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Mobility and Transport
News article21 March 2019Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport

Lisbon, Lindau and Greater Manchester win European sustainable mobility awards

Today 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).

Lisbon was revealed as the winner of the EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK Award 2018 for larger municipalities, with Lindau taking home the award for smaller municipalities. The 7th SUMP Award was won by Greater Manchester. 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 use 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.

 

Background

The EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK campaign runs from 16-22 September each year, providing towns and cities with an opportunity to test out sustainable transport alternatives. By encouraging individuals to choose sustainable transport modes such as walking and cycling, we can lower our carbon emissions, improve the quality of our air, and make our urban areas more pleasant places to live and work.

2018 was the most successful year of EUROPEANMOBILITYWEEK to date, with almost 2 800 towns and cities participating.

For more information on the campaign, visit http://www.mobilityweek.eu

For images of the award ceremony, contact mediaatmobilityweek [dot] eu (media[at]mobilityweek[dot]eu)

Media enquiries:
Sean Carroll
Communications Officer
Email: mediaatmobilityweek [dot] eu (media[at]mobilityweek[dot]eu)

Details

Publication date
21 March 2019
Author
Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport