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Blog
European Parliament roundtable explores future of multimodal travel
Juan Jesús García Ph.D.
Head of Industry Affairs Europe, Amadeus IT Group
English
This content is only available in this language.
Members of the European Parliament, European Commission and key players from the region’s travel industry this week joined a roundtable entitled ‘The Future of Seamless Travel: Deploying a Multimodal Transport System for Passengers in Europe’. The event, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, was organized by Amadeus and co-hosted by three European Parliament Members: Ana Claudia Tapardel, Pavel Telička, and Dieter-Lebrecht Koch.
The round table also included a high level representation from relevant public and private stakeholders: Jocelyn Fajardo, Member of Commissioner Bulc’s Cabinet, Alain Pittavino of Transdev, Christopher Imbsen of the UNWTO, Lars Birger Salvesen of Oslo Airport, Josef Schneider of the European Passengers’ Federation, Rütger Fenkes of Deutsche Bahn, and Amadeus VP of Industry Affairs, Svend Leirvaag.
An introductory video about multimodality and the concept of EU multimodal corridors served to initiate the discussion on the future of seamless travel in Europe.
The reality is that consumers cannot currently search, book, ticket and pay for multimodal trips throughout Europe. Thus, the round table was a unique opportunity for participants to share their views and raise questions on how to effectively deploy multimodal transport systems for passengers in Europe by sharing best practices, reviewing the role and contribution of each stakeholder, and discussing the next steps to take.
The debate was vibrant and a general consensus was reached around the following ideas:
• The implementation of a multimodal transport system for passengers is a unique opportunity to reinforce the sustainability and competitiveness of the European transport system • Both consumers and companies (both private and public) will benefit from multimodality • The role of policy makers is to create opportunities and stimulate the market to develop and launch multimodal transport solutionsInitiatives to continue fostering the debate and sharing good practices were encouraged and supported by some of the sponsors. As an example, Pavel Telička invited all participants to further discuss and share existing multimodal good practices at an October event in Prague.
The European Union has taken an intelligent approach to making multimodal travel a reality and we all have contributions to make towards that goal.
Have a look at the twitter hashtag #MultimodalEU for tweets and pictures from the event.
Tags
Multimodal Travel, Industry Relations