News

Nine Polis members are among top 20 cycling cities worldwide: Amsterdam in 1st place; Utrecht (3rd); Antwerp and Eindhoven (joint 6th); Berlin (8th); Dublin (9th); Barcelona and Budapest (joint 13th); and Paris (14th place). 

The Workshop will bring experts in the field of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) and Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) together. Transport and energy practitioners from local authorities are invited.

As part of a national funding scheme, the City of Aalborg has received 770,000 € to support the establishment of a six kilometre long cycling route from the city centre to the industrial harbour.

Hosted by Polis member Barcelona, this year's Electric Vehicle Symposium EVS27 opened the programme for national, European and international projects on electromobility to share results, good practices, lessons learned and recommendations.

Ayuntamiento de Madrid hosted a stakeholders workshop Thursday, 9 May on assessing the impact of ICT on road transport emissions in the framework of the ICT-Emissions project technical meetings in the Spanish capital.

"Cycling in port cities in Puglia region and Greece" is theme of the International Conference hosted by Puglia region on Tuesday, May 21st in Bari.

The European Electromobility Observatory (EEO) is a new tool launched by the European Commission to monitor all major EV developments in Europe. The first survey for policy makers on needs and expectations of such an observatory is now online.

PTP-Cycle is the latest cycling project funded by the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme aiming to improve uptake of personalised travel planning for active mobility targeting household, employers/employees and students in 6 EU cities and to further integrate the PTP approach into SUMPs.

The conference will discuss the results from the project, highlight the experiences from cities involved in the project and touch upon the European policy framework for sustainable urban mobility.

The purpose of the stakeholder meeting, organised by the European Commission, is to present and discuss the draft findings from a study on the future Urban Mobility Package and to complete these with information and views from stakeholders.

The call for speakers of this year’s Annual Polis Conference has been launched. The conference will take place in Brussels on 4-5 December 2013. Deadline to submit abstracts is 7 June!

Brussels, Glasgow, Bristol and Ljubljana have been shortlisted by the European Commission for European Green Capital 2015.

"Signals 2013 - Every breath we take" consists of short and accessible articles covering a wide range of aspects related to air quality.

Lower energy use, less costs, less carbon emission and better air quality: These are the objectives under which Rotterdam decided to set up the ECOSTARS fleet recognition scheme under the umbrella of the Rotterdam Climate Initiative (RCI). Rotterdam implements the scheme in coherence with the national award system 'Lean and Green'.

The Green eMotion Stakeholder Forum together with the FREVUE project will organise an event in Brussels next 24th and 25th of June.

The Electric Vehicles Initiative (EVI) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have launched the Global EV Outlook representing two years of data gathering and analysis of electric vehicle stock/sales and charging station deployment.

The report, which was presented last week at the TRAN Committee meeting, stresses the need for linking better research with EU transport policy and suggests general and specific measures for a European transport technology strategy.

Governments, with support from civil society, academia, the private sector and the international community, are all encouraged to plan and host national and local events during the Second UN Global Road Safety Week.

The European Commission's Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) campaign ("Do the right mix") has launched a second call for SUM funding applications. The funding available under this call will co-finance campaign initiatives taking place during the period running from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014. Applications for the second round of funding must be submitted before 12:00 (CET) on 31 May 2013.

Polis member Toulouse was selected a finalist for the SUMP Award 2012 for its "its long history in and experience with sustainable urban mobility planning" (Jury comment). The theme of the Award for this year was Stakeholder and citizen participation in the SUMP. Find out about the sustainable mobility challenges that Toulouse has been facing and how it dealt with them.

Demonstrations in Amsterdam, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Rotterdam, Oslo and Stockholm will evaluate innovative urban freight transport solutions through a genuine public private partnership between municipalities and the logistics industry.

Eleven organisations from across industries and transport modes joined forces today to drive forward the electrification of surface transport.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has recently published a report aiming at presenting decision-makers with hard evidence on the important place of walking in transport policies and provides guidelines for developing a safe environment conducive to walking.

This second ICT-Emissions exploitation group meeting was meant at presenting the project and its methodology to the Advisory Board members and establishing a fruitful cooperation with Amitran for the development of a common roadmap. It also aimed at engaging with the automotive industry and OEMs in order to receive feedback on the project activities and outputs.

The conference 'Achieving Travel Behaviour Change - Lessons from EU Projects' will take place on Tuesday 26th March 2013 at the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea Town Hall.

Our newly-formed Platform is organising a panel discussion on the electrification of transport on Tuesday, 19 March 2013, from 18:30 to 20:30 at Hotel Renaissance Rue du Parnasse 19 - 1050 Brussels.

The Mayor of London has announced to create the world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone in central London. This should lead to strong benefits in air quality and mass take-up of zero and low emission vehicles. Transport for London (TfL) has been asked to prepare plans to introducing the scheme.

MOLECULES, a demonstration project aiming to foster and encourage the take-up of electromobility in cities through the use of user friendly ICT-based mobile services, released its second newsletter in February.

The ICT-Emissions project organises an Exploitation Group workshop on March 7th in Brussels. Participation is open to public authorities, stakeholders from the automotive industry and OEMs.

The Emilia-Romagna region is especially well-known for its healthy Mediterranean cuisine and outdoor lifestyle (the Italian piazza is the centre of public life in Italy). But the region has a long-standing tradition as forerunner in Italy in providing high quality services for the community (e.g. childcare, healthcare, housing, mobility).

The city of Bologna and the local transport authority SRM have launched a contest of European cities to challenge each other on transport cycling mileage in May 2013. Cities interested to join should get in contact before 15 February 2013.

How to turn knowledge and experience from urban freight demonstration projects and research studies into everyday practice in towns and cities across Europe? Join the SUT 2013 Conference from 10-12 April in Gothenburg.

A new 'hybrid' concept for an Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC) will be tested within the STRAIGHTSOL project: deliveries to local retailers and a commercial mall will be combined. On March 7th an interactive workshop will present the first results of the demostration and will be complemented with a technical visit.

The Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, announced today in a press briefing a clean fuel strategy for Europe. The main aims of the package of measures are to ensure common standards in the EU member states and overcome barriers to the use of clean vehicles and alternative fuels.

The Platform for the Electrification of Surface Transport is organising a panel discussion on the electrification of transport at the European Parliament on Tuesday, 19 March 2013, from 18:30 to 20:30.

The ICT-Emissions project will organise its second exploitaiton group meeting on 7th March in Brussels. Participation is open to stakeholders from the automotive industry and OEMs.

The European Commission launched a new instrument to track the uptake of electromobility in Europe: the European Electromobility Observatory (EEO). Polis is part of the consortium implementing the EEO.

Polis member Toulouse Tisséo-SMTC wants to encourage soft mobility modes, reduce the use of the car and increase the share of public transport. Car-sharing is just one of the instruments used by the city to achieve these goals.

Last 6th and 7th of December best practices cases focusing on Zero Emission Urban Freight in Europe were presented in Brussels.

The "ManagEnergy Local Energy Action Award" is expressly designed to reward public authorities and energy agencies at the local and regional level that have shown outstanding achievements in the area of renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean transport. Deadline is 8 March 2013.

Following the CityHush workshop "Acoustically Green Cities" at the 2012 Polis Conference in Perugia, an additional seminar and workshop for local authorities took place in Stockholm. Participants discussed transport noise abatement and the CityHush research findings. All material is available online.

The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) report was adopted jointly by the European Parliament TRAN and ITRE Committee Members on 18 December. This was followed by the adoption of the report by TRAN on the Union guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network.

London Fire Brigade and the City of Ghent, Belgium are cooperating in a project co-financed under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme of the European Union: Fired-uP.

European transport research actors call for the Horizon 2020 budget for “Smart, Green and Integrated Transport” to be maintained at the EUR7.69bn level proposed by the European Commission.

The mission of the European-funded TIDE project is to enhance the broad transfer and take-up of 15 innovative urban transport and mobility measures throughout Europe and to make a visible contribution to establish them as mainstream measures. TIDE will select ten champion cities to develop concrete and tailored implementation scenarios which will help them integrate one of the TIDE innovative measures in their local transport policy.

The CIVITAS Thematic Group on Mobility Management is organising a webinar on mobility training for specific target groups. The webinar is free to attend. Registration will open around mid January.

A conference-debate under the title “Achieving the goals of the White Paper on Transport: How civil society can help with delivery” was organised in Brussels on December, 7.

NICE, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the UK, has recently published a guidance setting out how people can be encouraged to increase the amount they walk or cycle for travel or recreation purposes.

Study reveals that switch from the car or bus to the bike has a positive social benefit that can vary from a few Euro cents per kilometre when switching from car to bike, to about 50 cents when switching from bus to bike.

Emilia-Romagna region hosted a conference at the European Parliament on December 4 to present their electro-mobility projects and debate on how European Regions can contribute to the EU strategy for cleaner cities.

The cities of Ghent, Utrecht and Cork are among the proud winners representing their countries in the first edition of the EU campaign "Do the Right Mix". They receive a co-funding up to 7,000 EUR for their local awareness raising activities.

This year’s Polis Conference “Innovation in transport for sustainable cities and regions” has started. The international conference for urban transport professionals was opened yesterday by the city of Perugia, the conference host.

Member in the Spotlight, November 2012: The city of Perugia

Perugia is the capital city of Umbria region, “the green heart of Italy”. In recent years the city has initiated several transport projects in the framework of its Piano Urbano della Mobilita’ PUM (the Italian version of an SUMP) aiming to reduce air pollution from the motorized traffic and to improve accessibility to the city centre by offering alternative mobility solutions (i.e. escalators, Minimetrò) fully integrated into the traditional public transport system.

The European Economic and Social Committe will host a conference on 7 December in order to explore novel means to ensure the open participation of civil society into the EU policy-making with the aim to strengthen the public endorsement and the overall efficacy of the EU legislation.

Polis participated in THE PEP Steering Committee (the Transport , Health and Environment Pan-European Programme) symposium on the theme of “Green and health-friendly mobility for sustainable urban life” at the WHO office in Geneva on 14-15 November.

In line with the motto “learning by sharing”, the INTERREG IVC programme gathered 15 projects in sustainable transport to share experiences.

The New York City Department of Transportation has released a report that discusses key approaches to street design projects, and how the approaches can meet safety goals while serving all users, creating public spaces, and maintaining traffic flow.

Paris mayor Mr Bertrand Delanoë presented to the city council this Monday a plan to reduce pollution in the city within the next two years.

Experts in health, city planning, environment and transport from Europe and the United States, including several local authorities, debated at workshop in Brussels on 30 October on integrating health aspects in transportation planning to improve urban mobility and gain substantial savings in public health.

On 10 and 11 December, the two EU co-funded projects CityHush and Hosanna invite you to Stockholm to learn about the tools developed to reduce transport noise in cities. A dedicated workshop for local authorities is part of the programme on 11 December.

A kick-off meeting of the Clean Vehicle Portal Upgrade took place in Brussels on 26 October 2012 to define the exact aims and procedure to follow for the upgrade of the portal.

A new study has investigated five methods (END, VBEB, NEAREST, ALE and CLOSEST) of estimating noise exposure and identified some of the reasons for variation in the data they produce.

The workshop will focus on  Public and Private Parnterships for Zero Emission Urban Freight in Europe. This will take place on the 6 & 7 of December in Brussels.

The first meeting of the ICT-Emissions exploitation group for cities and regions took place on October 17th, 2012 at the Science Centre ‘NEMO’ in Amsterdam.

Visited by a huge number of tourists, this initiative is welcomed for the environment of the city and is a good example of the health element in transport.

The conference, attended by around 100 urban planners, experts, researchers and students, led to the conclusion that on a European scale, German cities are well-positioned in sustainable urban mobility planning.

Polis invites you to a Working Group meeting on Transport and Health on 30 October 2012. This meeting is organised in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. Registration is open to Polis members and other interested persons, and now possible online.

According to an environmental study, the implementation of this innovative approach will relieve the roads of Ile-de-France by 3874 trucks per year.

A new study from Belgium reveals how companies can influence their employees' choice of transport to work and looks at the best ways to promote alternative means of commuting.

The Danish capital wants to encourage even more people to commute, and over longer distances. The return on investement is two-fold: healtheir citizens and less health costs.

This workshop will launch a web-based planning, prediction and training tool to support decisions in urban planning, taking into consideration the expected effects of climate change.

The city of Rotterdam aims to enhance the uptake of electric mobility in the city and runs the "Rotterdam Electric Driving Test". It is the largest study of electric vehicles in the Netherlands and assesses vehicle use and performance, safety issues, noise, environmental impact and users’ experiences.

The first meeting of ICT-Emissions Exploitation Group will take place on October 17 at the Science Centre NEMO in Amsterdam from 10:30-13:00. The meeting will be part of the Polis Working Group meeting on Mobility & Traffic Efficiency.

This event aims to present the MOLECULES project and CIP pilots MOBI.Europe, smartCEM and ICT4EVEU to an European audience attending the Spanish Green Car Annual Conference. The four projects are working at the integration of ICT solutions for electromobility in the transport system and the deployment of electric vehicles in a number of pilot sites.

The cycling Velo-city Conference launched today the call for contribution for next year's event which will take in Vienna from 11-14 June 2013.

Swedish research affirms that congestion charging in Stockholm led to around 29% less traffic in the zone, compared with levels in 2005.

Study reveals that pedestrians are exposed to different levels of pollution on the pavements depending on how parked cars at the roadside are arranged.

The EU project SUDPLAN - Sustainable Urban Development Planner for Climate Change Adaptation – have developed a web-based planning, prediction and training tool to support decisions in urban planning, taking into consideration the expected effects of climate change.

In the wake of the success of team GB in many cycling events in London 2012 Olympic Games, Glasgow City Council is aiming to make cycling ‘the biggest participation activity in the City by 2020’.

From 16 to 22 September, during the European Mobility Week, Europe will see a large numer of local actions promoting sustainable transport. 11 Polis members have already planned local activities and registered them on the Mobility Week Website. Linked to the Week is the European Commission’s new Sustainable Urban Mobility campaign "Do the right Mix", which includes funding opportunities and an SUMP Award.

The workshop "Acoustically green cities" aims to support local authorities to reduce transport noise in cities. The training is organised by the EU project CityHush and will be hold at the 2012 Polis conference in Perugia, Italy.

The world’s longest bus is being presented today in Dresden. The “Autotram Extra Grand” is a hybrid vehicle of 30 metres length, which can carry up to 256 passengers. Bridging the gap between busses and trams, a pilot in Dresden's public transport network is foreseen in the autumn.

In the ENUBA project, overhead line equipment is elaborated as an electromobility solutions for heavy trucks for long distances. Dresden's university now evaluates the research results to reach conclusions on the overall economic and ecological impact.

The Puglia Region has launched the first edition of FESTmob promoting sustainable modes of transportation through its extensive summer cultural programme.

The EU project CityHush supports city administrations with the development and implementation of noise action plans according to the directive EC 2002/49. As the project entered the final phase, results have been published in the new newsletter and two workshops for local authorities will be held later in 2012 in Perugia (Italy) and Stockholm (Sweden).

The European Commission's Sustainable Urban Mobility campaign was launched today and represents a three-year initiative aiming to support sustainable urban mobility campaigners in 31 countries. Activities began today with the opening of a registration system to support outstanding actions for fostering positive change in attitudes and behaviour.

EC Vice-President Siim Kallas invites urban mobility stakeholders to the conference 'Towards competitive and resource efficient urban mobility' to take place in Brussels on the 17th of September.

The user network, Friends of Eltis, started in December 2010 and has quickly become very popular. After only three months 150 people had joined the network. Today, there are more than 1200 Eltis Friends. Eltis is Europe's number one portal on urban mobility.

The annual CIVITAS Conference will take place in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain from 24-26 September.

The first MOLECULES Interest Group workshop was held on June 26 in the setting of the EPAMarne premises in Noisiel, in the territory of Marne-la-Vallée (Paris).

Last week, Polis presented its activities on transport and health at the 10th anniversary of Germany’s Healthy Cities network in Dresden. Participants from local and regional health authorities recognised the close link between the sectors and the need for joint action to secure the health benefits of walking and cycling.

the city of Bologna ranked second in the first Cycle Challenge launched by the CIVITAS MIMOSA project which saw 7 European cities challenging each another for one month.

June saw the activiation of the 100th charging point in Rotterdam. This milestone marks a first big step towards Rotterdam's objective of 1,000 charging points for electric cars in the city by the end of 2014.

Registration to the first MOLECULES Interest Group workshop on “Open Architecture for Smart Connected Electro-mobility” is extended to June 15. The workshop will take place in Marne-la-Vallée (Paris) on June 26. For more information please click here.

One year after the ECOSTARS project kicked off, common scheme standards have been developed and new local schemes have been set up among others in Edinburgh, Rotterdam and Ostrava. The new ECOSTARS newsletter shows how to join the reference group and updates on local schemes' development.

Polis member Brussels Capital Region has launched a regional plan for walking. The plan is aimed at improving the already impressive 32 percent modal share for walking to 35% in 2020, and 40% in 2040. The plan has potential: over 25% of people in Brussels use their car for trips under one kilometer.

Together with the eCoMove project, the FREILOT pilot will present on June 19 in Helmond its main results and lessons on cooperative ITS technologies for urban road goods transport.

The first Bicycle Policy Audit has been conducted in Dresden as part of the Central MeetBike project. Dresden scored 2.3 out of a maximum of 4 points. This places its current cycling strategy in transition from an isolated “standalone cycling policy” to a “system orientated cycling policy” where cycling is being considered as a significant part of urban mobility.

The workshop on 26 June will gather stakeholders from the private and public sector in the field of ICT for electromobility who will actively contribute to check the transferability of MOLECULES results. Registration for the open workshop is possible until 10 June.

UK's first incentive scheme to encouraging people to walk and cycle went live in London. People will be able to collect points through a mobile phone app called re:route for every journey made by cycling or walking.

CIVITAS VANGUARD would like to invite you to a webinar on provisions for cyclists. It will take place from 10:00 - 11:30 on 6 June 2012.

The Municipality of Pisa has joined to "Connecting with Waterways: to Choice Capital". The initiative targets greater use of the water courses in transport that cross the cities.

The VENTO research project led by the Polytechnic of Milan on exploting the potential of bicycling between Venice and Turin will unveil its results at conference on May 11 in Milan.

The Mobility Toolbox is meant for citizens to inform, inspire and help them prepare a project to re-design their neighborhood towards more sustainable mobility.

The workshop will gather stakeholders of the private and public sector in the field of ICT for electro-mobility who will actively contribute to check the transferability of MOLECULES results.

The SHAPES project (Systematic analysis of Health risks and physical Activity associated with cycling policies) evaluates the benefits and risks involved in cycling in the city. This study was conducted at the interface of 3 domains: health, transport and environment.

MOLECULES is a project funded under the FP7 and aims to use ICT services to help achieve a consistent, integrated uptake of Smart Connected Electro-mobility (SCE) in built-up environments. Polis is partner in the project, it will lead dissemination and coordinate the MOLECULES Interest Group of stakeholders.

The city of Bologna actively thrives for more sustainable urban transport, is involved, among others, in Civitas Mimosa and called for cities to join a cycling challenge recently. In March Bologna won the 2011 European Mobility Week Award. It was presented in Brussels by Commissioner Kallas to the city’s Mobility Councillor Mr. Andrea Colombo. Interview with Andrea Colombo about the city’s challenges, creating a green culture and top priority for pedestrians.

The EU project Central MeetBike aims to improve cycling conditions in Central Europe using experiences made in former Eastern Germany, specifically in Dresden and Leipzig. Polis supports as associated project partner and highlighted the significance of European networking for sustainable transport on local level at the recent project meeting.

The EU project CityHush published updates on research results in its third newsletter. Two workshops for local authorities to learn about the CityHush concepts to reduce traffic noise will be held later in 2012.

The paper calls upon European institutions and other European actors to take action, to ensure that the promotion of health benefits of active travel are maximised in all relevant European policies and programmes.

On the 20th of February in Brussels, the CityMove workshop brought together 23 persons from various groups of stakeholders including local authorities,  industry (freight operators, OEMs), and research organisations to discuss vehicles development to increase the efficiency of urban freight delivery operations in European cities.

This year’s conference takes place in Thessaloniki and focuses on energy efficient transport and its implications for air quality.

At the beginning of March, the European project CHAMP kicked off its peer review process in the city of Burgos. CHAMP brings together champion cities in the field of cycling. By looking at their counterparts in Europe, the CHAMP cities want to find ways to upgrade and optimise their cycle policy and collect new ideas for making cycling even safer and more attractive.

Amsterdam has got what it takes to be the most bicycle friendly city in the world! With the methodology “Wisdom of the Crowds" the number of bicycles in the city has now been estimated.

Leaving the car at home and start bicycling and walking proves to have health and environmental benefits. One recent study estimates these benefits in financial terms.

Polis member Bologna won the European Mobility Week Award 2011! The price was presented by Commissioners Potocnik (Environment) and Kallas (Transport) on 5 March in Brussels. Kallas, at this occassion, announced the EC's new European Sustainable Urban Mobility Campaign, which will be managed by Polis, Eurocities and Mostra.

PRESS RELEASE: How to achieve cleaner transport in European cities and regions? The ECOSTARS scheme recognises fleet operators’ efforts to save energy and provides authorities with a method of environmental engagement with fleet operators of HGVs, buses, coaches and vans.

Bologna (Italy), Larnaka (Cyprus) and Zagreb (Croatia) are the three finalists for the award of 2011 being the campaign central theme “Alternative Mobility”. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Brussels on March 5th.

EPOMM PLUS presents an annual award for the most effective policy or best practice transfer on Mobility Management. Application is open until 13 March 2012.

London and Frankfurt were involved in the PIMMS TRANSFER project, which finished in December 2011, and increased the capacity of city and regional municipalities and authorities in Mobility Management. Videos including interviews about each project partner’s experiences and achievements and a best practice guide have been released.

Dresden's mayors are using electic cars within the joint activity week on electromobility on 20-24 February.

The document sums up the PRESTO cycling project’s main recommendations for different aspects of cycling infrastructure, cycling promotion and pedelecs (pedal-assisted bicycles), structured by “starter”, “climber” and “champion” cycling cities.

PRESS RELEASE: The bicycle is one of the corner stones in creating sustainable and liveable cities. To meet that challenge, 7 European champion cycling cities have joined forces. They aim to become even better at making the bicycle a key mode of transportation in their cities, while sharing know-how with other cities.

This year’s sustainable energy week takes place from 18 to 22 June 2012. In addition to a 3-day policy conference for a more sustainable energy future in Brussels, hundreds of events will be organised across Europe. Application for the Sustainable Energy Europe Awards is open until 29 February.

Last week, the city of Berlin presented the “BentoBox”, Europe’s first prototype of a flexible collection station for packages, little packets and smaller sachets. The station was combined with the deployment of innovative cargo bikes to achieve quick, cost efficient, emission free and almost silent distribution of goods.

The city of Bologna and the local transport authority SRM will launch a contest of European cities to challenge each other on transport cycling mileage in May 2012. Cities interested  to join should get in contact before 15 February 2012.

A study from CREAL, the Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, analyses and demonstrate the health benefits of the Barcelona bike sharing scheme.

A workshop for cities and regions on improving urban freight deliveries will take place at Polis in Brussels on the 21st of February. The workshop will aim at installing a dialogue around the development of new operations and vehicle technologies.

The MOLECULES kicked off in January in Barcelona. Three large scale pilots in Barcelona (ES), Berlin (DE) and Grand Paris (FR) aim to use information and communication technologies (ICT) based services to help achieve a consistent, integrated uptake of Smart Connected Electromobility (SEC).

Within the London Mayor’s Air Quality Strategy, a package of measures to improve air quality in London has been launched to cut harmful pollution coming from road transport, to benefit Londoners' health and to clean up the city ahead of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The EU-funded project ECOSTARS Europe sets up seven new local ECOSTARS schemes in six European countries to foster the shift to cleaner road transport fleets across Europe. The first newsletter is now available released.

On 9 December 2011, the European Commission published a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sound level of motor vehicles (cars, vans, buses, coaches, light and heavy trucks).

The final CATCH conference: Carbon Aware Cities: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Low Carbon Transport Systems was held on 13 December, and the presentations are now available online.

The CITEAIR II project finishes at the end of December. The final output from the porject are now available online.

The City of Lviv is the first Ukrainian city which features a cycling lane on the central street. It has been created taking away road space for private cars.

The DELIVER project  (Design of Electric Light Vans for Environment Impact Reduction) kicks-off in Aachen, 14-15 December 2011

Following the great success of Paris’ bike sharing program Vélib’, the car sharing program Autolib’ was launched. The Bolloré Group inaugurated the Autolib’ electric car sharing service and 250 electric vehicles on 5 December.

300 electric Smart cars can now be rented from Car2go in Amsterdam. The city is the fifth city in the world where Car2go is offered and the first city in Europe with a fully electric fleet.

The presentations given at the 2011 Polis Conference on 29 and 30 November are available online. Download the presentations you followed and those you missed: http://www.polisnetwork.eu/presentations

What's the best way to communicate about low carbon transport? The CATCH project has studied this question, and developed tools to help in communicating about the need to move to a low carbon transport system, as well as how to do so.

On 23 November, results from the EU funded project CityHush to reduce transport noise in cities took place in Brussels. Presentations on different concepts to reduce noise can be downloaded.

Polis presented at the conference: Sustainable Mobility in European Regions - Sharing Experiences from the PIMMS TRANSFER project and EPOMM.

The conference: Carbon Aware Cities: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach to Low Carbon Transport Systems will be held on 13 December in Bristol, UK. View more details and the draft agenda here.

The EU project CityHush works on noise reduction in urban areas and reports about its solutions and tools in the 2nd project newsletter. First project results will be shared in a seminar on 23 November in Brussels.

The closing event of the CityMobil project will take place in Brussels on 1 December.

Polis responds to the European Commission's transport white paper published earlier this year. To view the position, click here.

The MERCX project (Managing Energy Reduction through Cycling eXcellence) had its kick-off meeting in Groningen, October 12-14, 2011.

On the 12-14 October, representatives from cities, consultancies and the bicycle industry gathered to attend the final PRESTO onsite training in Bremen, Germany.

A large scale survey held in the Flanders Region shows that road safety is the main concern of the respondents. Speed comes second. The survey was held in preparation of the new regional mobility plan, to be launched in 2012.

Reviewing a range of policy measures to help improve air quality in European cities, Berlin has come out on top.

The ECOSTARS project kicked off in June 2011 and will set up seven fleet recognition schemes until 2014. Today, the project website www.ecostars-europe.eu has been launched.

Some 33 Autolib’ stations, offering between 4 and 6 parking bays, are now open in Paris. The 33 stations along with 66 Autolib’ vehicles, called BlueCar, were opened to the public on 3 October following a public demonstration on 2 October

In September 2011, Tisséo, the public transport authority in Toulouse, has launched a platform dedicated to commuter plans where companies and administrations can share experience, facilitating the development and the implementation of workplace mobility plans.

"Team Polis” from the City of Dresden will compete in a German-wide bike competition called "Stadtradeln" from 16 September till 6 October.

"European cities boost Car-Sharing: 600,000 less cars mean more space for people": the European project on car-sharing MOMO held its final conference in Brussels on 15 September 2011.

The CATCH (Carbon Aware Travel CHoice) project will hold its final conference on 13 December in Bristol, UK. The event is entitled "Carbon Aware Cities: A Multidisciplinary approach to Low Carbon Transport Systems".

On 31 August, Melanie Schultz van Haegen, the Minister for Infrastructure and the Environment, officially opened the Dutch national ecodriving programme Het Nieuwe Rijden - Electric Vehicle Centre in Rotterdam.

London has recently inaugurated two new high-speed bicycle routes through the city. Two routes that have been in use since summer 2010 prove their success.

Registration is open for 7 free e-learning courses and one onsite training in Bremen, Germany.

In June, CIVITAS VANGUARD, CIVITAS ARCHIMEDES and BIOSIRE organised a conference on deploying clean fuels and vehicles in European cities.

The city of Hamburg is this year’s winner of the European Green Capital Award. A video clip illustrates the qualities that helped the German city of Hamburg become the 2011 European Green Capital.

Now that the NICHES+ project has come to an end, we’d like to offer you an overview of the tools, strategies and guidance that can help you to introduce innovative transport solutions at the local level.

The CIVITAS Initiative will hold its first workshop in the effective solutions for green urban transport - Learning from CIVITAS cities series, which will take place on 13 September 2011 in Brussels.

Biofuels play a prominent role in reducing the dependence on fossil fuels, but there are questions as to their sustainability, and to their contribution to CO2 emission reduction in the transport sector.

Rome hosted the CITEAIR II Final Conference on 24 June. You can now view the presentations online.

Are you working on cycling issues, and interested in learning how to improve cycling in a city with less than 10% modal share of cycling? The PRESTO project has developed 7 free e-learning courses for 'technicians' working in 'starter' cities to help them to implement cycling policies.

The final of the five PRESTO onsite trainings will take place in Bremen, Germany, on 14 October 2011. This training workshop is part of a series that looks at developing cycling culture in European cities.

The city of Hamburg is this year’s winner of the European Green Capital Award. With the award, the European Commission acknowledges efforts to environmental improvement in urban areas since 2006.

On 20 June, the European funded ECOSTARS project, which will promote more energy-efficient and cleaner freight movements by providing recognition, guidance and advice to operators of goods vehicle fleets, kicked off in Edinburgh.

OBIS is a European project about bike sharing systems in which several Polis members are partners. The main result from the project is a handbook on implementing bike sharing schemes.

POlis member LEPT invites to the PIMMS TRANSFER conference on 4 October 2011 on sustainable mobility in European regions. The conference aims to share experiences from the PIMMS TRANSFER project and EPOMM.

Vélib celebrated its one-hundred millionth trip on 6 June, less than four years after its launch on 15 July 2007.

On 21 June, Brussels Mobility hosted an international seminar on walking to kick-off the preparations for the first walking plan of Brussels.

The CATCH final conference will present work from the project, looking particularly at how to link low carbon transport with other co-benefit areas.

The CITEAIR II project has developed tools to support the monitoring and management of air quality in cities, and offers solutions to inform citizens on air quality.

Registration is open until 7 June 2011.

On 15 September the momo final conference on car-sharing will take place in Brussels and two Polis members will contribute their experiences. At the conference, the project's achievements will be presented as well as what is going on in that field in America and Asia. Also, the 'momorandum' will be released and discussed which is the political conclusions of the project.

PRESTO is a European project which looks a competence building in cycling policies.

ING Lease in Belgium together with the chain store Fiets! (Bike!) is now offering lease bikes to employees and no longer just lease cars. Companies who want to offer their employees a company bike, will pay a monthly fee just as they do with leased cars, with the possibility for the employee to buy the bicycle at the end of the leasing term.

Joint conference on clean vehicles and fuel strategies | 15 - 16 June in Donostia-San Sebastián
BIOSIRE, CIVITAS ARCHIMEDES and CIVITAS VANGUARD invite to Donostia-San Sebastián for a conference and training workshop about the practical deployment of clean vehicles and fuel strategies in cities.

A key point in communicating the need for climate-friendly travel is to focus on the benefits of low carbon travel in areas other than climate change mitigation (the "co- benefits" of low carbon travel). The CATCH (Carbon Aware Travel CHoice) is developing a online knowledge platform to help facilitate and communicate the need for low carbon transport.

The CITEAIR II project is now drawing to an end, the final conference is event when CITEAIR II partners will share their knowledge, experience and tools with you to help improve European air quality. The final conference takes place on 24 June 2011 in Rome.

Joint event of Polis and The Climate Group today in London on electromobility

Madrid (ES), Essex (UK), Barcelona (ES), Aalborg (DK) and San Sebastian (ES) are the winners of this year’s OSMOSE Awards for local traffic innovations. The awards are presented to the winners on 7 April in London.

PRESTO onsite training took place in Venice, Italy

Low Emission Zones (LEZ) are the most effective air quality measure for many cities and there are over 220 LEZ in planning or operation in 11 countries in Europe. The network LEEZEN maps low emission zones in the EU and provides them online.