The New EU Urban Mobility Framework

The European Parliament adopted by 485 votes to 31, with 113 abstentions, a resolution on the new EU urban mobility framework.

Strengthening the urban mobility framework

Stressing that urban mobility is essential to people's quality of life and the functioning of the economy, Parliament believes that urban mobility in the EU must be based on smart, inclusive, healthy, affordable, competitive, sustainable, transparent and multimodal transport solutions, including rail, sustainable buses and coaches, car-sharing solutions and active mobility and micro-mobility. Member States are invited to develop safe, accessible, inclusive, affordable, intelligent, resilient and sustainable urban transport systems.

The resolution stressed the need to address inequalities in access to transport networks and to support small towns and peri-urban areas to ensure their connectivity. It called for a multimodal and integrated approach to tackling mobility exclusion and transport poverty to ensure equal access to urban centres.

Members suggested offering ‘sustainable mobility vouchers’ or reduced price mobility schemes for sustainable collective transport, using revenues from mobility-related carbon taxes to fund sustainable transport solutions for disadvantaged people and introducing a harmonised yearly EU car-free day in the EU.

Parliament called for financial, fiscal and regulatory support for the use of zero- and low-emission mobility solutions and for collective transport, and in particular public transport, to be accessible, well-organised, affordable and of good quality for citizens, and to offer a convenient door-to-door service.

Members called for improved accessibility, reliability and connectivity between urban, peri-urban and rural areas, especially those located in regions where GDP per capita is less than 75% of the EU average.

The resolution emphasised that the future EU framework for urban mobility must include systemic measures related to road safety, with a particular focus on vulnerable road users. In this respect, it noted the potential of speed reduction in residential areas, such as the use of 30 km/h speed limits to improve road safety and reduce energy consumption. The importance of launching information campaigns to increase awareness and education for road safety was stressed.

The Commission is invited to work with Member States and European cities to develop common minimum recommendations, best practices and requirements for urban road safety. These recommendations should cover the safe use of electric and non-electric personal mobility devices, taking into account different possible provisions, such as specialised education or training, parking arrangements, speed limits and age requirements, helmet and other protective equipment, as well as rules on the transport of children, prohibition of driving under the influence of toxic substances, etc.

As regards active mobility, the report encourages local authorities to invest and build safe cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, to integrate shared bikes and e-bikes into urban transport systems and encouraged Member States to provide incentives for the purchase of bikes, including e-bikes.

Urban infrastructure and TEN-T urban nodes

Parliament called for infrastructure planning to facilitate the creation of multimodal hubs at urban nodes and stressed that infrastructure should integrate access routes and last-mile connection to multimodal passenger hubs, including access routes such as bridges, tunnels or underpasses, in the case of active modes.

Member States and local authorities are encouraged to build safe infrastructure for active mobility and to take into account the continuity and safety of road and cycle infrastructure if new infrastructure is built or existing infrastructure is upgraded.

Members stressed the importance of sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs) and encouraged a more harmonised approach across the EU and the involvement of citizens and other stakeholders in the development of SUMPs at local, regional, national and European level.

The resolution stressed that the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) relies on intermodal urban transport in order to facilitate the ‘first and last mile’ for both passengers and freight, in which the modal share of sustainable transport modes, including active mobility, should increase. It highlighted the need to strengthen intermodal mobility to connect people to jobs, education, and leisure, and expanding equitable access to mobility and transport services between urban, peri-urban and rural areas. It also called for a significant improvement in the interconnection between airports, vertiports and seaports.

Parliament stressed the importance of ensuring that urban nodes have smart and sustainable connections between high-speed main lines, stations and bypasses for high-speed trains and inner urban environments. It called on the Commission to extend the current list of urban nodes to include additional cities on TEN-T corridors. It also called for a significant increase in the modal share of inland waterways in urban transport.

Taking into account extremely long border waiting times for rail but especially for road freight transport, Members called for the introduction of an EU-wide standard of an average 1-minute time for processing and controls of heavy-duty vehicles at EU borders, including measures in case of its non-compliance.

Funding

The resolution stressed that urban mobility ambitions and targets require adequate, long-term financing and that this is even more important in view of unprecedentedly high inflation and the accelerated move towards independence from fossil fuels, driven among other factors by the energy crisis provoked by the illegal, unjustified war of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Members called, in this regard, for a mix of sufficient public, private, national and European funding and the swift implementation of the relevant existing EU programmes and projects. They also called for ambitious financing for urban mobility to improve in regards to connectivity, efficiency, affordability, inter-modality and sustainability, beyond the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework.

Green and digital urban transport transition

Parliament called on Member States to step up efforts to improve air quality in cities. The local authorities in European urban areas are deploying different policy measures to reduce air and noise pollution and congestion in their cities ranging from low emission zones, to targeted delivery windows for freight, emissions stickers, traffic circulation plans. Members recognise, in this regard, the added value of sharing best practices across cities and at European level. They stressed that urban areas must remain accessible to all and that no groups of citizens should be penalised that transport for them would become inefficient or mobility itself impossible.

Members supported  the integration of sustainable freight into sustainable urban development plans to accelerate sustainable urban logistics plans and zero or low emission solutions for urban logistic transport. They stressed the importance of integrating multimodal freight terminals into the urban transport system and infrastructure. They also called on Member States to ensure the availability of charging and refuelling infrastructure for alternative fuels (in urban, peri-urban and rural areas).

Parliament highlighted AI and digitalisation as tools that can be used to improve the overall efficiency of the transport system through its deployment in vehicles, traffic management systems and services based on optimised intelligent transport systems (ITS). It urged the development of an appropriate legal, ethical and policy framework for the use of AI in sustainable and intelligent mobility and transport and for user data.