MoDu - Global strategy for sustainable mobility (2012)

The overall strategy for sustainable mobility, hereinafter referred to as "MoDu", was drawn up during 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 by the Department of Spatial Planning and the Mobility Planning Directorate in consultation with the other departments of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure (MDDI) and the Roads and Bridges Administration (PCH). It presents an integrated approach to the various measures needed to meet the challenges of mobility, and implements projects on the basis of new thinking in order to reduce budget costs, while maintaining the principle of giving priority to projects linked to public transport.

This global strategy for sustainable mobility is based at national level on the rail network as the backbone of the public transport network. The rail network offers unrivalled speed, comfort and durability. Buses provide a feeder service to the train, with direct access to the nearest stations. Regions without rail links will be provided with fast, efficient bus lines serving the main routes.

For the City of Luxembourg and its immediate suburbs, the MoDu strategy represents a fundamental change. As far as buses are concerned, the aim is to relieve congestion at the capital's two main gateways, the Gare Centrale and Hamilius. It is essential to remedy this problem of extreme saturation, especially as passenger numbers are set to increase and the two interchange points mentioned above will undergo considerable redevelopment, so that train-bus and bus-bus, or even train-tram and bus-tram transhipments can no longer be carried out entirely at these two interchange points alone.

For this reason, the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure is planning to create new interchanges. The main task of these hubs will be to improve the distribution of flows into and within the capital, and they will be linked by the tram, which will have its own lanes and will thus be able to guarantee comfortable, punctual and high-capacity public transport throughout the City of Luxembourg. These new interchanges will also enable train-bus or bus-bus transhipments to access peri-urban and suburban areas that are major centres of employment.

This connectivity function will be provided by the new tangential bus lines. This increase in the number of interchange hubs in the capital means that we can move from a star-shaped public transport system to a mesh system that can respond to the strong growth of the city and its suburbs, as well as the growing mobility needs of these outlying areas. This mesh system shortens distances and increases the network's redundancy in the event of problems.

In addition, the MoDu strategy encompasses an integrated strategic approach based not only on mobility and transport elements, but also on spatial planning strategies and tools, as well as environmental initiatives.

As a reminder, mobility is an essential condition for social organisation and economic development. In this context, the role of town and country planning is to ensure balanced and integrative spatial development that reconciles socio-economic development and urbanisation with mobility, in particular by means of various instruments such as the 2003 town and country planning master programme, the IVL, sectoral master plans and State-commune agreements. At local level, communal development plans and special development plans must ensure, at their own scale, more compact urban development, with a good mix of functions and activities, and conducive to public transport and soft mobility.

The environmental findings have shown once again that the ecological consequences of transport in general are particularly severe. The actions undertaken in the areas of air quality, climate change and noise, such as the Climate Change Action Plan and the National Plan for Sustainable Development, must therefore be pursued using an integrated approach and in close conjunction with mobility and urban planning.

Finally, the "MoDu" strategy complements the draft sectoral master plan "Transport" (PST), which in turn describes in detail the various projects and measures requiring a regulatory framework and provides an integrative reference framework for spatial planning, mobility and infrastructure planning.

The "MoDu" strategy, approved by the Government Council on 17 February 2012, was presented to the general public on 19 April 2012 with the brochure "Stratégie globale pour une mobilité durable - pour les résidents et les frontaliers" (Overall strategy for sustainable mobility - for residents and cross-border workers). Following the consultation debate of 14 June 2012 on the mobility concept and the tramway in Luxembourg City, the Chamber of Deputies confirmed the "MoDu" strategy and called on the government to continue to pursue a mobility policy in line with the new national mobility strategy "MoDu".