Two leading international voices in the transport sector, the International Transport Forum (ITF) and the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), today issued a call to public transport-related organisations to be acknowledged for their successful innovative approaches that improve public transport systems by making a claim for the 2010 ITF-UITP “Outstanding Innovation in Public Transport Award”.

“Efficient, high quality public transport is a key element in sustainable urban travel and community prosperity,” said Jack Short, Secretary General of the ITF. 

“Innovation in public transport has enabled more efficient and accessible services.  I am very pleased that the UITP has partnered with us to offer an award for Outstanding Innovation in Public Transport, which will be presented at the 2010 International Transport Forum in Leipzig, Germany, on 27 May 2010,” said Mr Short.

“Discussions at the 15th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) only reinforce the need for policies such as the UITP’s ambitious and visionary strategy which aims at doubling public transport market share worldwide by the year 2025,”said Hans Rat, Secretary General, UITP.

“With today’s focus to reduce carbon emissions, model cities show us that an increased use of public transport mixed with walking and cycling produce about 2.4 tons less of CO2[1]* per capita per year than cities with high private motorised modes. This makes encouraging continued innovation in public transport essential, to ensure improvements in efficiency and service lead to public transport becoming the transport choice for more of the world’s population,” said Mr Rat.  

The joint ITF-UITP award will recognise innovative projects or initiatives that improve or have improved the quality, sustainability, and inter-modality of public transport services. 

Awards will be considered for four categories of applicants:  1) public transport operators, 2) local and regional public transport authorities, 3) multi-regional authority consortiums, and 4) joint initiatives between public transport sector suppliers and operators/authorities. 

For more details or to apply for the award, go to www.internationaltransportforum.org; www.uitp.org

CONTACT:

International Transport Forum

Aline Plez/Suzanne Parandian

Tel + 33(0)1 45 24 94 35 

Fax. + 33(0)1 45 24 13 22 

aline.plez@oecd.org    suzanne.parandian@oecd.org

 UITP

Sarah D’Angelo

Tel: +32 (0)2 66 36 639 

Fax: +32 (0)2 6601072 

sarah.d’angelo@uitp.org