Urban mobility is recognised as an important facilitator of growth and employment with a strong impact on sustainable development in the EU. The Commission therefore has decided to present a Green Paper in 2007 on urban mobility in order to explore if and how it can add value to action already taken at local level. Rethinking urban mobility involves optimising the use of all the various modes of transport and organising “co-modality” between the different modes of collective transport5 (train, tram, metro, bus, taxi) and the different modes of individual transport (car, motorcycle, cycle, walking). It also involves achieving common objectives in terms of economic prosperity managing transport demand to guarantee mobility, quality of life and environmental protection. Lastly, it involves reconciling freight transport and passenger transport interests whatever the mode of transport used.
The European Commission adopted an Action Plan on urban mobility on 30 September 2009.
The Action Plan proposes twenty measures to encourage and help local, regional and national authorities in achieving their goals for sustainable urban mobility. With the Action Plan, the European Commission presents for the first time a comprehensive support package in the field of urban mobility.
Local, regional and national authorities are free to use this support, and the tools that will be offered. By doing so, they will be better equipped to address the challenge of sustainable urban mobility, which will facilitate their policy making. In addition, Europe’s citizens and companies will benefit from this on a daily basis.
The actions are being launched over the four years following the Action Plan’s adoption. The European Commission will conduct a review of the implementation of the Action Plan in the year 2012, and will assess the need for further action.