Brussels, 16/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Over 200 million people across Europe and around the world are expected to take part in the European Mobility Week from 16-22 September - the biggest global event dedicated to sustainable urban travel. The theme this year, “Clean Air for All”, encourages local authorities to take initiatives to highlight the links between mobility and air quality, and to set in place permanent measures to reduce harmful emissions, such as introducing low-emission zones or park-and-ride services for travelling to town centres. “Two thirds of all European citizens are still exceeding ambient air quality standards”, Stavros Dimas, European Environment Commissioner, points out.
Clean air for towns. Transport is the main source of pollution in European towns. A report from the European Environment Agency shows that transport remains the single main source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and the second most important source of fine particulate emissions (PM10 and PM2.5) in the European Union. Harmful emissions due to transport are declining in most ember states but air quality remains a problem in urban areas.
New means of transport. The Mobility Week aims to change citizens' transport behaviour by suggesting solutions that are more environmentally-friendly to replace travel by car. This is an opportunity for the public to experiment with other means of transport and for local authorities to test-run new services and infrastructures. Towns participating are encouraged to launch at least one permanent practical measure. Recent examples include a money-back guarantee for customers in Frankfurt if public transport is more than 10 minutes late, and the city of Edinburgh's website (http://www.educatedtravel.info/ ) encourages people to consider their travel options, especially if they are new to a school, college or university. In many cities, the highlight of European Mobility Week is a car-free day.
Leading by example. The European Commission actively supports and encourages the use of sustainable transport among its staff. It has a bicycle loan service for its staff (in 2007, the Commission personnel used bicycles 23 000 times in 2007, i.e. 14% more than in 2006). The Commission plans to reimburse 50% of annual subscriptions for public transport (train, bus, metro, tram) on condition that the funds can be found in the budget. For now, the necessary financial resources will be granted to both the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee, but not to the Commission. On 9 September this year, a compromise was found so that all officials of EU institutions could benefit from a 50% reimbursement of the subscription as part of the 2010 budget. Teleworking is developing at the Commission, currently involving some 900 members of staff.
Since its creation in 2002, the number of participant towns has grown six-fold. The record was reached last year with over 2 020 participant towns from 36 countries. For now, the 2008 edition includes 665 participant towns in 37 countries (http://www.mobilityweek.eu ). (L.C./transl.jl)