Public Transport is a good way to reduce congestion and environment and health-harming emissions in urban areas, especially when they run on alternative, cleaner fuels. The European Commission strongly encourages the use of public transport as part of the mix of modes which each person living or working in a city can use. For example, parking one's car outside of the city centre at a railway or bus station.
As part of its responsibilities for developing policies and managing funding instruments, the European Commission addresses urban public transport in several ways:
It liaises with key stakeholders for exchange of learnings and support.
It promotes the exchange of best practice for example through the ELTIS portal which includes more than 700 case studies on clean & energy-efficient vehicles, collective passenger transport and intermodality from across Europe.
It conducts studies on specific topics, such as the study conducted in 2011 on smart ticketing.
It regulates the market of passenger transport by coaches and buses, in order to best protect passenger safety and rights and public service obligations in transport.
Last, it provides funding through especially through the European Structural and Investment funds to support the development of cycle infrastructure in eligible regions and the Horizon2020 Research Framework Programme under the CIVITAS initiative .