
| 20 |
34 (28949) 13278/07: see HC 16-xx (2007-08) chapter
10 (30 April 2008). Back
35
(30255) 16933/08 + ADDs 1-2: see HC 19-v (2008-09), chapter 4
(28 January 2009) and HC 19-xxiv (2008-09), chapter 2 (15 July
2009) and (30264) 11990/08 + ADDs 1-2: see HC 19-v (2008-09),
chapter 4 (28 January 2009), HC 19-xxiii (2008-09), chapter 3
(8 July 2009), HC 19-xxvi (2008-09), chapter 2 (10 September 2009)
and HC 19-xxvii (2008-09), chapter 21 (14 October 2009). Back
36
Ibid. Back
|
