The European Commission announced the winners of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards 2018 and the 7th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning (SUMP) at a ceremony in Brussels (Belgium) last night.

Lisbon (Portugal) was revealed as the winner of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for larger municipalities, with Lindau (Germany) taking home the award for smaller municipalities. The 7th SUMP Award was won by Greater Manchester (United Kingdom). The awards were presented to the cities by Commissioner Violeta Bulc, responsible for Transport, and Jürgen Müller, Head of Cabinet for Karmenu Vella, the Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: “I would like to sincerely congratulate the winning cities, all of whom carried out inspiring activities to promote sustainable urban mobility. They are true examples of how local leaders across Europe are combining different modes of transport as a means to make our cities cleaner, safer and more sustainable. This year I am looking forward to seeing more such impressive actions from towns and cities joining the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign as they celebrate under the theme of ‘Walk with us’.”

Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Karmenu Vella said: “Europe’s cities face numerous challenges, from poor air quality to climate change. Today’s winners show that the way we move about our city matters, and that bold decisions encouraging sustainable transport can help us tackle major issues like air pollution and climate change. I commend these winners, as I do all cities that are embracing sustainable mobility.”

The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Awards recognise local authorities judged to have organised the most impressive set of activities between 16-22 September. The awards are given out in two categories: one for municipalities with over 50 000 inhabitants, and one for smaller municipalities below this threshold.

The SUMP Award celebrates local and regional authorities for excellence in sustainable urban mobility planning. The 7th SUMP Award focused on multimodality, which is defined as the use of different modes of passenger or freight transport during the same journey, or for different trips. The winning cities were selected by an independent panel of mobility and transport experts and will now each have a promotional video made, highlighting their achievements. The Spanish city of Palencia was additionally named the winner of the 2018 Social Biking Challenge, a European Commission initiative that aims to encourage cycling as a sustainable and healthy mobility choice.

Learn more about the winners:

Lisbon, Portugal – winner of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for larger municipalities

The Portuguese capital, home to over half a million people, impressed the jury with its strong vision for a more sustainable mobility culture. During EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2018, residents could take their bike on board a train for free, giving them a real incentive to try out multimodality. The city also organised museum bike trips, free bicycle repair workshops, and a special prize for people and organisations that promoted the use of bikes. These activities complemented the inauguration of 31 new bike-sharing stations, new and expanded bike lanes, and 800 new bike parking areas. The city also carried out an effective communications campaign, managing to reach both residents and visitors.

The other finalists were Gdynia (Poland) and Palma (Spain).

Lindau, Germany – winner of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for smaller municipalities

The German city of Lindau placed significant emphasis on multimodality, the theme of EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2018. To communicate the benefits of ‘mixing and moving’, on-street info points were set up where people could learn about making smarter mobility choices. On Car-Free Day, a free hybrid shuttle bus and water taxi were provided, in addition to residents gaining free access to the newly expanded car-sharing service. Commuters were also pleasantly surprised with a breakfast courtesy of the city when they travelled by bike, foot, bus or train. Lindau recently installed almost 500 new bike racks at train stations and bus stops, making it easier to cycle to and from public transport. The city has also launched a new multimodal mobility app that enables users to plan a route using different transport modes.

Karditsa (Greece) and Oliveira do Bairro (Portugal) were the runners up.

Greater Manchester, United Kingdom - winner of the 7th Award for Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning

Greater Manchester has set ambitious multimodality goals, which it intends to reach using a wide-range of integrated and combined mobility options. The jury was particularly impressed by Greater Manchester’s use of smart, new technologies to increase the share of journeys made using sustainable modes of transport. As part of its mobility planning approach, Manchester considers each part of the city individually, according to its size, location and function. Measures are then adapted to the needs of the area.

Basel (Switzerland) and Dresden (Germany) were fellow finalists for the 7th edition of the SUMP Award.

This March will see national and local representatives from across Europe gather in Brussels (Belgium) for the 2019 EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Workshop and sustainable mobility awards. Taking place from 21 - 22 March, this invitation-only event gives European National Coordinators, as well as selected city representatives, the opportunity to discuss sustainable mobility in Europe with peers and experts, gain inspiration for the week itself, and network with international colleagues.

Following a welcome from Maja Bakran Marcich, Deputy Director-General for Mobility and Transport with the European Commission, Professor Shane O'Mara, professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin and author of the recent book ‘In Praise of Walking’, will provide the keynote address.

Participants will then get the opportunity to interact in smaller break-out sessions, which will cover topics such as developing a walking map, using an online tool to identify walking and cycling measures at local level, and visiting a pedestrian area in Brussels.

The sustainable mobility awards will be presented that evening at a ceremony moderated by veteran host Katrina Sichel. Commissioner Violeta Bulc, responsible for Transport, and Jürgen Müller, Head of Cabinet for Karmenu Vella, the Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, will present the awards to the winning towns and cities.

The second day of the workshop will see a presentation from the winner of the online competition for the best MOBILITYACTION 2018, Stanley Black & Decker, who will discuss their initiative to reduce the carbon footprint of the company’s 7,000 employees. Further break-out sessions will be followed by a meeting for all National Coordinators, during which the details of the upcoming EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK will be discussed.

To view the event programme, click here.

Created to support startup companies who are developing sustainable mobility innovations, the European Startup Prize For Mobility is a leading public-private initiative first launched by Karima Delli, Chairwoman of the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee, co-founded by Boston Consulting Group and Via ID, and supported by both the European Parliament and the European Commission.

The prize is open to startup companies who are looking to scale up their sustainable mobility innovations in Europe.

As part of the prize, the top 10 selected entries will win an all-expenses paid tour of five European tech capitals to meet potential customers, investors, business accelerators and local partners throughout 2019.

In addition to this tour, four Gold Award winners will also be selected to receive specific entrepreneurial, business and legal mentoring from Boston Consulting Group and other legal and corporate partners to help grow their operations in Europe and beyond.

For more information and to submit an application before the call closes on 21 January, click here.

Shortly before the New Year, the Government of Luxembourg announced their plans to abolish all fares on public transport, making them the first country in the world to introduce such a policy.

Currently, commuters only pay €2 for up to two hours of travel, which covers almost any journey across the country.

An all-day second-class ticket on every mode of public transport costs €4. Young people travel for free, and many commuters qualify for an annual “mPass” which costs €150 for all public transport.

The plan to abolish all fares on public transport is expected to come into force in summer of this year, with part of the cost being covered by removing a tax break for commuters.

The move will save on costs associated with the collection and processing of fares, and it is also hoped it will encourage a shift away from private cars and ease traffic congestion, which is especially high in the capital, Luxembourg City.

For more information, read here.

Polish towns and cities that undertook impressive actions during EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2018 were awarded last week at a national workshop held by the Polish Ministry of Infrastructure in Warsaw.

The workshop, which took place from 12 – 13 December, provided a venue to discuss the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK 2018 campaign in Poland, looking at successes and areas for improvement going forward. Around 30 towns and cities took part.

Hosted by Maria Perkuszewska, the National Coordinator for Poland, the event saw presentations by Sean Carroll of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK European Secretariat, who provided an overview of the campaign in 2018 and Poland’s position within it, and Barbara Adamczyk and Miroslaw Dybowski of DG REGIO, who outlined European Commission measures to encourage the uptake of sustainable forms of transport at city level.

For the first time this year, awards for the best EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign in Poland were presented. The award recipients were announced in four categories. The winners were:

• Municipality with over 50,000 inhabitants: WROCŁAW
• Municipality with under 50,000 inhabitants: BOCHNIA
• Most innovative activity: GDYNIA (for “Escape Trolley”)
• Most active region: POMORSKIE VOIVODESHIP

Each region was presented with an engraved placard to commemorate their success. Following the prize-giving, the winning towns and cities were invited to present their activities during the week.

The second day of the workshop saw interactive sessions in which the assembled representatives broke into smaller groups to discuss the experience of hosting EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK activities in their town or city. Three parallel workshops focused on target groups, innovative actions and costless solutions for the campaign.

Poland has seen precipitous growth in the number of towns and cities participating in the campaign in recent years, and now ranks fourth in overall participation by country. A total of 160 Polish participants took part in EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK this year, an increase of 55 registered towns and cities from 2017.