Several factors of change have an impact on transport today: Climate change calls for actions to reduce emissions as well as for adaptation measures. Information and communication technologies modify the way users make their mobility choices. Growing trade flows necessitate a re-organisation of maritime transport, with associated environmental issues. Urban development offers new opportunities for public transport.

All these challenges call for a revision of transport policies, noted Frédéric Cuvillier, France’s Secretary of State for Transport and 2014 President of the ITF, in his opening remarks.

Changes lead to social risks, Cuvillier said. Transport therefore has to be linked to a social dimension. Present developments should not endanger cohesion, but safeguard better access. “Means of transport are the expression of the dignity of a country”, Cuvillier said calling for transport to remain affordable.

While transport is affected by global megatrends such as climate change, demographic shifts or digitalisation, it has an impact on these trends as well. Mobility is no longer a purely technical issue, it has become a societal issue, with mobility becoming a determinant of value-creation in societies. Infrastructure is important for growth. Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s Minister for Transport and Digital Infrastructure, pointed out that future wealth will be determined by flows: Flows of goods, flows of people and data flows. Dobrindt identified three pillars necessary to enable these: “We have to maintain infrastructure, expand infrastructure and interconnect infrastructure.”

Transport has changed the world over the past centuries, noted José Viegas, Secretary-General of the ITF, and called for transport not only to adapt, but to aspire to be a force for positive change on the globe. New forms of motorised mobility are an example of this. A shift from car ownership to vehicle sharing and ride sharing reduces costs, increases access and releases public space for pedestrians and bicycles. This calls for redefining the objective of urban mobility, and here policy choices need to be made.

Likewise, autonomous driving will lead to a drastic improvement in road safety with fewer casualties and thus less pain in society. It will also release time that can be used productively. New technologies increase productivity in transport, but it may also have a negative impact on employment in the sector, highlighting the need for “a new social deal” (Viegas).

Professor James K. Galbraith in his keynote underlined the importance of implementing effective standards as the essence of practical administration in transport. Effective standards foster trust, enable markets to function, safeguard fairness and lead to green and inclusive growth. Galbraith sees a role for the International Transport Forum in bridging the gap between research results and political decision-making, ensuring the standards needed are combined with a practical approach.

“Rising inequality, like rising blood pressure, can prefigure a crisis and is a warning sign”, Galbraith warned. Some call for extreme measures, such as an annual global tax on market capitalisation. But as one would avoid aggressive medical intervention where possible, extreme measures to address inequality should be foregone in favour of practical, tested approaches such as social insurance, minimum wages, public provision of goods such as education, healthcare and a reasoned control of finance.

Trading nations in particular are susceptible to global trends and must respond to them. Modern free trade agreements are important in this respect. The recent EU-Canada free trade agreement, for instance, will cover all sectors including transport, noted Canada’s Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt. Her colleague from New Zealand, Gerry Brownlee, added that for small and remote countries like his, connectivity, intelligent systems and resilience matter. New Zealand enhances its connectivity via liberal air services agreements. An action plan on intelligent transport systems is facilitating uptake of new technologies. Systematic development of transport resilience is a remedy to natural disasters such as the 2011 Christchurch earthquake that wiped 20% off New Zealand’s GDP.

Designing better transport policies for better lives is one of the roles of the OECD, the organisation’s Secretary-General Angel Gurría recalled. In view of the global economic crisis and the complexities societies face from ageing, urbanisation to climate change, a new paradigm for transport policy is paramount, underlined Gurría. For instance, the economic development of big cities in emerging economies presupposes strong transport systems. Yet good transport systems with direct connections and real-time passenger information presuppose, in turn, digitalisation. The digital revolution must happen everywhere, in all modes of transport and all regions.

Public support is a precondition for equity and innovation where economic viability is absent, and the role of the public sector in financing infrastructure is important. Public-private partnerships are key in this respect. Moreover, investment in infrastructure has effects on climate and the environment, a reality which calls for a strategy. The role of regulators and watchdogs is to ensure a level playing field.

Quotes

“Means of transport are the expression of the dignity of a country.”
Frédéric Cuvillier, Secretary of State for Transport, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, France

“We have to maintain infrastructure,expand infrastructure and interconnect infrastructure.”
Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany