Centro, a UK based organisation that operates bus, rail and the Midland Metro Tram transport in the West Midlands area, is urging transport chiefs from across Europe to come together to reduce carbon footprints in Europe.
The organisation will be sharing ideas with similar associations from Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands at the Involve project, which will be working to improve intercity connectivity and lower traffic congestion.
The initiative is expected to run for three years, and will include green schemes such as the Birmingham Interconnect project and Local Sustainable Transport Fund schemes. Road congestion is costing around GBP2.3 billion each year in the West Midlands region, and new initiatives will be working towards reducing such costs.
Rafael Cuesta, the organisation head of strategic development, said, ‘We are delighted to be taking part in the Involve project which gives us the chance to look at how other countries are fighting congestion.
It is often overlooked that transport plays a significant role in supporting our region’s economy by connecting people to jobs, training and education. And by working with other countries we can find new ways of working and hopefully pass on some of our own ideas.’
The Involve project is part of the PIMMS Capital programme, uniting European transport bodies on transport projects.
Earlier, West Midlands transport chiefs had recommended that the UK Government provide safe cycling routes as an important step towards encouraging people to switch to pedalling to work, in order to reduce traffic congestion.
The organisation feels that boosting the number of people cycling in the UK by even 1 percent will reduce congestion significantly. The organisation is pushing to convert 20 percent of the West Midland journeys to cycling by 2016.
