Thematic Fiches
The future of surface transport in the European Union has opened the way to new paths. The green light that the European Parliament has recently given to the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) Directive means that the ITS system could now be applied not only to monitor vehicle location, but also to regulate traffic flows and prevent bottlenecks.
European research projects are now more and more aimed at helping facilitate the flow of traffic, making transport greener and enabling seamless co-modal shifts, especially for freight.
Innovation is the key to the future of surface transport since it is through innovation that new modes of transport can be introduced, particularly in Europe's densely populated cities. It is calculated that by 2020, 80% of Europe's population will live in cities or in the adjacent suburbs. To face this mobility challenge public transport (buses and trains) will have to double by 2020, accompanied by the possible introduction of congestion charges already successfully implemented in some major European cities. Better interconnections will then be needed to create a safe, reliable network which will then become the back-bone of an integrated transport system. An intelligent transport system does not favour any specific mode in particular but selects the most efficient, sustainable and safe mode at a specific time and place.
This will enhance not only the quality of transport creating smooth and speedier traffic flows but also its safety and security in a sector where there are still too many deaths. With 39.000 deaths and 300.000 seriously wounded in 2008, the road is still a big killer. These figures - as the Vice president of the European Commission responsible for transport Siim Kallas has recently said - should be reduced drastically by at least 40% by 2020. Moreover, the C02 emissions from all modes of surface transport should be cut by 20% from their present level.
ITS will also include an interoperable EU-wide in-vehicle emergency call (e-call) system, offering also information and reservation services for safe and secure parking for commercial vehicles.
In the not too distant future cars will be able to communicate with each other and with satellites, substantially reducing sudden and dangerous braking and being able to perform operations that were up to now inconceivable.
If near-zero pollution is to be achieved through the increasing use of electrified and/or hydrogen powered or hybrid road vehicles, and if access to waterways was improved and facilitated, the integrated transport network of an imminent future Europe will leave the realm of fantasy and become reality.
In a Europe where development has always relied heavily on its maritime skills, the creation of an integrated sea transport network is another very important aim. The co-modality approach advocated by the EU should now be accompanied by a series of measures attaching more importance to the creation of a real, single, internal shipping market in the EU. Shipping journeys from one EU country to another are still considered as external and therefore fall under international not European regulations. This anomaly has to be corrected if a real internal market is to be developed. Moreover the infrastructure of the EU ports has to be modernised to be able to absorb the anticipated growth.
The completion of the priority projects TEN-T in the EU and beyond should create more opportunities for an integrated transport system to achieve further growth and increase jobs in the EU.
Press4Transport aims at making the general public in the EU more aware of the importance of an integrated transport system by publicising information on the most potentially innovative projects developed at a local or national level.
Seeing that the grass is greener on the other side should hopefully convince many more people (and particularly decision-makers concerned with transport policies) to spring into action and help Europe's transportation enter the future.
Have a look to our thematic analysis fiches!
Congestion Charging - Tested Methodologies and results from Europe
Intelligent Transportation Systems - Focus on Automatic Vehicle Location and Monitoring Systems
Intelligent Transportation Systems - Sustainable Mobility Pilot Research Projects in Touristic Areas
Sustainable Transport System - Hybrid and Electric Propulsion - National R&D Projects
Maritime Transport - Education and Competence Development in a Maritime EU
Tested Methodologies and Results from Europe - High Speed Rail
Tested Methodologies and Results from Europe - Possibilities of Intermodality in Passenger Transport
The PRESS4TRANSPORT team.
