NSC
Conference on Sustainable transport,
Aarhus
18 – 19 April
Sustainable
transport from an EU perspective – Mr. Rolf Annerberg,
Head of cabinet EU Commission Directorate General for
Environment
Integrated
Sustainable Transport – The Way Forward
Don
Nutt – Steer Davies Gleave
How to Educate and Influence the General
Public towards more sustainable transport behaviour
- by
Stephen Byfield
The
Scapa Flow Trans-shipment Hub Project on the Orkney
Island, by Mr. Tom Matthew, HIE Transport Policy Manager
Closing
remarks by the Chair of the conference, Ms. Gunn Marit
Helgesen
On
18 –19 April the NSC Environment and the Transport &
Communications thematic groups jointly organised a
conference on Sustainable transport in
Aarhus
region,
Denmark
. The
conference was hosted by the
County
of
Aarhus
and
co-sponsored by the NSC Executive Committee. The
conference was attended by 97 people, representing
Regional and Local councils, State agencies, Business
organisations and industries, transport operators/companies,
Ports, as well as Research institutions and universities.
About 25 NSC member regions from all 8 member countries
were represented, including about 30 regional and local
politicians.
The main issue of the conference
was to address what politicians and planners can do to
promote and deliver sustainable transport in the
North
Sea
region
- raising the level of awareness and stimulating to debate
on the issue. After welcome statements from Councillor Ms.
Bente Nielsen on behalf of the organising hosts in Aarhus
County, the NSC President Mr. Bent Hansen and from the
Chair of the conference, Ms. Gunn Marit Helgesen, (see
below), the conference heard keynote speeches from a
representative of the EU Commission and from transport-
and PR & media relations experts (excerpts below).
The Conference particularly intended to
provide the participants with a tool box of best practice
examples within various fields of sustainable transport
which could hopefully be implemented in other North Sea
regions than where the examples originate. For this
purpose, the conference organised parallel sessions with
the presentation of 30 best practice examples within the
following fields:
·
Alternative
Fuels
·
Public
Transport
·
Behavioural
Change
·
Goods
·
Transport
planning
A
summary of the best practice examples from each session,
as well as an excerpt from the corresponding debate [to be
uploaded] can be downloaded from a special section of the
NSC Home page at http://www.northsea.org/news
In
her opening speech, the
Chair of the Conference and Vice President of the NSC, Ms
Gunn Marit Helgesen, stated that the promotion of
sustainability plays a central role in the work of the NSC
and that this is reflected in the revised NSC strategy
paper (from Vision to action), as well as in the
sustainability document, the Porsgrunn Challenge. She also pointed out that
sustainability is a cross-disciplinary theme which is
particularly important to integrate into all fields of the
NSC remit, such as business development, culture &
tourism, education & research and fisheries. Ms.
Helgesen made an argument for applying a broad definition
of Sustainability,
including both environmental, economical and social/welfare
aspects. She went on saying that the great challenge
facing us is how to develop a transport system which is
able to promote economic and social welfare without
depleting natural resources, destroying the environment or
harming human health. In this respect, she was pleased to
note that the EU
White Paper on the Common Transport policy for 2010 is
determined to adapt the common transport policy to the
requirements of sustainable development. Ms. Helgesen also
stressed the importance of political leadership and
guidance in order to promote sustainable transport
successfully in the regions. She concluded by stressing
that the conference is only the first step
towards more sustainable regions because the issue of
promoting sustainability needs continuous and permanent
effort – to which the NSC is committed to contribute (see
also follow-up section below).
Excerpts from the keynote speeches
Sustainable
transport from an EU perspective – Mr. Rolf Annerberg,
Head of cabinet EU Commission Directorate General for
Environment
Mr.
Annerberg started out to acknowledge the importance of the
regions and the significance of conferences like this in
the promotion of sustainable transport in Europe. He went
on saying that the EU Commission is in need of good
practical examples in sustainable transport and encouraged
the NSC to make such examples available to the Commission.
The
main points of Mr. Annerbergs speech can be summarised as
follows:
·
The
transport system in Europe is not sustainable, and we are
drifting further away from the goal if the current trends
continue, especially with the continued growth of road-
and air transport. With the coming enlargement of the EU
these trends risk to be further strengthened.
·
Major
political initiatives on the EU level:
The
EU Council in Gothenburg last summer pointed to the
necessity of breaking the link between economic growth and
the usual corresponding growth in transport.
Transport has been identified as one of the main
challenges in promoting sustainability.
1)
EU White Paper on the Common transport policy 2010 –
time to decide (September 2001)
The
new White Paper advocates a qualitative change of
direction in transport policy in
order
to ensure that measures to promote an environmentally
friendly mix of transport
services go hand in hand with the
measures to open up the markets. The basic strategy is to
increase investment in and to revitalise non-road modes of
transport (rail and sea transport) in order to curb
congestion and to promote sustainability
There
will be a partial revision of the Transeuropean Networks
programme - TEN’s in 2001 and a major overhaul in 2004.
It was informed that the implementation of the TEN-T
projects would be followed by an environment impact
evaluation.
Mr.
Annerberg mentioned that the EU has passed a directive on
alternative fuels – reducing taxes on the less pollutive
fuels (bio, natural gas and hydrogen). The EU is also
working towards the European car industry in this respect.
The
Commission is considering to introduce the same kind of
measures on shipping emissions as already in place for
land transport.
2) The Sixth Environment Action
Programme of the European Community 2001-2010
The
programme also identifies actions and responsibilities for
the national, regional and local levels of governments,
The
new programme identifies four priority areas:
- Climate
Change
- Nature
and Biodiversity
- Environment
and Health
- Natural
Resources and Waste
The
following five key approaches have been identified:
- To
ensure the implementation of existing environmental
legislation;
- To
integrate environmental concerns into all relevant
policy areas;
- To
work closely with business and consumers to identify
solutions;
- To
ensure better and more accessible information on the
environment for citizens;
- To
develop a more environmentally conscious attitude
towards land use.
Mr.
Annerberg stressed the importance of fiscal- and financial
incentives when trying to influence the practice &
behaviour of industries and transport companies.
Infrastructure charging is also playing a vital role in
this respect, but this issue is still regarded as a
controversial instrument.
He
also informed that the Commission is working to develop an
impartial mechanism for monitoring the sustainability of
transport – TERM.
He
also pointed out that it is a major challenge to raise
public awareness on the need to change transport behaviour
in a more sustainable direction, and to obtain
understanding for the fact that each individual
contribution matters. Mr. Annerberg highlighted the annual
car free day in all EU member states as a good example in
this respect and said that the Commission is in permanent
search for other suitable channels.
More
info on EU policies and programmes in this field can be
found at the Commission home pages, DG for Environment http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/environment/
and DG for Transport & Energy http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_transport/
Mr. Nutt took the stated aim of the conference
– what we as politicians and planners can do to promote
and deliver sustainable transport – as a starting point
for his presentation.
Mr. Nutt aimed to answer this question by:
·
Exploring the motivation of the North Sea Commission
(NSC) in pursuing the development of this policy agenda;
·
by summarising the range of opportunities that exists
to take forward policy intervention designed specifically
to influence people’s travel behaviour and travel
choices; and
·
by explaining how a set of projects might be taken
forward as a NSC initiative to demonstrate how to promote
and deliver sustainable transport.
Mr.
Nutt emphasised the necessary conditions for bringing
about travel behaviour change:
·
there must be alternatives to
use of the car for the particular trip and people must be
aware of them;
·
people must appreciate they
have these travel choices and how to exercise that choice;
and
·
People need to know they will
gain personal benefits from the travel habit change.
·
Policy interventions being explored in the UK context
to Promote Travel Behaviour Change
·
Workplace
travel plans
A
number of case studies show reductions in car-based travel
to work of between 7 and 12%.A reduction from 66% to 55% single car occupancy
trips to the site in the morning peak has been achieved
through the plan and bus patronage has been increased by
75% in one year, following the introduction of good bus
services between the work site and the local town/rail
station.
·
School travel plans and safer routes to schools
Aims to improve road safety and to increase the
number of children walking and cycling and using public
transport to and from school.
·
Personalised journey planning
Personalised journey planning is a set of
techniques or approaches that provide individualised
analysis and/or advice to people, based on their journey
making habits, with the aim of encouraging modal shift
towards more sustainable forms of transport.
·
Videoconferencing and
Tele-Working
It is estimated that videoconferencing could
reduce total longer distance business traffic mileage by
up to 5% by 2015. Estimated
potential to reduce car commuting traffic by up to 6% by
2015.
·
Bus Quality Partnerships (BQPs)
BQPs
have led to 10%+ increases in ridership in particular
corridors when done well.
· Car Clubs
Experience
in Germany and Switzerland show the potential to eliminate
conventional car ownership and use by club members and
show substantial reductions in car use by members.
The
Strategy for Delivery, the Plan and Process
-There is a need to develop a strategy for
policy intervention to promote travel behaviour change.
-Sensible to apply sets of different policy
interventions; those of most relevance to the local
condition, with some consideration as to their strategic
significance and relative priority.
Conclusions
-It
is clear that there is a wide range of possible policy
interventions available to NSC member authorities within
this policy area
-There
is ample opportunity for the NSC to conduct useful
projects to develop the general understanding of the value
and scope of these many new techniques
Stephen Byfield is Managing
Director of PPS,
The largest independent public affairs
consultancy in UK. He is not a transport expert,
but knows “something” about selling
difficult messages to the public. All examples and
findings come from the UK, unless otherwise said.
Two basic questions:
-
How to get and keep political will
?
-Can education encourage modal shift (away from
private cars towards more sustainable forms of transport)
?
Political will
Democracy is the biggest “obstacle” to the
delivery of public transport systems: Frequent elections
make the politicians reluctant to introduce restrictive
measures on private driving because they fear loosing
their seats. However, the politicians also require public
transport to be popular
But public transport is popular
-Environmental policies are generally welcomed
by the public
-When asked in opinion polls, the public is pro
public transport
-A UK Poll from 1998 showed that 71% in favour
of congestion charging (road pricing)
So what’s the problem?
In UK, the public sends conflicting messages: We
all want better public transport, but at the same time we
all want to drive our cars with cheap fuel, where and when
we want
Most public transport is delivered locally
-UK
central Government is passing the problem to the local
authorities (where the politicians also have their seats
to think of)
How can we deliver political will?
-Delivery
of public transport solutions requires acceptance at the
senior political level.
-Public
transport planning is more a political, PR- and marketing
related issue than technical. -Explain
the benefits of public transport to the people
Mobilise
support from “third parties” that will benefit from
good public transport to outflank
protest (e.g. against fuel prices, parking
restrictions) from die-hard car users
-Use polling to tailor campaign to
the popular mode and preferences.
Can
education cause modal shift ?
-Stick
& carrot is the only way
-Need
the carrot (improved public transport services, good
alternatives to private driving) in place before the stick
is applied
Best work has been done outside the UK
-Community
relations approach pioneered in Perth, Australia:
Secured
14% reduction in car journeys. Results have been sustained
over time
-45
similar trials have been conducted in (Continental) Europe
– only one failure
What’s
the secret making it work
Requires
face to face contact with the people
-Should
target big traffic generators – schools, major employers
etc.
Needs
backing up with high profile local PR campaign
Is there a down side?
-Communications
experts are expensive to hire!
-Difficult messages require marketing (costs
& efforts)
Conclusion
-Education
and influence are vital at two stages in the process…
-They
support politicians looking to deliver public transport
solutions
-Done
properly they can result in sustained modal shift
Comments
to: stephen.byfield@ppsgroup.co.uk
The
Scapa Flow Trans-shipment Hub Project on the Orkney
Island, by Mr. Tom Matthew, HIE Transport Policy Manager
Trends & developments in
container shipping
-The volume of container shipping has been
increasing and will continue to do so
-This creates capacity problems in the biggest
urban harbours with hinterland connections, as well as
these harbours faces physical and environmental
constraints in relation to the expansion capacity in
-Congestion on the major road- and rail networks
in Europe also represents a bottleneck in this respect.
-Trend in direction of increased transhipment
with offshore mega hubs
The assets of the Orkney Islands
-Strategic
location on the shortest route between the US and Northern
Europe. All main ports in Europe are within 600 miles.
-Natural
deep-sea harbour with the necessary facilities to handle
the biggest ships.
-Relatively
fast entrance to the harbour
-The
Orkneys already have gas- and oil port
-The
Orkneys overcome the physical and environmental
constraints faced by land-based ports
The case for the Orkneys as a
hub
·
Environmental
advantages
Transhipments
are more energy effective – avoiding empty running,
reduces the TEU-milage and saves fuel. Also reduces need
to allocate scarce land to port expansions. In the longer
run, the concept could also reduce the need for road
transport to land based ports.
·
More
effective transport – reduced congestion
A
reduced need for road transport to land based ports would
serve to reduce congestion on the roads as well as in
major hubs.
·
Cost-effectiveness
-Sea
to sea transfers reduce the cost per TEU.
-Besides,
small feeder ships pay lower port charges.
More information can be found at http://www.orkneycontainer.com/
Closing
remarks by the Chair of the conference, Ms. Gunn Marit
Helgesen
Ms. Helgesen thanked for the excellent speeches and presentations heard
at the conference and she said that the wide range of best
practice examples impressed her. She said that the
conference had made her much more optimistic concerning
the prospects for sustainable transport. Ms. Helgesen
stated that her vision of sustainability is when children
can play safely on the streets in a city. - If the
political will is there, we can change things to the
better -, Ms.
Helgesen said, but she also stressed that politicians need
to make braver decisions. However in order to achieve this,
politicians and planners have to inspire and challenge
each other. - It is possible to change peoples behaviour,
but it is essential that we present them with real
choices between transport modes, then people will support
you – she said. In conclusion, Ms. Helgesen encouraged
the participants to take with them the inspiration and all
the good ideas from the conference back home and start to
implement them.
Follow-up
– towards a permanent sustainable transport programme in
the North Sea region
· The
NSC Transport & Communications and Environment
thematic groups hope to develop a permanent Sustainable
Transport programme as an Interreg IIIB-bid – in which
recurring conferences of the Aarhus-type will be one
important element. The other elements of a
Sustainable transport programme will consist of
·
-best
practice tool kit, based on examples like those presented
at the Aarhus conference
· -a
mobile education and awareness campaign in the North Sea
region (behavioural change)
· -website
development
· -PR
& media related work.
To have more information about this programme
and/or to register an interest to participate, please
contact Mr. Dennis
Freeman, Aberdeenshire Council, mail: dennis.freeman@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
