Urban mobility of the Romania of today is minimal and, if we compared it to that in other small or large cities in the European Union, is almost non-existent. We are not doing very well at urban, suburban mobility and national mobility is not an advantage either; moreover, we cannot yet talk about integrated urban mobility. In the past 10-15 years, only large cities have carried out urban development or urban mobility development programmes, most of them being implemented with limited funds and European support.
But “integrated urban mobility projects” have only recently entered the common vocabulary of local administrations so the adoption of such projects is recent. However, there are many examples of cities that have managed to have integrated urban mobility.
Integrated urban mobility refers not only to the fluidisation of traffic, but since urban traffic in Romania is a serious problem, finding the best solution to reduce traffic should definitely be the first choice in the strategy on elaborating sustainable mobility plans. Romanian cities have not been built to face a massive and suffocating traffic, which is exactly the case nowadays. Moreover, the extensions and the overpasses do nothing but increase road traffic, instead of reducing the number of cars. On the contrary, supporting public transport, its effectiveness and promoting alternative public transport are the solutions for easing traffic and boosting the integrated urban mobility.
Integrated urban mobility solutions are not difficult and are not unreachable objectives either. More interest in implementing them is all we need.
Most of the citizens of the EU live in cities and 85% of the Gross Domestic Product of the European Union is generated by cities. The sustainable urban mobility, that allows passengers and goods to move without congesting traffic and while protecting the environment, is very important in the development of a city and of the economy.
We don’t have to reach very far for effective solutions. We can choose an efficient management of transport and mobility, the development of park & ride spaces and bicycle lanes, an improved distribution of goods and performing logistics services, restricting access in specific areas of the city, informing the citizens about alternative transport modes and, most of all, replacing individual vehicles with public transport, walking or cycling.
Since not so many sustainable urban mobility projects have been initiated in the programming period 2007-2013 and the attraction of available EU funds has been slow, we hope to see more concrete initiatives in the next financing period 2014-2020.
The Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration, through the bodies subordinated to them, especially the Management Authority for the Regional Operational Programme, proposes the development of sustainable urban mobility plans for the seven growth poles (Braşov, Cluj – Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Iaşi, Ploieşti and Timişoara) and the capital Bucharest. The elaboration of these plans has been agreed upon as priority by the ministry and the European Commission and their implementation would become the framework of the urban transport projects that would be financed through the Regional Operating Programme (ROP) in 2014-2020, with the support of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
“In 2013, we expect the finalization of reference terms, with Jaspers assistance, for the elaboration of integrated mobility plans. In 2013-2014, the consultants will develop the mobility plans whose results will be absorbed by the community. Then, the projects will be implemented”, declared Cezar Grozavu, Public Manager Project Management Unit – Managing Authority for the Regional Operational Programme – Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MDTR), during the Forum for Sustainable Mobility and Urban Development” orga-nised by Club Metropolitan – Association for Metropolitan Mobility (AMM) on 20-21 March in Sibiu. The next reunion of the Forum for Sustainable Mobility and Urban Development will be held on 13/14 November in Oradea. (www.forum.clubmetropolitan.ro)
The specific objectives of shaping integrated mobility plans for these growth poles and their suburban areas focus on the harmonisation of urban and territorial development by developing the transport infrastructure, especially public transport in conformity with mobility and transport needs.
Also, it is necessary to create an institutional and legal framework to efficiently manage the transport system of each growth pole. Moreover, the authorities plan to elaborate an action plan compliant to both the growth pole and the urban agglomeration, a plan that would refer to the correlated implementation of short-term efficient measures – by 2015 – and on medium-term – by 2020.
It is also worth mentioning the provision according to which the authorities seek to correlate the existing and planned investments into an infrastructure system that would serve the entire urban agglomeration specific to each growth pole and the capital, Bucharest.
It is expected that each growth pole and Bucharest would have a Board which will include all interested parties for each agglomeration. The Board will develop and monitor the application of an action plan 2014-2020 on the sustainable mobility in the area of the growth pole and of Bucharest, plan that would seek to encourage the intermodality of public transport, cycling or walking, thus discouraging the individual use of cars, especially on short distances.
The policies and measures defined in a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan have to address to all transport modes in the entire urban agglomeration, including public and private, passenger and freight, monitored or non-monitored transport. According to the plans announced by the ministry, the authorities seek to support municipalities in elaborating investment strategies and in supporting the preparation of a portfolio of projects, especially in urban transport. Thus, a Masterplan for Mobility will be prepared for the seven growth poles, including Bucharest, the elaboration of a strategy on the financing and management of urban public transport (including the preparation of public service obligations and of the business plans for public transport operators), as well as an expertise for increasing the strategic planning capacity and the economic impact for growth poles.
A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan is a method of approaching more efficiently the transport-related problems in urban areas. Starting from the practices and the regulations of Member States, its basic features have to focus on and to implement a participative approach, a plea for sustainability, an integrated approach, a clear vision, appropriate objectives and targets and a review of the costs and benefits of transport.
The European cities which implemented such sustainable mobility plans include Koprivnica (Croatia), Budapest, Odense (Denmark), Paris, Lille, Timişoara, Cluj – Napoca, Oradea, Cambridge, London, Gent, Porto, Brno, Toulouse, Zagreb, Eindhoven, Aachen, Erfurt, Zaragoza, Turku, Helsinki, Örebro, Nottingham, Sheffield, Parma, these being only few of an impressing list.
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