Answers for more sustainable urban mobility: insights from POLIS and European Commission

The disruption brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted urban mobility, particularly Public Transport systems. The Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy brought forward by the European Commission aims to reach climate-neutrality by 2050, ensuring that Public Transport bounces back stronger.

In the aftermath of the Urban Transports Community High-level Workshop “Sustainable mobility solutions for a greener & better experience living and visiting the Mediterranean” held in May 2022, Urban Transport Community interviewed Piotr Rapacz (DG MOVE) and Ivo Cré (POLIS) to hear their views on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

How do we move forward to a post-COVID era?

According to Ivo Cré, Director of Policy and Projects at POLIS, many positive trends that popped up as a response to the pandemic, have kept their momentum. That is particularly true in the case of the uptake of cycling and walking, with many cities having turned temporary bike infrastructure into permanent.

However, the real challenge is the lack of take-up of Public Transport in the post-pandemic. Cities and regions are, nonetheless, getting ready for the next decade, planning in line with climate neutrality ambitions, with the EC’s initiative on 100 Climate-Neutral cities by 2030, paving the way forward.

Piotr Rapacz, Coordinator of Urban Mobility at DG MOVE, highlights the budget earmarked for sustainable transport by Member States in the National Recovery Plans: a whooping 71 billion. The goal is to push towards sustainable urban mobility, to reduce negative externalities (i.e. congestion, road accidents, noise emissions) contributing to the EU’s commitments to decarbonise by 2050. For this purpose, the Commission's EU Urban Mobility Framework has been created to provide more effective support for cities and make mobility more sustainable and inclusive.

You can see the full interviews below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEFGY_e5UW0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr1EI1064gQ

About UTC:

The Urban Transport Community (UTC) is an Interreg MED initiative and aims to promote innovative solutions for sustainable mobility in the territories of Mediterranean Europe. The Interreg MED Programme is a transnational European Cooperation Programme for the Mediterranean area. It is co-financed by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund), an instrument of the EU regional policy and its new programming period.