Suchergebnisse

This paper reviews changes in the role and practice of planners in the last 25 years of European policy on the Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T)., aiming at describing the role of technicians in the decision-making process, and their contribution to the consolidation of collaborative and transparent planning practices. The review highlights the driving forces that have use technical considerations to merely create a self-justifying narrative of a process dominated by the institutional stakeholders. The key aspects examined include (1) the respective roles of institutional decision makers (at EU and national levels), other stakeholders and the public; (2) the technical tools mobilized in the process; and (4) the evolution of the prevailing narratives, their rationale, the factual evidence behind them, and their capacity to build up consensus and to empower or to alienate key stakeholders. The TEN-T process was effectively captured by a coalition of EC and national transport services, as a means to claim more resources for transport infrastructure expansion. The coalition was backed by most of the transport stakeholders, in spite of some minor criticisms (on modal distribution?.), as a way to get access to public funding. The academic criticism has not resulted in any changes (although has produced some self-justifying reports from the EC); legal and institutional "windows" to strengthen the planning process have not resulted in more collaborative practices or enhanced review practices.

This paper reviews current drivers of long-distance passenger transport demand in Europe, and elaborates about their environmental impacts and the suitability of current EU policies to address them. The paper focuses on car and air travel, as they concentrate the bulk of environmental impacts, at least in terms of GHG emissions. Furthermore, car travel keeps the highest share of total travel, and air travel is the fastest growing mode in Europe, justifying a closer look to both modes. The prospects of a peaking or "plateau" value for long-distance car travel are discussed, concluding that there is robust evidence of peaking in many European countries, although at unacceptable high levels from a sustainability perspective. In the case of air travel, the main sustainability challenge is the sustained growth in demand, spurred by the strategy of many airports and airlines to induce further demand with low fares. Both trends would need action from governments. The need for action is further justified by two socioeconomic trends: population, with growth concentrated precisely in those countries with higher long-distance mobility patterns, and disposable income, with median values stagnated for many years. The former would suggest a need for demand management action focusing on those countries with higher demand; the latter would challenge the traditional understanding, which associates long-distance transport demand to increasing income and to economic prosperity.

This paper reviews recent trends in long-distance passenger travel in Europe. Its purpose is to explore whether some early signals for peak travel in long-distance transport can be identified and if so, which could be the options for a consistent policy action. For the sake of simplicity, only car and air modes are considered. The analysis is based on previous research conducted for the preparation of the recent report of the European Environment Agency (EEA), "Focusing on environmental pressures from long-distance transport - TERM 2014" (EEA, 2014). Passenger travel demand data at the national level show striking differences among European countries. Beyond the traditional divide between "new" and "old" EU member states, it seems that differences respond to a much richer variety of traits, including the size of the country, per capita GDP trends and the characteristics of the population. It is within this complex geographical background that the influence of three traditional key drivers should be explored: population, disposable income and lifestyles. Although there are good arguments to conclude that peaking in long-distance transport demand could be reached in an increasing number of European countries, there are also significant forces to further expand demand. Furthermore, it is worth highlighting that peaking, if materialised, would be happening at levels too high to be compatible with GHG emission reduction targets. The paper concludes that there are positive signs in the recent trends of these drivers indicating that they would not result in additional mobility demand. However, these trends could be neutralised by other factors, such as the strategies of European transport policy makers and operators to foster latent demand and expand their markets, this is illustrated by current strategies of air travel operators and some regional governments to further develop low-cost, regional airport-based services.

Governance reform is one of the key areas of activity identified in the National Transport Plan of Spain, approved by the Government in 2005. The reform aimed at: - increasing the relevance of policies based on management of transport services, compared to infrastructure expansion, and - better integrating the objectives of sustainable development within transport policy-making. To achieve an incremental, but continuous move in this direction, three combined instruments were identified: - Empowerment of a consensus-building framework, based on the one hand on public participation processes, by making it easier to the public to enter the debate on transport policy measures and transport infrastructure projects, and on the other hand on a better formalised framework for the institutional dialogue between the Ministry of Transport and its counterparts at regional and local administrations. - Streamlining the decision-making process, by establishing a new technical report regarding new initiatives and proposals by stakeholders on transport policy, which should assess its compatibility with current policies and with the strategic objectives of the National Plan. - Establishing a more objective-oriented management within the Ministry of Transport and its organisations, with a focus on the integration of the objectives of sustainable development, particularly through the implementation of environmental management systems