Increasing urbanisation, population and mobility lead to new economic, environmental and health issues for the cities and their inhabitants, following the excessive utilisation of automotive vehicles, congestion and pollution.
The opportunity provided to the citizens of new European Union member states to benefit from personal vehicles and the acceleration of this tendency following the foreign investments in these countries has to be compensated by offering several alternative measures such as mobility management. Promoting these measures is as important in new member states, especially if we consider that the citizens of these countries don’t benefit from viable alternatives to using automotive vehicles, such as public transport or infrastructure for cycling.
The urban mobility concept implies the identification of clear and concrete solutions for rendering efficient and promoting public transport inside the cities, but also solutions for discouraging individual vehicle transport. An increased level of urban mobility from the point of view of safety, efficiency and environment is an essential objective for guaranteeing the attraction of passengers to public transport.
The resolution of problems related to the diminution of urban congestion remains the task of local and regional authorities. The citizen is also capable to contribute to reducing urban congestion, but, in most situations, he would not willingly give up the increased comfort provided by personal vehicles to move in the city with public means of transport…unless he is granted almost the same degree of comfort, safety and speed.
The solution for making urban mobility efficient is mobility management, a concept developed for the first time in 1991 in Germany, adopted and implemented in large European cities and not only, as well as in their metropolitan area.
Mobility Management is a concept which promotes the sustainable transport and deals with the problem of demand of personal vehicles by changing the attitude and behaviour of each individual. In the centre of a mobility management project lay the “soft” measures, such as information and communication, the organisation of services and coordination of activities of different partners. These types of measures increase the efficiency of urban transport infrastructure measures (new tram lines, new roads and bicycle lanes).
Measures for mobility management (compared to infrastructure measures) would not necessarily demand increased financial investments and can have a favourable cost-benefit report.
A series of strategies included in the mobility management and dedicated to a sustainable public transport will be presented by a representative of the European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM) at the Railway Days Summit, organised on the 4th and 5th of October in Bucharest.
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