With less than one week to go until City Transport & Road Pricing Conference Europe 2021, CiTTi meets speaker Jill Warren, CEO of the European Cyclists’ Federation, who will discuss the health, environmental and congestion reducing benefits of cycling.
Taking place on 11-12 May 2021 via virtual conferencing platform Swapcard, City Transport & Road Pricing Conference Europe 2021 will explore the latest developments and technologies shaping urban transportation via four key content themes: road pricing and tolling; emissions and sustainability; congestion and traffic management; and transportation infrastructure.
This two-day online event will see over 20 expert speakers highlight the latest road pricing and tolling projects, discuss intelligent transport infrastructures and present urban mobility schemes being implemented in major towns and cities across Europe, from Ljubljana and Oslo to Brussels and Lahti.
Name: Jill Warren
Job role: CEO
Organisation: European Cyclists’ Federation
What is the best thing about your job?
The best thing about my job is the privilege of working with passionate, talented people who are making a real difference in increasing and improving cycling throughout Europe. It is inspiring and fulfilling to be part of a strong cycling movement that delivers so many positive benefits to citizens, including in terms of health and wellbeing, safety, less pollution and congestion, and more liveable cities and towns with more vibrant local economies.
What is the biggest challenge facing those with responsibility for congestion and traffic management in urban environments in 2021?
The biggest challenge is to lay the groundwork for a significant and lasting shift in favour of safer, healthier and active daily mobility in our cities. The pandemic gave us a window into how much nicer our cities can be without the congestion, noise and air pollution caused by motorised vehicle traffic. Cities that are seizing this opportunity to effect and accelerate lasting change in favour of more active mobility modes, such as cycling, will reap the benefits in the years to come.
What’s your best piece of advice for those looking to implement congestion and traffic management solutions?
The focus should be on making your city more liveable and healthy for all citizens and visitors, by incentivising and enabling more sustainable and active mobility and logistics solutions, but also by introducing disincentives for the use of motorised vehicles for private and delivery trips. More concretely: build safe and comfortable cycling infrastructure, so that more people have an attractive alternative to using their cars. Study after study shows that people will shift their mobility habits accordingly.
Does legislation help or hinder development in the sector?
That depends very much on the legislation in question and how it is applied. Policies, legislation and increased public funding all have their place in driving the improvements and lasting positive change that will make our cities more sustainable and liveable.
How will the business of traffic management have changed by 2030?
There will be much more attention paid to optimising all modes of traffic, including active modes such as cycling and walking. The playing field for active transport modes will be more level and even prioritised in parts of the urban mobility mix.
Why are you looking forward to speaking at City Transport & Road Pricing Europe 2021?
I look forward to contributing the voice of cyclists to these very important conversations and considerations, because the benefits of achieving more and better cycling in our cities are enormous.
At the conference you’ll also be able to hear from Continental, Transport & Environment, Greenplan, the cities of Stuttgart and Oslo, the European Green Capital 2021 project… and more! You can view the full agenda here. All times are shown in CET (GMT+1). All sessions will be available after the conference on-demand.
For partnership enquiries, please contact Robert Gouge at robert.gouge@akabomedia.co.uk or by calling +44 (0) 20 8065 0465. For speaking opportunities, please contact Claudia Davidson at claudia.davidson@akabomedia.co.uk or by calling +44 (0) 20 8037 1777.
Meet some of our other speakers at City Transport & Road Pricing Conference Europe 2021…
- Dimitri Konstantas, Horizon 2020 AVENUE project
- Matej Kranjc, DARS
- Diogo Pinto, FIA Region
- Paal Mork, Oslo Commune
- François Bausch, Luxembourg government
- James Nix, Transport and Environment
- Thomas Lymes, Eurocities
- Milla Bruneau, Lahti – European Green Capital 2021 project
- Karin Fest, ÖBB-Personenverkehr
