Sustainable transport

We can travel faster and further than ever before - but can we afford to pay the costs? Emily Smith reports.

In less than 200 years changes in transport have transformed daily life. Technologies have developed and costs have fallen, to the point where today the developed world takes high-speed transport for granted. Countries on the other side of the world are now just a matter of hours away.

But this modern freedom of movement has not been free from costs and drawbacks. Increasingly, questions are being asked about how long the expansion of travel can last. A dangerous dependency on energy, urban sprawl and traffic pollution have all set politicians, researchers and interest groups thinking of ways to make transport more sustainable. Among the problems that must be addressed are the health risks from exhaust fumes and the transport sector’s contribution to global warming.

EU lawmakers are discussing various initiatives, including a thematic strategy on the urban environment setting ‘sustainable transport’ as one of four priorities for urban planning and reducing carbon emissions by 10% by 2020 under a revised fuel quality directive.

A guidance document on sustainable urban transport plans which is to follow the thematic strategy will be published by the European Commission this autumn.

To raise general public interest, the Commission in 2000 launched a ‘Mobility Week’, with support from 760 cities around the world. For one week in September, this event sees city authorities publicising new ways to encourage use of public transport, bicycles and walking. The week includes a Car Free Day, when the cities keep private cars and motorbikes off the road.

Stavros Dimas, the European commissioner for the environment, who hails from the polluted city of Athens, has argued that "many European towns and cities are struggling to cope with the number of cars on their streets".

"European Mobility Week provides an international framework in which local authorities can work towards achieving a better balance between private cars and other forms of mobility," he said. "The result will be a better quality of urban life for everyone, with less congestion, pollution and noise."

So far 1,258 cities have signed up and the Commission says that it expects several more to come forward before the event begins.

This Saturday (15 September) Mobility Week 2007 kicks off. The Commission is encouraging its own staff, including the commissioners, to walk and cycle more this week.

Brussels holds its Car Free Day on Sunday 23 September. Among the accompanying events will be a demonstration of how to turn two old cars into kitchen gardens, free lessons for nervous cyclists and the offer of prizes for cycling shoppers who collect stamps from participating shops.

We can travel faster and further than ever before - but can we afford to pay the costs? Emily Smith reports.