Representatives from more than 20 European cities are visiting the West Midlands this week as part of an international conference highlighting how public transport can drive economic growth across the continent.
Birmingham is hosting this year’s European Metropolitan Transport Authorities (EMTA) conference, which is being attended by delegates from across the continent as well as representatives from the USA and Canada.
The findings of the event, held by transport authority Centro, will be fed in to European parliament to help shape how progress is made over the next few years.
At the end of the conference, which runs from November 9 – 11, key actions will be presented to the European transport commission by North West MEP Brian Simpson in a bid to help focus the charge for economic prosperity on transport.
Centro’s head of commissioning Rafael Cuesta said:
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to show some of the things we are doing in the region and to use our experiences to help shape the way European Parliament sees public transport.
“Transport plays a key role in the economy of a region and in these difficult times that is more important than ever.
“It is equally significant that in focussing on a major project like the proposed high speed rail line between Birmingham and London we also recognise the importance of investment on local services alongside this.”
The conference follows the first anniversary of Vision for Movement, a collaboration between Centro, Birmingham City Council and the city’s business districts which lays out plans to transform how people arrive into and move around Birmingham city centre.
Delegates will be shown some of the key progress made to reinvent the city centre, which will see the Metro return to the city’s streets as well as the £600 million redevelopment of New Street station.
Centro’s chief executive Geoff Inskip will be facilitating the event in his role as chair of the Passenger Transport Executive Group.
The project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and made possible by the INTERREG IV C Programme.
