He concluded by issuing a creative challenge to transport stakeholders: come up with an integrated, multimodal European travel planner. It would smooth the journeys made every day by millions of people and tonnes of cargo.

Some excerpts from his speech to the International Transport Forum:

• "The recent closures of European airspace show us: all transport modes should be interlinked, as part of one integrated system. The ash crisis led to more than 100,000 cancelled flights and more than 10 million passengers unable to travel. We do not want to face this situation again. In the event of major disruptions of one mode of transport, other modes should be able to assist"

• "Transport is an essential backbone of our economies and, indeed, of our society. My view of the European transport system of tomorrow is one that is highly integrated, efficient, cross-modal, resilient and low-carbon"

• "Innovation is not only about technology. It has also a soft side. Caring for one's passengers, clients, employees and their needs helps in identifying innovative solutions and new business opportunities. Service orientation is a must"

• "Interoperability and shared standards and approaches are essential – in all necessary freedom to compete and develop and fine tune sector-specific or regional solutions. Let compatibility be built in to sustain innovation. We are ready to deliver our bit at European level"

• "Europe has a role to play here, "not by taking everything into our own hands, but by supporting the right framework conditions – the policy priorities, legal certainty, possibly the choice of generic ITS components to be shared or re-used, and agreement on a clear timetable"

Read the entire speech here: http://bit.ly/9YFvLq

Dirk Sterckx, Belgian MEP, longtime transport specialist: "Sustainability is the key"

As climate change laws and fuel scarcity start to bite into the petrol-based economy, Europe will have to battle to uphold the principle of sustainability in transport, says Belgian MEP and veteran transport specialist Dirk Sterckx.

“Sustainability is the main concept,” Sterckx says, looking ahead to Europe’s transport challenges over the next few years. “Not only from the environmental impact angle, but also if we succeed in keeping transport flowing. That is the big question: congestion and environment.”

Dirk Sterckx, 62, has enjoyed a colourful career. After studying German philology at Ghent University, he taught languages before working as a journalist at the former public Belgian broadcaster BRT. He rose to become head of news before being elected MEP in 1999, and was briefly chairman of his Flemish liberal party Open VLD in 2004. Much of his work in the Parliament has involved transport and environmental issues, and he ranks as his biggest achievement his role in developing new rules for maritime safety.

Re-elected in June for a third term as MEP, Sterckx says that strictly speaking, the recession has been a boon to the environment. “If you narrow it to its environmental impact, then it is brilliant. The year from September 2008 until September 2009 will be fantastic from an emissions point of view,” he says. “But this is not sustainable.”

Environmental imperatives still need to direct efforts towards cleaner vehicle technologies, he says. But Sterckx does not imagine vehicle manufacturers will develop such technologies for altruistic reasons – rather for economical ones. “We are going to go back to a situation where energy will be scarce and more expensive,” he says. “This will be the main driver for energy efficiency. By solving the energy question we can keep our standard of living. If not we’re in trouble.”

When it comes to broader questions about the capacity of Europe’s transport sector, Sterckx says the different transport modes need to be brought closer so there is a synergy of effort and an effective network linkage between them. “We need to make the switch in between the modes and make them economically viable,” he says.

There has been much debate in recent years about pricing systems that push goods and passengers from one transport mode to another. This is linked to questions about the real costs of transport systems, and how some are already indirectly subsidized through government infrastructure investment. Sterckx says charging modes for their real cost is something that may have to be adopted, but he wants an open debate on it. “If you want to solve transport and mobility problems you have to have a clever system that uses revenues in the direction you want to go. But it has to be a policy instrument, not a taxation instrument,” he says.

Sterckx is reluctant to prescribe too much market intervention, but he does insist that there should be a Europe-wide market for transport services. The lack of competition, he says, is particularly prevalent in rail. “The two big players, Deutsche Bahn and SNCF are building their power and buying more players. They don’t compete,” he says. “It is not about the number of railway companies operating on the network. The question is about competition. Does the customer have a real choice? We need a strong legal framework and it has to improve real competition.”

Addressing congestion, Sterckx says Europe will have to improve infrastructure for all modes. “If you have congestion charging and use the revenue to have alternatives, than this is the right way to go, cross modes,” he says. “However, this will not be quick nor easy and will be expensive. Congestion is never going to go away. We want to move around more and more.”

Sterckx says he has learnt a lot from his trips abroad in parliamentary delegations. He regrets that China’s economic overhaul meant the country’s long bicycle traditions were destroyed. And he says Europe can learn from New York’s efforts in recent years to improve the attractiveness of its subway.

He says that he hopes to use the next five-year parliamentary term to continue work on sustainability and on opening up the market. “We should not lose the wider perspective,” Sterckx says. “We should not go for populist short term solutions. We should not think that higher taxes will solve the problem by itself. There are no miracles. Progress is slow.”

The economic crisis will overshadow everything in the transport sector for years to come, says Fuensanta Martinez-Sans, Director for Transport Policy and Public Relations at the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA). She says the recession has already hit the transport sector badly, and will continue to have a massive knock-on affect for transport-related policies.

However, the European Commission’s Communication on the future transport policy, published last June, fails to mention it at all. “I was shocked to see there was nothing in the Communication about the biggest recession in living memory,” she says. 

The downturn has been especially severe for commercial vehicle manufacturers, Martinez-Sans says, as the financial crisis has drastically limited access to credit, while the economic crisis has seen a dramatic drop in demand. “No-one expected it, nobody knows exactly how long it will last, or its final impact on the economy and on transport in particular,” she says. “It is obvious that the downturn will have an effect on our lives. So can we really be sure about the forecasts for the future in these circumstances?”

Martinez-Sans says vehicle manufacturers welcome the chance to debate transport issues, and see how the environment, fuel shortages, and other factors will shape policy over the next few decades. She says the Commission Communication, which inaugurates a year-long debate on transport policy, is a step forward, it even leaves a lot of unanswered questions. “We need all the stakeholders to come together to talk about these issues,” she says. “We cannot operate in isolation – we need everyone to work together to tackle the big issues like efficiency and congestion.”

ACEA’s overall objectives echo the Commission’s broad aims, Martinez-Sans says. “We aim to meet Europe’s economic, social and environmental needs,” she says. “People sometimes think we are just concerned with the bottom line, but we are committed to delivering the best and most efficient possible products, in the most sustainable way.” Transport is part of the European sustainable growth and competitiveness, she says – and road transport fulfils an overwhelming majority of the transport needs of companies and individuals in Europe.

Martinez Sans says vehicle manufacturers are fully committed to improving their environmental performance, but in the current circumstances, the Commission Communication puts too much emphasis on the immediate environmental investment expected from them. “The Communication announces additional measures on noise, emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. “But we are disappointed that there is no reference to an integrated approach for reducing CO2 emissions, which includes aspects such as driver behaviour, fuel and infrastructure.”

One of the keys to cutting emissions is simply the renewal of fleets, Martinez Sans says. “The old vehicle makes more emissions than the new one,” she says. “So we should promote fleet renewal as part of any future policy aiming at providing a sustainable transport system.”

She backs alternative fuels to help reducing CO2 emissions, action from fuel companies and public authorities is needed to develop them and make them available on a large scale.

Martinez Sans says a key issue that should be addressed in the EU’s transport review is infrastructure investment. “This can no longer be delayed,” she says. “Europe’s transport infrastructure, especially its road network, is falling behind what is required for a modern economy. This has created bottlenecks and increased congestion and CO2 emissions.”

Tom Antonissen, Public Affairs consultant

Just 30 years old, public affairs consultant Tom Antonissen is already talking about European policies and societal trends like a veteran. However, Antonissen is keen to underline how his views are different from those of a Brussels establishment figure.

“It bothers me that in the European debate on transport, it is the same people saying the same things about the transport problems right now, like rail liberalization, or cabotage,” he says. “But in 2030, I will be 50, and in 2050 I will be part of a group with reduced mobility. My generation of transport professionals is not being heard, but we will be directly concerned with what is being decided now.”

Antonissen is currently  the manager of the Transport Association Practice at LOGOS Public Affairs in Brussels. He has worked in competition law with the automobile sector, and is now a lobbyist for various transport groups like the European Freight and Logistics Leaders’ Forum (F&L), European Parking Association (EPA), Mobility for Prosperity in Europe (MPE), the European Confederation of Equipment Distributors (ECED) and rail group NEWOPERA.

But he believes that the ongoing European transport debate – which the European Commission hopes to shape with its recent  Communication on the Future of Transport – is missing some key voices. “People say that the younger generation sees cars less as a status symbol,” he says. “We know environmental consciousness is growing, but we need to know how it will affect our future behaviour.”

But Antonissen’s focus is less on broad policies, and more on local initiatives that can make a huge difference in daily lives. “When I parked this morning in the car park near my office, there were many empty spaces,” he says. “Conversely, at the car park near my home, there are empty spaces at the weekend. When I am not using my space, why can’t it be available to others? It frustrates me when there are so many spaces left unused. With new satellite technologies for example, we can guide people to these spaces. Taking such guiding technology a step further, one can also imagine that in the future all modes of transport will be seamlessly integrated in one transport chain that is conceived with one major consideration in mind: the right to (sustainable) mobility of each individual – much like the concept of ’Connected Vehicles’ or ’the Connected Traveler’, as currently already propagated by ERTICO – ITS Europe.”

He points to London mayor Boris Johnson’s pledge to get rid of ‘bendy’ buses. “This is also an issue in Brussels, where they block streets and are sometime almost empty,” he says. “Can’t we move them to bigger streets? Can we use smaller buses? At LOGOS, we have a project with foldable bikes: it can mean we need fewer bus stops as people can bike further than where they would otherwise.”

Antonissen also says the transport debate needs to have more of a connection with new technologies and innovations. “I believe that in the future, next to a bank card, we will have a CO2 card,” he says. “The less CO2 you emit, the more bonuses you get on bus travel, and on fuel purchases. Now we can book rail tickets on mobile phones – the confirmation is a bar code sent to the phone, which is read by the ticket inspector or simply at a smart reader terminal.”

He also echoes the suggestion, in the Commission’s Transport Communication, that the public should understand the broader costs of transport. “I got my first car at 18. At the time, I thought driving was free, apart from the fuel costs,” he says. “Now I work in transport, I realize that this isn’t true - but nobody knows it.”

He cites parking as an example. “I always try to find underground parking rather than park in the street. I rent parking space near my office for €150/month, and another near my home, again for €150/month. So that’s €300/month for a space in a car park with minimum security. However, my peace of mind has been massive. Before, when I came home at say 8 or 9pm, I had to circle several times around the block. The savings are in wear and tear of the car, pollution costs, time spent, and not to mention the medical costs to society from the anxiety over finding a space.”

More broadly, Antonissen says there needs to be a big debate on the internalization of external costs – the idea that every mode of transport should reflect its full costs to both society and the user. “When I buy a rail ticket, I don’t pay the full cost because of massive subsidies,” he says. “We can say rail is green, but that depends on where the original electricity comes from. If you want to internalize these costs, it has to be openly and fairly for all the sectors – at the moment, the Commission is only doing it for the road sector. It’s not fair to simply focus on one mode of transport, and as a result make road transport more expensive.”