Preface of the Portrait

  
Contents  
 

Integrated Transport Policy 2000+

Browsing through the summary of the Swiss General Transport Concept (GTC) I was both pleased and rather surprised to find that many of the current challenges and conflicts of transport policy were already identified by the GTC some twenty years ago. A more recent development is the integration of Switzerland into the European transport networks and transport policy, and an enhanced awareness of the limits of mobility, in particular for the limits of environmental damage and public funding. However, the four main goals of current Swiss transport policy remain compatible with those of the GTC-and are based on many research results of the past decades:

  • the protection of human health and the natural bases of human life
  • the conservation of the social achievements of mobility
  • an economical use of public funds
  • coordination with European transport policy

Many elements of a transport policy which is focused on these aims are either being realized or being prepared: Swiss railway reform, funding of major projects for public transport, completion of the Swiss motorway system, performance-related road freight taxation, implementation of the Alp Initiative, bilateral negotiations, CO2 act, the guidelines to Swiss area planning, etc. This means that many very important decisions have to been taken almost simultaneously.

But the challenge is not only up to the politicians, and ultimately the citizens of Switzerland: for an integrated, sustainable global transport policy of the future, further essential information is required which must be supplied by research. The political relevance of this Programme and of all the elements in its name (transport, environment, interaction between Switzerland and Europe) has roused high expectations; it is both a challenge and an opportunity for oriented research.

I therefore have high hopes for the NRP "Transport and Environment" and wish that - with their innovative, critical and scientific minds as well as with their intuition for relevant issues, both practical and political - everyone involved may contribute to a sustainable transport policy of the future.

Moritz Leuenberger, Federal Councillor
Federal Department of Transport, Communications and Energy

 
 

Transport and the Environment: Interactions between Switzerland and Europe

Mobility is a valuable resource, and it is in the interest of a Democracy to sustain it and to ensure its accessibility to all. Mobility is a source of exchanges of contacts, of discoveries, and therefore of mutual enrichment, of innovation and creativity.

There are many objective or subjective ways in which the value of mobility can be assessed, but never will one single approach to evaluation be approved by all the participants with their greatly divergent origins, aims and values.

Moreover, the value of mobility often reveals itself only by its opposite. The words immobility, inertia, rigidity, congestion, partitioning, constriction and blockage reveal the fears triggered by lack of mobility. Often, these fears are well-grounded, and their exacerbation may mobilise the will-power and strength not only to preserve one of the fundamental resources of a dynamic and balanced society but - first and foremost - to improve the intrinsic quality of mobility as regards all the participants as well as our environment.

In order to preserve and improve this mobility, not least as a source of employment and wealth, this phenomenon needs first to be explained by analysing its history, by interpreting its present, and by evaluating its possible and desirable future tendencies. These explanations will permit the identification of our options for action and enable the selection of the best ones - always taking into account social, demographic, ecological, energy-related and economic needs.

The consideration of these varied yet closely-related needs also compels us to reflect on how we use time - time in the cosmic, cultural and economic sense; time which sets the rhythm for the flow of things material and immaterial; time which means approaching or distancing, which unites or divides. It is the ambitious aim of NRP41 to understand the role of logistics and transport in our treatment of time.

Thanks to the Swiss National Science Foundation and its Division IV, four to five fascinating years lie ahead of the researchers, with the challenge of finding intelligent, innovative solutions to the issues raised above. Our warmest thanks to all the researchers for their committment.

Prof. Francis-Luc Perret,
President of the Group of Experts

 
 

What can NRP41 offer you?

Research for a Sustainable Transport Policy

The relevant Federal decree states that National Research Programmes (NRPs) are intended to contribute to the solution of tasks of national interest. NRP41, then, places research at the service of those who are shaping the transport policy of the future. Primarily, they are the governments and administrations of the Confederation, of cantons, regions and communities, the parliamentarians at all levels, associations and political parties. Other important participants in transport policy, however, are the transport sector and the economy in general, researchers, consultants as well as the media and the interested public. The introductory statements by the Federal Councillor, Moritz Leuenberger, and by Prof. F.-L. Perret show that there is no shortage of challenges to politics and science.

Implementation Is Not a One-Way-Street

Of course, to do research for the above-mentioned type of target group means that the results have to be summarised in a comprehensible way and presented at symposia and seminars. The implementation of knowledge, however, needs to start sooner, and it cannot be a one-way-street: the Management of NRP41 has attempted to include burning issues, which has resulted in numerous co-financing agreements and other types of cooperation. It is intended to have regular workshops to discuss preliminary results with the target groups, and for the research teams to integrate practical and political objections. The Programme Management is also greatly interested in other forms of cooperation.

Our Objective: An efficient, environment-friendly, socially acceptable Transport Policy

NRP41 intends to become a think-tank for sustainable transport policy. According to the plan of action dated end 1995, it shall supply contributions from all relevant disciplines towards the efficient and sustainable satisfaction of mobility needs. The main focus is on the following:

  • the complex limits of mobility, in particular those resulting from the protection of humans and the environment, as well as the economy (competitiveness) of Switzerland and her regions
  • Switzerland in the European context
  • medium to long-term planning (ca. 2000 to 2020).

The NRP Does Not Stand Alone!

It is not only transport policy, but also research which has long been international. The European research programmes on the same topics are greater than NRP41 by a factor of one hundred. In Switzerland, too, various research programmes are concerned with related subjects (for an overview, contact the Programme Management). NRP41 intends to seize this opportunity by attempting to achieve optimum coordination with other research initiatives, and by actively seeking cooperation with EU project teams - a challenge open to the research teams, as well.

Focused Implementation

The relevant information concerning the management of the Programme, the planned project monitoring and the implementation can be found in the Management Concept of NRP41. It should be mentioned that the Group of Experts is the scientific conscience of the Programme, while the Programme Manager is mainly concerned with implementation and coordination. The workshops are the main instrument to guarantee the quality of the projects and early contact with the target groups; it is there that the project teams from one particular thematic Module will present their preliminary results and will field the questions by the experts and the monitoring team.

Felix Walter
Programme Manager NRP41