European Commission's Eric Ponthieu
Feb. '02 EDICT Conference, Cardiff

Press conference - EDICT kick-off meeting

· "I would like to develop briefly the reasons why the European Commission has decided to invest into EDICT.
· I can highlight at least three main reasons for that support:

· First of all, you might know that sustainable development is convincingly promoted at the European Union level (cf.Kyoto). The process which tends to integrate sustainable development into each of the EU policies is known as the "Cardiff process".
· One of the most important challenges for the European Union will be to instill sustainability into the transport policy.
· Sustainability, in this context, means to break the link which existed for years between economic growth and transport growth.
· The New Common Transport Policy, which has been adopted by the Commission last year, aims to de-couple economic growth and transport growth.
· In other terms, one will have to use less motorised transport (and this applies both to passenger and freight transport) while continuing to advance the economic and social welfare of our European society.
· In this respect, EDICT is seen by the European Commission as an innovative effort to travel more efficiently and environmentally in the years to come, hence contributing to sustainability.
· EDICT is co-funded by the European Commission within its research programme on "Environment and Sustainable Development", Key Action City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage.
· The contribution of the European Commission amounts to around 1.5 million euro (0.85 million pound) for a total project cost of 3 million euro (1.7 million pound).
· The European Commission does not finance the capital costs, such as the building up of the infrastructure. However, it financially supports the assessment phase of the demonstration, as well as the dissemination and exploitation of project results, recognizing that the results should be of interest to many other cities in Europe facing similar challenges.

· Secondly, one has to accept that, today, both private cars and public transport cannot fulfill the diversity of mobility needs at the urban level.
· Transport demand tends to become more varied and unpredictable. Mobility is nowadays much more chaotic than the tidal flow of commuters.
· To respond to the broad range of mobility needs implies the availability of different and complementary transport modes and forms. And that goes well beyond the today predominance of private cars and conventional public transport.
· Intermediate forms of transport such as the Personal Rapid Transits to be developed in EDICT, have a great potential to complement the existing transport offer in European cities.
· The fact such systems would cost between a third and a half of a traditional light rail system is an asset for medium size cities such as Cardiff.
· In addition, the high standard of comfort and convenience brought by such systems (e.g. seamless door-to-door travel, on demand functioning) could attract new types of users who today are in love with their cars.
· The Commission very much supports the objective of the Cardiff County Council to have 50% of all passenger trips being delivered by public transport in the medium term. The Commission believes the ULTRA system is a right way to reach this objective.

· Thirdly, the potential of demonstration projects such as EDICT is clearly of European dimension.
· The problems relating to urban pollution, congestion and safety caused by transport are common to all European cities, whatever their size.
· Neither the Commission, nor the industrial developers involved into EDICT have interest in the technology remaining confined in few places of Europe.
· The broad dissemination of personal rapid transits such as the ULTRA system, should allow to maximize the benefits to the overall European community: benefits for the developers in terms of returns on investment; benefits for the cities and regions in terms of cost reduction due to increasing production and competition; and benefits for the citizens in terms of continuing improvement of the performance of the technology.

· This concludes my intervention. I would be more than happy to answer your questions."

Speech at the City Hall - EDICT kick-off meeting

· "Madam the Deputy Mayor of Cardiff, Ladies and Gentlemen
· It is my great pleasure to be your guest this evening, and, on behalf of the European Commission, I would like to thank the Cardiff City Council for the invitation.
· The excellent idea to celebrate the formal launch of the ULTRA programme in the superb City Hall of Cardiff adds to the greatness of the event.

· I want to emphasize, in my brief intervention, the importance that the European Commission attaches to the initiative taken by the County and the City of Cardiff and by the Welsh Assembly in supporting the ULTRA programme.

· As some of you might know, my presence today relates to the role the European Commission is going to play into the ULTRA programme, and which essentially will consist of supporting financially the test, demonstration and assessment of the ULTRA system in real scale conditions.
· This work will take place within the so-called EDICT project, with EDICT standing for "Evaluation and Demonstration of Innovative City Transport".
· EDICT is a project which is funded by the research programme on "Environment and Sustainable Development", which is part of the Key Action "City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage".
· The contribution of the European Commission will amount to around 1.5 million euro (0.85 million pound) for a total project cost of 3 million euro (1.7 million pound).

· For years, the idea of implementing futuristic driverless shuttles in cities has been researched by scientists all over the world.
· What we today commonly call personal rapid transits (PRT), are basically small shuttles moving around automatically that can be called on demand along their network.
· It is worth saying that some of the Personal Rapid Transit systems which are being developed here and there, are mature from a technological point of view, and the ULTRA system is certainly one of those which is the most attractive for an urban application.
· So far, the major obstacles to the implementation of systems similar to ULTRA in cities have been of non-technical nature.
· In particular, political and regulatory barriers limited very strongly the diffusion of the technology up to now.
· I want to do a bit of history and remind you of the existence of a system similar to ULTRA in the 80's: the ARAMIS concept, which was developed by the French car manufacturer MATRA.
· ARAMIS failed because of the lack of political support.
· This ARAMIS system was yet reliable, performant and safe. It was supposed to be implemented in Paris. But the French decision-makers failed to recognize its strategic importance for the development of the Paris region.

· Today, with ULTRA, we are confronted with a totally different scenario.
· There are at least two good reasons which tell me that ULTRA stands a much higher chance of success!

· First of all, the context has changed. The demand for mobility continues to increase, and the current offer does not fulfil the expectations of the citizens.
· It is increasingly recognized that Personal Rapid Transit systems have a great potential to support the move towards sustainable mobility.
· PRT can offer three deciding advantages: a reduced cost compared to traditional light rail systems, an enhanced comfort and convenience for passengers, and the possibility to fill the gaps in the current public transport networks.
· The European Commission cannot but welcome the initiative taken by Cardiff and its region, as it sees it as a means to reach the political objectives of the New Common Transport Policy which is being currently debated at the EU level.
· In accordance with our policy not to intervene in local and urban affairs (what we call the subsidiarity principle), the European Commission has limited its investment into ULTRA to the financing of the evaluation, dissemination and exploitation phases of the project.
· Very clearly, only these phases have the required European dimension justifying our intervention.

· Secondly, and perhaps the most important, the indispensable political support for guaranteeing the success of the ULTRA programme is with us.
· Both the Cardiff City Council and the Welsh Assembly are backing the project with a great enthusiasm.
· The support offered by these two organizations has not been decided by chance: it is the result of a long term vision which aims to radically change the image of Wales and Cardiff on the European stage.
· The great thing of this vision is that it recognizes the importance of being innovative in many respects, and in particular in the transport area.
· What the Welsh decision makers have well understood is that urban light transport systems like ULTRA can modify the perception people have of a city.
· More than being a mere showcase, ULTRA will put Cardiff at the forefront of European Capitals, and to quote a recent statement by Madam the Deputy mayor, Cardiff could become as important for Wales that Edinburgh is for Scotland.
· It is definitely the role of the European Commission to encourage the emergence of innovative approaches in the different regions of Europe, and to foster the dispersion of good practices throughout the continent.

· In conclusion, by supporting ULTRA through the financing of EDICT, the Commission takes a significant step in promoting a more balanced social, economic and environmental development of Europe

· I thank you for your attention."