Unclogging city arteries

European transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot will this month (25 September) unveil a green paper on urban transport suggesting ways of tackling congestion and pollution problems in European cities.

Public demand seems to have grown in recent years for cleaner and greener policies on urban transport. In a European Commission consultation this year, two-thirds of respondents wanted action to be taken to tackle transport problems in urban areas. Seven out of ten respondents indicated that improvements to public transport should be a priority.

Nevertheless, the paper’s message could be politically unpopular since it must target the increasing use of private cars, which is turning the centres of towns and cities into nightmarish pockets of noise and pollution. The problem is expected to get worse, with distances travelled by car in urban areas projected to increase by 40% by 2030. At stake are the health and quality of life of urban dwellers, and the future economic prospects of the cities themselves as places in which to work and invest.

"It [the green paper] will push forward our analysis of the needs of big cities in Europe to have greener and cleaner urban transport," says a Commission official. "The green part will be one of the most important elements. We have gained a number of different ideas from the consultation and will be basing ourselves on some of the best practices, such as encouraging people to use public transport, promoting green transport, closing city centres and charging fares to get into the city centre."

London has already shown that charging drivers for entering the city centre can be extremely successful, freeing up the roads and bringing down carbon dioxide emissions. Best practices such as these are already shared through Polis, a Commission-funded network of cities that are aiming to develop together their thinking on public transport.

Next year the Commission will present an action plan based on the green paper, but no proposals for EU legislation are planned. Although the Commission will seek to provide overall direction and guidance, transport and urban planning are to remain the preserve of local, regional and national authorities. "We are trying to move together with national and local authorities, trying to respect subsidiarity and creating a mix of different forces that listen to the stakeholders concerned," says the official.

While welcoming the idea of a framework for urban transport, Brigitte Ollier, director of the European branch of the International Association for Public Transport, says that the Commission should nevertheless adopt a more integrated approach to policymaking. Moves to promote increased use of public transport within the green paper are, for example, undermined by member states’ use of EU structural funds. In a report released last year, the Copenhagen-based European Environment Agency expressed concern about how the use of funds was contributing to an expansion of the urban sprawl in many of Europe’s already congested cities.

European transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot will this month (25 September) unveil a green paper on urban transport suggesting ways of tackling congestion and pollution problems in European cities.