The Open & Agile Smart Cities initiative supports the European Commission’s “Clean Bus Deployment initiative”, which aims at boosting the number of zero-emission buses and curbing air pollution in European cities. One of the main goals is to improve lives of European city dwellers.

Seppo Haataja, Chair of the Mobility working group said: “The Commission’s initiative is perfectly aligned with OASC’s commitment to promote sustainable smart cities. We encourage our member cities to sign the declaration and contribute to cleaner and quieter public transport.”

The Clean Bus Deployment initiative, which also includes recommendations on open, fair and equal access to data for SMEs and start-ups, was officially launched on 13 July at the end of the plenary of the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. European Commissioner for Transport, Violeta Bulc, encouraged as many organisations as possible to read and sign the declaration. She stressed the importance of capitalizing on each others’ learnings to create the most flexible and effective infrastructure models.

Besides OASC, partner organisation EUROCITIES and several OASC member cities including Brussels, Bristol, Aberdeen, Rijeka and the Pomorski Region – home to Polish member city Grudziądz – committed to promote the uptake of clean buses fueled by electricity, hydrogen or natural gas and to monitor noise and air pollution.

Should your city be interested in joining the Clean Bus Deployment initiative, send an e-mail with the signed declaration to MOVE-CLEAN-B– USES@ec.europa.eu and your city will be added to the list of supporters.