The Brussels government has launched an appeal to reduce the number of cars entering and circulating the Region by 15% and to make the capital a "shared destination" on the occasion of World Environment Day.
This objective, shared by the social partners, ought to be pursued without penalising or stigmatising commuters' individual driving behaviour, but by promoting all shared mobility alternatives (car-sharing, working from home, public transport, transit parking, etc.), minister-president Rudi Vervoort stated.
The initiative is part of a series of awareness-raising campaigns the Brussels government wants to launch with the social partners, in order to improve air quality in the city. They also aim to improve the flow of traffic by reducing congestion caused by automobile traffic entering Brussels. On Wednesday, Brussels will thus be declared a "shared destination."
All institutional and socio-economic partners have been involved in this communal awareness campaign, so as to encourage drivers to travel in a shared manner to and from Brussels. The campaign may be renewed during mobility week in September 2019.
"Just like other communication and awareness campaigns (I am thinking for example of "Sprout to be Brussels" launched by Beci), we must bring existing solutions to the fore: let us covet shared mobility and public transport for one day or a week in which commuters driving solo are invited to get about in other ways," Vervoort explained in February, when the campaign launch was announced.
"By reducing single occupancy vehicle use, we are reducing traffic-jams and will increase the quality of life in the city. June 5 is a first step in the right direction," according to the regional minister for mobility Pascal Smet. "10% fewer commuters entering means 40% fewer bottlenecks," the Brussels economy minister Didier Gosuin added.
"I am also calling on the federal government to get involved concretely too, by increasing the number of trains serving Brussels as a priority, in collaboration with Stib, and by speeding up RER works," Céline Fremault, the environment minister concluded.
The Brussels Times
