by Walther Ploos van Amstel
President Juncker has steered the course of action of this Commission towards a Europe that protects. Safety is fundamental to any transport system and must always be the top priority. Thanks to actions at EU, national and local levels, road safety in the EU has greatly improved in recent decades.
Slow uptake of autonomous vehicles for freight could leave the UK ‘lagging behind other countries and missing the opportunity to reap the benefits of being a market leader in this technology’, according to a report by Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) for the UK Cross River Partnership.
Recently the Mayor of London presented his Transport Strategy. The strategy takes on integrated approach to urban freight as well. Making streets work for people will provide huge economic benefits not only through revitalising town centres and attracting business to London, but also by freeing up space for the essential freight and commercial journeys that …
Traffic volumes of all vehicular modes have decreased over the last two decades by at least one-third, says a new report from the City of London. Except walking and cycling, which increased. The report suggests that the drop in motor vehicle use, but huge uplift in bike use, was kick-started by the introduction of the congestion …
In more and more cities pedestrians are reclaiming the city. They want clean air, healthy neighbourhoods safety, less noise and most of all: a space to enjoy! The next years urban planners will work on walkable cities. This will have a big impact on the design of cities and residential areas and the way companies …
In the past two years, Ecorys supported the European Commission via the ‘Study on urban mobility – Preparation of EU guidelines on urban logistics’. This study was led by a consortium formed by Ecorys, University of Antwerp, University of Lisbon, and Prof. Laetitia Dablanc.
It is Amsterdam’s ambition to maintain a level of at least 5.000 newly built houses each year. For this purpose the city is looking for suitable areas for residential building and is transforming existing business areas into metropolitan live-work areas.
A new paper looks on common practices in current urban logistics planning in Scandinavia and the UK, and the degree to which SUTP (Sustainable Urban Transport Plan), SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) and SULP (Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans). It is found that urban freight plans are used more frequently in the UK than in the Scandinavian …
In urban areas light goods are often delivered by heavy vehicles covering only short distances. This is problematic in sensitive inner city areas. The European project Cyclelogistics Ahead, a follow up on the first Cyclelogistics project in 2011, aims at reducing the negative impact of motorised urban freight.
A group of 18 major European cities have written to Commission President Juncker urging him to prioritise road safety by mandating a direct vision standard for trucks as soon as possible. Cities such as London, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels and Copenhagen are re-designing existing roads and cutting vehicle speeds but say they cannot be successful “if …