A global change in the transport sector is advocated in a statement, valuing workers and eventually making it free throughout the country. manifesto with 10 proposals published this Tuesday in Lisbon by seven organizations.
Called “All aboard!”which links transport and climate change and demands new policies for the sector, the manifesto defends in particular the investment in rail transport and in Metropolitanbuses powered by renewable energy and ending air travel in the Iberian Peninsula for distances less than 700 kilometers.
The manifesto is signed by Zero entitiesMUBI, Vida Justa, Movimento SOS Terras do Cávado, Movimento Cívico pela Estação Nova (Coimbra), Vida Justa, Jobs for Climate Campaign and Union of Public and Social Functions Workers of the North.
The seven organizations warn that climate justice requires sustainably powered transportaccessible, “and whose cost does not exclude anyone” and that creates qualified jobs with rights.
“In the long term, the objective of extending free public transport to the entire territory should be considered, provided that the necessary investments are guaranteed so that the individual car is dispensable,” the manifesto reads.
Acácio Pires, from the environmental association Zero, told Lusa that public transport can be financed with taxes linked to fossil fuels and cars, highlighting that a third of greenhouse gas emissions in Portugal come from transport.
At a time when, he stated, many public transport companies are having difficulty attracting qualified personnel, from drivers to mechanics, “a change in the sector is crucial” which will also be “an opportunity for the economy”increasing the bicycle manufacturing industry and capacity in the road and rail sector.
It is necessary, he summarized, to expand the public transport offerand it is essential that travel time in public transport is less than in individual transport.
And in the approach recommended in the manifesto, he warned, it may be necessary to restrict private transport in public spaces, because until now cities have given priority to the car, forgetting about other forms of mobility.
“We remain stuck in a mobility model based on individual motorized road transport, dependent on fossil fuels, in which public transport and active mobility are marginalized,” the manifesto states, regretting that the current Government does not plan “the “necessary effort to change the mobility patterns of the Portuguese.”
The manifesto defends the Expansion of the number of metropolitan, regional and international trains.and the railway connection with all regional capitals, airports, municipalities with more than 200 inhabitants per square kilometer, logistics platforms and ports.
“TO Sustainable mobility is an opportunity to create thousands of jobs.in the public sector, in construction, maintenance, manufacturing, digitalization, driving and other essential services for the fulfillment of this plan,” its officials state in the document, highlighting the need for decent and attractive salaries, fair conditions and job stability for ” attract thousands of qualified people.”
Acácio Pires highlighted the need for, in large cities, the railway to be combined with other means of transport, in particular the metro, and to introduce flexible transport in the public transport system in the future, which would be “low transport”. demand”.
The idea of the manifesto and the proposals it contains, he summarized, is that People who don’t have a car can do the same as everyone else and go to the same places.There is no longer a stigma regarding those who, when they reach adulthood, do not have a car.
Source: Observadora
