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.”