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G
The first approach would consist of focusing on road transport solely through pricing. This option would not
be accompanied by complementary measures in the other modes of transport. In the short term it
might curb the growth in road transport through the better loading ratio of goods vehicles and occupancy rates
of passenger vehicles expected as a result of the increase in the price of transport. However, the lack of
measures available to revitalise other modes of transport would make it impossible for more sustainable modes
of transport to take up the baton.
H
The second approach also concentrates on road transport pricing but is accompanied by measures
to increase the efficiency of the other modes (better quality of services, logistics, technology). However,
this approach does not include investment in new infrastructure, nor does it guarantee better regional cohesion.
It could help to achieve greater uncoupling than the first approach, but road transport would keep the lion‟s
share of the market and continue to concentrate on saturated arteries, despite being the most polluting of the
modes. It is therefore not enough to guarantee the necessary shift of the balance.
I
The third approach, which is not new, comprises a series of measures ranging from pricing to
revitalising alternative modes of transport and targeting investment in the trans-European network. This
integrated approach would allow the market shares of the other modes to return to their 1998 levels and thus
make a shift of balance. It is far more ambitious than it looks, bearing in mind the historical imbalance in
favour of roads for the last fifty years, but would achieve a marked break in the link between
road transport growth and economic growth, without placing restrictions on the mobility of people and goods.
