Greater Manchester elected as new Polis president

“Urban regions are key drivers for national and global economies, and transport is essential for their success and development”, said Rafael Cuesta, Head of Innovation at Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). “Challenges such as congestion, air quality and changes in customer behaviour have no obvious route to resolution, they require innovation. The Polis network offers access to expertise, best practices and knowledge-sharing opportunities”, he continues.

Manchester has been actively engaged in the Polis partnership for several years. Among others, the region collaborated on decarbonisation, freight logistics and finance, and has led projects on MaaS, Autonomous Vehicles and bike sharing schemes.

At today’s General Assembly, the cities of Aarhus (DK), Helmond (NL), Madrid (ES) and La Rochelle (FR) were also elected to join the Management Committee of Polis:

• Aarhus is a growing city and we are strengthening our work on smart mobility, in close collaboration with other European cities through Polis”, said Gustav Friis, City of Aarhus.
• "Helmond shows by example that it is possible also for small and medium-sized cities to unlock innovation in transport”, said Gert Blom, City of Helmond, in a letter addressed to the assembly.
• “Madrid has shifted from managing traffic to managing mobility over the past decade. Exchanging knowledge and experiences with other cities through the Polis network has been key to success and we are committed to help other cities, too”, says Sergio Fernández Balaguer, EMT Madrid.
• “Polis is precious to draw the attention of the European Institutions on the expectations and concerns of the cities and regions – not only the large ones but also medium-sized towns like La Rochelle”, said Matthieu Graindorge, La Rochelle Urban Community.

Polis’ members assembly preceded the Annual Polis Conference, taking place on 6 and 7 December in Brussels. The conference brings together more than 500 professionals exchanging on innovation to make urban and regional transport more sustainable. Key topics addressed at the conference include Mobility as a Service, walking, cycling, road safety, transport planning (SUMPs) and automation.

A number of thematic workshops are organised back to back to the conference. This includes a joint workshop with ACEA, EUCAR and ERTRAC to kick-start the dialogue between cities and vehicle manufacturers regarding urban vehicle access regulations and a capacity building workshop for cities on Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans.

Twitter hashtag: #polis17

Contact

Dagmar Köhler, Polis Communication Manager, dkoehler@polisnetwork.eu, +32 2 500 56 72