Commission helps make city journeys easier and greener

The European Commission has adopted a new ‘urban mobility package’ in order to step up its support to towns and cities.

The Commission will reinforce the exchange of best practice, provide targeted financial support and invest in research and development. In addition, it is encouraging the development of ‘sustainable urban mobility plans’ to stimulate a shift towards cleaner and more sustainable transport in urban areas.

Siim Kallas, European Commission Vice-President with responsibility for Transport, said: “Addressing the problems of urban mobility is one of the great challenges in transport today. With co-ordinated action we can be more successful. Local authorities are the key decision makers. They are best placed to take important local decisions, but they should benefit from support at national and EU level.”

Research and innovation will be a focus for the Commission. The Civitas 2020 initiative in the framework of Horizon 2020 will allow cities, companies, academia and other partners to develop and test novel approaches for urban mobility. The first call for proposals was published on 11 December. The estimated budget for 2014 and 2015 is €106.5m. Civitas 2020 is complemented by the smart cities and communities European innovation partnership (€200m for 2014 and 2015) and activities within the European ‘green vehicles’ initiative (€159m for 2014 and 2015).

The Commission has put forward specific recommendations for co-ordinated action between all levels of government and between the public and the private sector in four areas: urban logistics; urban access regulation; deployment of intelligent transport system solutions; and urban road safety.