Brussels, 07/02/2012 (Agence Europe) - At the very moment that public transport intends to double its market share by 2025, European officials admit that they are having to confront the subsidiarity “red card” from member states for developing European policies applicable to urban mobility. Nevertheless; there is still much that can be done at a European level to help transport locally, particularly with regard to the regularity and reliability of services.
On Tuesday 7 February, at an event organised by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) which focused on low carbon urban mobility, Mathieu Grosch MEP (EPP, Belgium) and the director-general of DG Move, Mathias Ruete, said that they were unable to implement European public transport and urban mobility policies because of the subsidiarity principle. Ruete said: “We have clearly been given a red card from the member states even though the cities have understood that the EU could be a valuable ally.” Grosch explained: “European transport policy and regional policy must establish incentives for providing a convincing argument that urban mobility is not just a local issue but a European one too.” He argued that although road safety primarily focused on motorways, 70% of accidents occurred in urban areas.
Grosch was keen to point out that in order to increase their market share, public transport also had to improve the regularity and reliability of their services. The head of the UITP, Alain Flausch, said that European policies could possibly oblige the local authorities to improve the quality of services provided. Nonetheless, Grosch considers that while policies can be useful at a technical level by establishing common standards, it would be difficult for them to be able to have an impact on quality, which is more within the remit of a corporate ethos. (MD/transl.fl)