Preliminary Draft Law on the Sustainable Mobility, for a clean mobility that is understood as a social right, and a digital and innovative transportation system
The preliminary draft of the law began in March its public audience process, and is open for comments until the 14th of April
The new law will enable public transportation and mobility policies to better meet the needs of citizens and respond to the challenges of the 21st century: sustainability, digitalisation and social and territorial cohesion
The Council of Ministers approved on the 1st of March the Preliminary Draft of the Sustainable Mobility Law, which will be the regulatory framework that will enable the public transportation and mobility policies of the various government agencies to better meet the needs of citizens and respond to the challenges of the 21st century: sustainability, digitalisation and social and territorial cohesion.
The measures included in this preliminary draft match many of the Global Mobility Call proposals, which are aimed at responding to challenges in mobility and transportation, among these the fight against climate change, the advent of new technologies, and demographic trends, within a context of post-pandemic recovery with changes in mobility habits.
The Minister of Transportation, Mobility and Urban Agenda, Raquel Sánchez, said that the preliminary draft aims, among other things, to promote sustainability in transportation and mobility, digitalisation and innovation in a sector that is essential and fundamental to daily life, but also a sector that is essential to the economy.
As stated by the Minister, this law is a radical change in approach by transportation policies, because for the first time, mobility is acknowledged as a right. This means guaranteeing that any citizen can access a sustainable and fair mobility system, that will enable them to freely exercise their constitutional rights and freedoms, favour the performance of their personal, business and commercial activities, and meet the needs of underprivileged people and of the areas affected by depopulation, and especially, to pay special attention to the cases of mandatory mobility.
The future Sustainable Mobility Law is part of the reforms and milestones that the Spanish government has undertaken with the European Commission to implement within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (RTRP). The established milestones envisage their approval and entry into force in the last quarter of 2023.
The preliminary draft implements several principles and steps that are included in the 2030 Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy, approved on the 10th of December, that require legal reforms at law level, and comply with several recommendations issued by the AIReF and other international agencies.
This new framework will contribute to meeting the goals to reduce greenhouse gases and contaminating emissions by transportation, in alignment with the international agreements subscribed by Spain to meet the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN Agenda 2030 and the Paris COP21, and European strategies, such as the European Green Deal or the European Mobility Strategy.
Sánchez has said that the law will reduce inefficiencies in public investment expenditure, helping to increase productivity for companies, and will have very positive effects for market unity, competitiveness and competition.
National Sustainable Mobility System
To strengthen cooperation between the three government agencies: State, Autonomous Communities and Town Halls, the National Sustainable Mobility System was created, which will provide this coordination through various instruments, both administrative, technological and procedural.
The goal is to promote stronger coordination and collaboration mechanisms among the various government agencies, which will also involve various industry agents, both public and private, where they will share new ideas, initiatives and good practises.
Other measures
The new law guarantees State contribution to sustaining collective urban transport by means of a uniform system for all cities, that is predictable in time and aims to advance in the transformation from “car city” to “people city”.
The sustainable mobility plans must now contain measures to plan for urban distribution of goods, cooperating with other adjoining municipalities to establish uniform criteria, a step which has been largely demanded by the industry to facilitate last-mile transport and logistics between adjoining city areas.