Europe to put bicycles front and center in mobility plans

Recently, the European Commission introduced a new Urban Mobility Framework that advocacy groups are suggesting will revolutionize mobility and transportation and advance the move away from automobiles and other motorized, greenhouse gas-spewing vehicles and towards more sustainable modes such as bicycles and walking. It’s a focus that recognizes the key role of bicycles in cutting overall emissions in the battle against the climate crisis. And it is one that North American jurisdictions should embrace.

In December, the Commission adopted four proposals as part of the framework that it says will modernize the EU’s transport system and put Europe’s transportation sector on track to cut emissions by 90 percent in keeping with the objectives of the European Green Deal. 

“Europe’s green and digital transition will bring big changes to the ways we move around,” said Frans Timmermans, executive VP for the European Green Deal, in a press release. “Today’s proposals set European mobility on track for a sustainable future: faster European rail connections with easy-to-find tickets and improved passenger rights support for cities to increase and improve public transport and infrastructure for walking and cycling, and making the best possible use of solutions for smart and efficient driving.”

The proposals are as follows:

• A smart and sustainable TEN-T
• Increasing long-distance and cross-border rail traffic
• Intelligent transport services for drivers
• Cleaner, greener, easier urban mobility

It is the last of the four proposals that generated much interest throughout the urban cycling community in Europe. It focuses on a toolkit of options dubbed Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans or SUMPs for cities to cut emissions and improve mobility via public transport, walking, and bicycles. Here, the EU is prioritizing zero-emission solutions for things such as urban fleets, the last mile of urban deliveries, and the construction and modernization of multimodal hubs.

The focus on urban mobility is one that advocacy groups have been pushing for the past year, says Philip Amaral, of the European Cycling Federation.

“This includes an entire section devoted to cycling (and walking), which hits all the right points about why active mobility – and cycling, in particular – is needed in cities to cut road transport emissions, improve safety, reduce congestion and improve health outcomes of people living in cities,” Amaral says.

Of particular interest, he says, is the Commission’s substantial reference to e-bikes — the fastest-growing e-mobility sector in Europe right now, with a 52% increase in sales in 2020.

“The point on e-bikes is important because political discussions about transport and mobility at the macro level – think of COP26 Glasgow – have focused entirely on electric cars and trucks,” he explains. “These will certainly play their part in reducing fossil fuel CO2 emissions and air pollution in cities, but they’re not going to improve mobility flows in cities and make them much more liveable.”

Although the framework is a good first step, it isn’t law and is an official communication from the European Commission, which can be seen as guidelines and the direction of what might soon become law. But, Amaral says it still constitutes a significant change of approach for the way the Commission will fund and propose policies for urban mobility, with clear preferences for bicycles, walking, public transport. 

“It’s a major step and we expect to see more cycling-friendly policies and proposals from the Commission to come in the next years,” he adds.

Looking ahead, Amaral sees three key points with a cycling focus:

• The requirement for cities listed as “urban nodes” (there are more than 400 of them) to create and implement SUMPs that show how they’ll increase active mobility, and link these to EU funding for mobility projects.
• Expected new Commission guidance for cycling and walking in requirement guidelines for SUMPs
• By the end of 2022, the Commission will publish guidelines on quality infrastructure requirements for “vulnerable road users” as a part of the Road Infrastructure Safety Management Directive. We hope this will lead to improvements in cycling infrastructure design across Europe. 

“Never before has the Commission prioritized cycling and other active modes of transport so strongly in such a key policy document,” read an ECF statement in response to the framework. “It is truly an opportunity for mobility and transport in European cities to be revolutionized away from polluting and congestion-prone motorized traffic and towards cleaner, more sustainable active modes such as cycling, walking, and public transportation.”