The Charter of Seville is the most recent policy document launched by ECF at the Velo-city 2011 conference in Seville, Spain. The document underlines the benefits of cycling as a daily mode of transport, citing improved health, reduced traffic congestion, significantly cheaper infrastructure, and lowered transport emissions among many other advantages. The charter specifically calls upon all Ministers of Transport convening at the International Transport Forum (ITF) in Lepzig in May, 2011 “to promote cycling at international level and to invest substantially in cycling in their own countries during the years to come”. ECF Secretary General, Bernard Ensink, unveiled the pioneering document at the closing session of the 2011 Velo-city conference on the 25th of March, 2011. Charter of Seville On the occasion of the Velo-city 2011 conference in Seville, the ECF and the city of Seville address this document to Whereas: The signatories of this declaration ask all Ministers of Transport to acknowledge the following advantages of cycling as 1. Cycling o.ers a.ordable access to transport for most people, ensuring equitable inclusion. 2. More cycling helps meet society’s demand to cater for tighter budgets. 3. More cycling improves the impact of transport on the environment and on people’s physical and mental health. 4. Cycling (like walking) is a zero-emission mode of transport which avoids the by-products of individual motorised 5. Cycling reduces the human costs of transport as it causes less danger on the roads than individual motorised 6. More cycling reduces traffi.c congestion and leads to a more efficient use of space for transport. Cycling cities have 7. Modern public bicycle sharing systems improve the quality of public transport in cities. 8. Cycling in cities, towns, villages and other urban areas, in combination with public transport for long distances 9. Safe and comfortable infrastructure for cycling enables young and elderly people to be mobile by using a healthy 10. Electrically assisted bicycles (variously known as pedelecs, e-bicycles, e-velos) give more people access to sustainable e-mobility than any other means of transport; 11. The potential of bicycles for transporting goods within cities and towns is often underestimated; a huge range of 12. Cycling is a resilient and robust mode of transport. This is an advantage in the event of breakdowns in energy supply 13. It is cheaper to invest in cycling infrastructure than in infrastructure for individual motorised transport. Integral cost 14. Bicycle user associations are ready to organise and to improve the role of individuals in the transport planning 15. Nowadays many cities are moving away from car-oriented transport policies and towards the concept of ‘cities for Source: ECF |
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