Another European Mobility Week (EMW) has passed us by and who can say they noticed? In a week that celebrated Arthur’s Day, Culture Night and saw the return of thousands of students to College, EMW barely got a look in. If last Saturday’s Irish Times article is anything to go by, it isn’t too surprising (http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0918/1224279140550.html ). The Botanic Gardens Sculpture in Context exhibition and a Kevin Thornton free workshop on biodegradable waste hardly seem like the biggest efforts or contribution to ensure the success of the week.
Since it began in 2002, EMW has steadily grown throughout Europe. 2,083 cities participated in European Mobility Week this year, with campaigns also being organised in a few other non-European countries – Japan, Colombia, Brazil and Taiwan. Its theme “travel smarter, live better” encapsulates its raison d’être: to encourage public awareness of the detrimental impact that increased motorised traffic is having on the urban environment.
More than half of the global population now lives in urban environments and most big cities are the same. People complain about the reliability of public transport: infrequent bus services, inadequate cycle paths and a Metro line that doesn’t exist or accommodate where I need to go. A feature of 21st century living is the need for immediate satisfaction. Convenience is king. Cars are just one example of this philosophy of consumerism. Despite congestion, pollution and other safety risks, people can’t be enticed from them.
European Mobility Week is intended to challenge this. It offers a unique opportunity for politicians to test innovative transport policies and present them to citizens, to promote alternative forms of travel and show the town/city in another light thanks to reduced motorised traffic within restricted areas. There wasn’t a trace of this in Dublin. It seems as though the Dublin bikes campaign, rather than acting as a catalyst for further improvement, is used to absolve us from the realisation that that campaign was just one of many measures needed to change our relationship with public transport.
Once again, EMW 2010 seems like another opportunity missed.
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