European Commission Urban Mobility Framework draft revealed

A draft document putting forward the structure of the EU’s New Urban Mobility Framework has been published ahead of a vote in Prague during July.

Sharing it on his network, Philipp Cerny, a consultant on EU policy, revealed the 10 page draft that will be put before the Commission for Territorial Cohesion Policy and EU Budget on July 12th. It follows an earlier announcement of the work moving forward late last year and an endorsement of Executive Vice President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans.

The document aims to create a framework for modal shift and reduction in transport emissions, currently 23% of Europe’s carbon output. Described as “urgent action”, the document lays the foundation for the EU to guide and fund progress with Local and regional authorities (LRAs).

What’s more, the opening points of the draft remind that congestion costs EU states €270 billion annually and as such “economic growth of urban centres is directly linked to the fluidity of mobility.”

Policy recommendations 

“A central role for active mobility”, reads the first subhead.

This goes on to direct LRAs to stress that walking is free, healthy and sustainable, while cycling is carbon-neutral and affordable. Both are easily combined with public transport, a further chapter of the document detailed later.

Space inequalities are addressed. An increasingly contentious point as cities cater for active travel means, sometimes at the expense of road space for motoring, it is recommended that the overall infrastructure is built to make cycling more appealing as an end-to-end solution, ending some of the objections put forwards as reasons not to bike. These include provision on street for much more bicycle parking and public maintenance stations for basic fixes.

On physical cycling infrastructure it is stressed that the cost to construct and maintain cycle lanes represents strong value for the public purse; “much lower than the cost of constructing new roads and/or widening existing ones,” reads the draft.

Busting the myth that motoring equates to local and broader economic health, the paper stresses the return on investment that active travel can create locally in the economy. “pedestrians and riders tend to frequent businesses and services located within a smaller radius from their homes,” it states.

Purchasing incentives are encouraged for bikes and eBikes for individuals in a bid to get on top of decarbonisation quickly. Aligned to this train of thought, a phase out of company car allowances is recommended.

On this theme, it is noted that things like ultra-low emission zone charges help to reduce motorised congestion and the revenue earned can accelerate investment into public transport and active mobility infrastructure.

In reference to the existing European Cycling Strategy, it is strongly encouraged that work accelerate in a bid to now create a European framework of cycling policies.

As for the Commission’s TEN-T proposal, the draft indicates that it would be wise to reconsider the omission of bike sharing and storage facilities, plus access routes into the TEN-T urban nodes.

Safety is addressed directly and the recommendation for the creation of an EU-wide ‘safe active mobility strategy’ is made in order that KSI (killed or seriously injured) rates further reduce consistently across Europe.

To read the document in full, head here.