For Official Use

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL

Conférence Européenne des Ministres des Transports
European Conference of Ministers of Transport

19-Jun-2001___________________________________________________________________________________________English - Or. English

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF MINISTERS OF TRANSPORTCOUNCIL OF MINISTERS

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINALFor Official Use

Council of Ministers

IMPLEMENTING SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT POLICIESKEY MESSAGES FOR GOVERNMENTS

This document and its Recommendations were agreed by the Council of Ministers,
meeting in Lisbon on 29-30 May 2001.

English - Or. English

JT00109809

Document complet disponible sur OLIS dans son format d’origine
Complete document available on OLIS in its original format

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL
1. CONTEXT1
1.1
Most countries and cities havecommon objectives for qualityof life in urban areas.

Goals for sustainability in cities

With about three-quarters of the population of ECMT andOECD countries now living in urban areas, most transport-related
environmental and health problems occur in cities and their surroundings.
The structure and growth of urban regions are therefore crucial
considerations in strategies for sustainable development. Althoughdefinitions of and criteria for sustainability differ among countries andcities, most have common objectives for quality of life in urban areas that
include, clean air, quiet neighbourhoods, and economic prosperity
without detrimental health and environmental impacts and depletion offinite natural resources.2
How people and goods3 move from one place to another incities is a major factor in whether objectives for urban sustainability are
met. Indeed, assuring that the growing numbers of urban and suburban
dwellers in all socio-economic strata have access to the services andactivities integral to their daily lives, while minimising the negativeenvironmental, equity, economic and health impacts of travel, is theprincipal goal and challenge facing transport and land-use policy-makers
at this time.

1.2
Trends in travel and land use
continue to put at risk theurban environment and thehealth of city and suburb
inhabitants.

Trends in urban travel and land use and their impacts

Visions of sustainability remain, however, elusive for many
ECMT and OECD countries. Population and jobs in many cities continue
to move outward from central areas to the urban periphery and lowdensity areas beyond; commercial development on the fringes of cities
likewise continues to expand, with growing competition among urban
and suburban areas for this development and more trips generated.
Persistent and worsening traffic congestion – particularly in suburbs insome countries -- is hindering movement of people and goods in many
cities while shares of trips by public transport, walking and cycling
continue to decline. Car ownership and use are increasing, in somecountries at a very rapid pace due to the effects of economic expansion.
These travel and land use trends continue to put at risk the urban
environment and the health of city and suburb inhabitants. Although local

1.

This report for Ministers highlights the key findings on implementation of sustainable urban travel policies from thethree-year ECMT-OECD project on this topic that is now coming to a close. The report does not attempt to summarise
all the findings of the project, but only the principal issues of importance to National governments.

2.

These goals are consistent with those set out in the 1995 ECMT-OECD report Urban Travel and Sustainable
Development , and in the OECD Environmentally Sustainable Transport project (EST). They also reflect the objectives
articulated on a broader scale in the Declaration and Programme of Joint Action of the UN-ECE Regional Conference
on Transport and the Environment, held in Vienna in November 1997, and the WHO Charter on Transport,
Environment and Health signed in London in June 1999.

3.

For a detailed examination of urban freight transport, please see ECMT Round Table 109: Freight Transport and theCity (1997).

2

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL
air pollution has improved in many ECMT and OECD cities in recent
years, largely due to progress in vehicle emissions and fuel quality,
ground-level ozone and particulate emissions persist as environmental
concerns. Carbon dioxide emissions from urban road transport continue
to rise. And noise from transport, particularly from road vehicles, is a
growing environmental preoccupation in urban areas.

1.3

Policy instruments available

Flexible, integrated policy
packages are needed that send
the right signals to urban land
use and transport markets.

To counter these trends and promote sustainable travel in urban
areas, flexible, integrated policy packages – comprised of a cross-sectoralmix of regulatory, pricing, and technological measures -- are needed that
send the right signals to urban land use and transport markets. Just as
different countries have different goals for sustainability, policy packages
to promote sustainable travel will vary. In general terms, however, thesepolicy packages include measures aiming to integrate land use andtransport planning, manage growth in private car use, promote public
transport and encourage walking and cycling in urban areas. The ECMTOECD report Urban Travel and Sustainable Development (UTSD),
presented to Ministers at their 1994 Council in Annecy and published in
1995, set out a three-strand integrated policy strategy – the starting point
for the current project on implementation – promoting combined
implementation of measures based on best practice, innovation, andpricing designed to bring about sustainable urban travel. Other work has
encouraged use of integrated policy packages as well: the OECD
Environmentally Sustainable Transport project (EST)4 has particularly
emphasised greater integration of environmental factors in transport
policy.

Implementing integrated
policy packages forsustainable urban travel has
proven easier said than done.

Implementing integrated policy packages for sustainable urban
travel has proven easier said than done, however, for a great number ofcities and countries. Defining and effectively implementing sustainable
policy strategies for urban travel involves bringing together the diverseand divergent interests of a great many actors in the urban transportsystem. These include national, regional and local levels of government,
politicians, public sector transport and land use planning agencies,
environmental authorities and advocacy groups, private sector transport
operators and other service providers, as well as real estate developers
and the individual traveller.5 Co-ordination and co-operation among thesestakeholders – while essential to long-term implementation of sustainablestrategies -- is often complex and resource-intensive.
While few countries/urban areas appear to have actually set out
to implement the 1995 ECMT-OECD Strategy in its entirety, mostcountries have developed, or are in the process of defining policy

4.

Synthesis Report of est! Environmentally Sustainable Transport: futures, strategies, and best practices

5.

Involvement of all sectors of the community in developing and implementing sustainable urban travel policies is
consistent with the Local Agenda 21 process to promote sustainable development in cities, which grew out of the
UNCED Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

3

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL
approaches based on elements of the strategy, particularly best practice.
Countries and cities more-experienced with sustainable urban travel
policies are experimenting with innovative approaches, including
integration of land-use and transport policy, tight parking restrictions, anduse of telematics in public transport. A small number of countries areworking to find ways to integrate congestion pricing and other types ofpricing measures into their policy packages. Though many ECMT-OECD
countries have high levels of fuel taxation, particularly in Europe, few
have adopted annual real increases in fuel prices such as described in theStrategy.

2. IMPLEMENTING STRATEGIES FORSUSTAINABLE URBAN TRAVELAll levels of Government haveimportant roles to play inassuring that effective policy
options are identified andimplemented.

The ECMT-OECD project on Implementing Strategies for
Sustainable Urban Travel, which began in 1998 and is currently drawing
to a close, has demonstrated that all levels of Government -- National,
Regional and Local – have important roles to play in assuring that
effective policy options are identified and implemented. The project,comprised of a series of thematic workshops, a survey of over 160 cities
and a series of national policy reviews, has sought to better understandwhy integrated urban travel strategies such as that proposed in UTSD areproving so difficult for countries to implement, and, more generally, howcountries and cities can bridge the gap between widely supported policy
recommendations and their implementation.
Implementation problems are not the same, nor are theyexperienced in the same way in all countries. Particular economic,
institutional and political structures, as well as region-specific social andcultural factors can engender particular implementation problems.
Many difficulties in implementing policy strategies are,however, shared throughout ECMT and OECD countries and cities. The
ECMT-OECD work has identified a number of key implementation
barriers that are common to many countries; they include: poor policy
integration and co-ordination – particularly as concerns land-use andtransport policy, inefficient or counterproductive institutional roles andprocedures – including on a national level, inadequate or lack of coordination among Ministries; and incomplete or excessive
decentralisation of responsibilities for urban travel; an unsupportive legal
or regulatory framework; weaknesses in the pricing/fiscal framework, andpoor data quality and quantity.

National Government can act
as a catalyst for sustainable
travel practices on a local
level ...

Most ECMT and OECD countries allocate the majority of
responsibility for urban land-use and travel policies to regions andmunicipalities – the levels at which urban travel policies are mosteffectively made and implemented. There is growing recognition in many
countries, however, that National Government can improve chances for
implementation of integrated policy packages by providing for a flexible,
4

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL
sectorally integrated policy framework that sends the right messages toregions and cities via policy incentives and project financing forsustainable development. In this way, National Government can act as acatalyst – an initiator, sponsor, supporter, driving force -- for sustainable
travel practices on a local level, while leaving flexibility to local areas todecide what specific policies and measures best fit their needs. This
reflects the idea of subsidiarity among levels of Government, which
provides for decentralisation and co-ordination of responsibilities forurban travel.

5

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL

3. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NATIONAL GOVERNMENTSON IMPROVING IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE
URBAN TRAVEL POLICIESFollowing are a number of proposals brought forth in the project for how National Governments
can improve opportunities for successful implementation of sustainable urban transport policies.
½

Establish a supportive national policy framework

Develop a national policy framework for sustainable urban travel that supports and influences
national, regional and local goals for land-use, passenger and freight transport, health and theenvironment. It is important that this national policy framework be “internally coherent” – that is
to say, within the transport sector -- with integration of transport investment, traffic managementand demand management policies, and “externally coherent”, with integration among transport
policies and those in other sectors such as land use, environment, and finance.
Moreover, there are important links between local policies for urban travel and land use, andnational transport and planning policies. These links must be identified so that policies on all levels– local, regional and national -- are mutually supportive. Urban and regional land-use planning, forexample, needs guidance from national spatial planning parameters. Improvements in the quality
and efficiency of urban public transport often require financing/investment from National
Government. The participation of private sources in public transport schemes requires a framework
for competition defined in national law. And economic incentives designed to restrain private
vehicle use and manage congestion such as fuel taxation and congestion pricing need to be
implemented in the context of an economy-wide framework to ensure their efficacy and to avoid
distortions.

½ Improve institutional co-ordination and co-operationCo-ordinate national policy approaches on urban land-use, travel, health and theenvironment.
Co-ordination vertically among all levels of Government, as well as horizontally among land-use,transport, environment and health sectors, is essential to realise the objectives for sustainability.
Co-ordination among land-use, transport, and environmental actors horizontally on all levels ofgovernment is necessary to ensure integration of policy objectives and strategies. This is key for
National Governments so that inconsistent messages on priorities for sustainability are not handed
down on a sectoral basis. Vertical co-ordination among levels of government enables nationallevel objectives for sustainable development to be effectively communicated to regional and local
governments. For example, National Governments can encourage cities to factor the objective of
reducing regional air pollution into their local transportation decisions.
Priorities and objectives defined on local and regional levels can also be communicated from the“bottom-up”, to ensure that national policies adequately account for priorities on lower levels.
Involvement of all stakeholders in the urban travel system – be they private sector entities, real-

6

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINALestate developers or environmental advocacy groups – is becoming an increasingly importantfactor in policy development and implementation for sustainable urban travel.
Decentralise responsibilities when possible; centralise when necessary.
Responsibilities must be commensurate with resources for implementation to occur. Whendecision-making power for urban travel is transferred from National Government to regional andlocal levels of Government, corresponding control over the sources of financing must be as wellso that local and regional governments are able to assume full responsibility for the problems.
As part of decentralisation efforts, National Governments in a number of countries havesuccessfully encouraged the creation of new inter-communal organisations with responsibility for
urban transport planning in a given region.

½

½



Provide a consistent, integrated framework for National Government financing andinvestment in regional and local transport and land-use actions while ensuring adequate
flexibility for local innovation. (See Legal, regulatory and fiscal framework).

Consider all modes of travel, in particular environmentally sustainable modes, as well as
land-use priorities when allocating National Government funds to the local level.

Encourage effective public participation, partnerships and communication
Involve the public (e.g., press, advocacy groups, and individual clients of the transportsystem) early in the strategy design process and provide for their active involvement throughout
implementation and monitoring.



Seek partnerships with different stakeholders in the transport system (businesses,
employers, residential and commercial land developers and associations). Successful
implementation of sustainable urban travel policies requires more than government action.
Necessary changes in travel patterns and behaviour make early and consistent involvement ofthese important actors in the transport system essential.



Inform and communicate with transport system clients. They must understand and buy
into the policy objectives before any behavioural change can occur. Effective communication
is particularly important in winning public support for demand management policies.

Provide a supportive legal and regulatory framework
A legal and regulatory framework that provides guidelines for Government action on all levels andparameters for involvement of the private sector in public transport provision is essential for effective
implementation of sustainable urban travel policies.
Ensure that rules and regulations for public transport clearly specify the relative roles ofpublic and private sectors in service and infrastructure provision and financing.
Financing of public transport should be reviewed to ensure that efficiency in operations is
maximised. Public service obligations should include oversight of service and network quality,
7

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINAL
reduced fares and other concessions as a part of social policy -- the latter properly designed so as
to avoid distortions in competition and adverse consequences to public transport organisations,and passenger security. Parameters for private sector involvement should be clearly specified
including rules for competition and procurement, as well as service and quality obligations.

½Ensure that measures to promote walking and cycling in urban areas as well as transportdemand management tools, such as employer mobility plans, car sharing schemes andtelecommuting are supported in the legal and regulatory framework.



Fully integrate air quality, greenhouse gas, noise and other environmental targets intotransport and land-use policy and adopt technical standards for vehicles and fuels andrigorously monitor their implementation in the public and private fleets.

Ensure a comprehensive pricing and fiscal structure½

The pricing and fiscal structure should send the right messages promoting sustainable urban
transport across sectors. Inconsistencies in fiscal policy among sectors can pose problems for
implementation, particularly for transport and land-use planning integration. Competitive
pressure among neighbouring towns and cities for fiscal revenue and employment opportunities
can hinder efforts to discourage location of large businesses in fringe areas. In addition, policy“interferences” can result in the wrong signals being sent to decision-makers – individuals inparticular -- about how they travel in and around cities. National policies for housing and realestate, for instance, can induce decisions about where to live that conflict with strategies toreduce congestion and sprawl.

Rationalise financing and investment streams
Revenue flows from pricing measures, investment and other types of funding should be directed sothat opportunities for policy implementation are enhanced. Poorly channelled financial streams, suchas described below, can frustrate application of policies designed to improve sustainability in urban
travel.


Channel revenues from pricing initiatives (e.g., road or congestion pricing, parking fines,etc.) so that benefits can be felt by those bearing the costs. While earmarking of revenues frompricing schemes is seen in many countries as compromising economic efficiency, in some cases,
directing revenues from pricing measures to local and regional levels can enhance politicalsupport for and facilitate implementation of “unpopular” pricing initiatives. Channelling revenues
away from the immediate jurisdiction can sometimes compromise incentives for reducing private
car travel, confuse public perception of the rationale behind the measures and impede acceptanceof what might otherwise be very effective schemes.

Allocate funding (investments or other) in a balanced way among different travel modes tomaximise efficiency in the performance of the urban transport system and avoid development of
one mode to the detriment of another. Funding decisions should be based on assessment of therelative environmental, economic and equity impacts of particular modes. Further, infrastructure
investment decisions should fully take into consideration objectives for travel demand
management.



Weigh national investment and financing in capital cities against funding needs in secondary
and tertiary cities. Excessive concentration of National Government resources in capital cities

8

CEMT/CM(2001)12/FINALrisks inefficient use of funds, and perhaps more importantly, missed opportunities for promoting
real improvements to transport systems in other key urban areas.
½

Improve data collection, monitoring and researchSound and reliable data are the empirical basis for good policy-making and serve as the inputs to theanalytical process. More importantly, they provide insight into urban travel trends and the forces
behind them – necessary to evaluate what combinations of policies are best for the problems observed.
Urban data are in many cases not easily accessible to National Governments. As a result, potentiallyhelpful benchmarking exercises are difficult to carry out.
Improve data collection. As revealed in the 1992 survey of cities and confirmed in the 1999
exercise, urban data, particularly as concerns urban travel and land use and their interactions,remain sparse, inconsistent and often of overall poor quality. Data are not collected in aconsistent way among cities and collection methods are often subject to modification within agiven city. National Governments can take initiatives or support on-going activities to improveconsistency of data collection. It would be valuable to develop a consistent methodology atinternational level that can be used in all such inquiries.



Carry out consistent monitoring of implementation of urban travel and land use activities andtheir links to health and environmental objectives. Communicate results of this monitoring toelected officials and the public to promote transparency in decisions and accountability.



Organise and finance research, development, and testing of potential solutions to promotesustainable urban travel and land use. Encourage exchange of best practice among actors at local,
national and international levels. Promote further development of alternative energy sources forvehicles.

MINISTERS:AGREED with these Recommendations;

DECIDED to follow up the work by monitoring the implementation of these Recommendations, inparticular by:− examining the implications of the Recommendations in specific groups of countries (e.g. Central
and Eastern Europe).
− exploring ways to improve consistency in urban data collection and monitoring;− developing a Guide to Good Practice proposing guidelines for National Governments on how toestablish a supportive policy and institutional framework and establish positive incentives forsustainable travel in urban areas.

9