Mobility management is a concept which promotes sustainable transport and deals with the problem of individual car demand by changing the attitude and the behaviour of individuals. Mobility management is demand-oriented rather than resource-oriented, according to the European Platform on Mobility Management.
A concept promoting sustainable and integrated urban transport, as well as information and know-how exchange between the countries included in the programme, Mobility Management focuses on “light” measures (information, communication, organization and coordination of existing activities and services). In the end, these measures will have direct effect on sustainable, physical initiatives regarding urban transport planning (new tram lines, new street networks, bicycle lanes).
Changing the attitude of urban communities as related to personal cars is the basis of this initiative which, due to the nature of generated measures, doesn’t require very high financial investments. The cost-benefit report will favour both local and national authorities, but also the cities’ inhabitants.
It is even more important to promote these measures in new member states, especially if we consider that the citizens of these countries don’t benefit from satisfying alternatives to using personal vehicles, such as public transport or infrastructure for cycling. The idea of urban mobility means identifying clear and concrete solutions to make urban public transport efficient and to promote it, but also solutions to discourage personal vehicle transport. An increased level of urban mobility safety, efficiency and environment protection is an essential objective to guarantee the attraction of people towards public transport. Mobility management measures (compared to infrastructure measures) don’t necessarily require high financial investments and can have a favourable cost-benefit report.
For most of the citizens in the European Union, personal transport modes will however remain the only alternative due to the complexity of their daily journeys. Using vehicles that are more efficient in terms of consumption will be a necessity.
Town planning, access regulation including low emission zones, stricter controls on parking, pricing policies and alternative forms of accessibility could significantly influence mobility choice.
Promoting better modal choices will require greater integration of the modal networks: airports, ports, railway, metro and bus stations, car hire spots and parking areas, should increasingly be merged and conceived as multimodal connection platforms for passengers.
The development of a properly-integrated transport system (such as creating a single railway area) is currently delayed by a series of issues which still exist in the market and in the regulation. Regulation barriers in accessing a market, technical incompatibilities between transport modes and even the inappropriate or obsolete legislation are among the greatest challenges.
Both the Commission and the European Parliament hope that the adoption of the Fourth Railway Package would help harmonise railway passenger transport servi-ces in the EU and stimulate the sustainable and integrated mobility in the macro-region and in metropolitan areas.
Public transport has to gain a higher share than today in the transport mix, become easily accessible for everyone, fully integrated and dealt with mainly with non-motorised, rail transport modes (metro, light metro, tram).
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