Green and Inclusive Regional Mobility Solutions: key learnings
On 7 March 2024, the Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform held an e-workshop on the topic of Green and Inclusive Regional Mobility Solutions, exploring good practices from Italy, Germany, Spain and Portugal.
Rural areas frequently suffer from a lack of public services and face distinct challenges compared to urban areas, including less access to opportunities, and greater challenges for connectivity and infrastructure.
This includes the provision of sustainable and public transport, with many people instead relying on private cars. Many rural areas also play a recreational role, with high levels of tourism, which can also lead to an influx of vehicles.
Rural areas across Europe have explored how to decarbonise their transport sectors and increase inclusivity and connectivity with innovative approaches to public transport and vehicle sharing.
During this workshop, we heard good practices from the SMAPE, CYCLING WATERWAYS and PROMOTER projects, as well as from participants from the Peer Review held in November 2023 on demand-responsive transport in Saarland.
Explore the recording of the online workshop below.
Workshop agenda
The workshop was designed and moderated by Katharina Krell and Simon Hunkin, Thematic Experts for Connected Europe.
00:58 Introduction to the workshop and topic by Katharina Krell and Simon Hunkin,, Thematic Expert for Connected Europe
Session I - Enhancing sustainable mobility in rural areas
00:16:02 Presentation by Jeffrey Matthijs from Autodelen.be, Belgium on shared mobility in rural regions (SMAPE)
00:25:20 Q&A: What are the implications of insurance?
00:27:10 Q&A: What about the business model? What to charge to the users, so that it works financially?
00:28:26 Q&A: How do you lower the usage threshold for older people? (who are over proportionately present in rural areas compared to urban areas)
00:30:21 Q&A: What is the percentage of e-mobility in the fleet?
00:31:35 Presentation by Pr. Riccardo Palma and Irene Ruiz from Politecnico di Torino, on the potential of cycling in connecting rural areas
00:45:26 Q&A: Who is responsible for such a cycling network
00:47:59 Presentation by Massimiliano Petri from Livorno Province on the Good-Go platform to serve tourists and residents in low-density regions (PROMOTER)
Session II - Demand-Responsive Transport for Rural Areas
01:05:15 Interview of Christian Ramelli from the Saarland Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection, Mobility, Agriculture and Consumer Protection on demand-responsive transport in Saarland, by Thorsten Kohlisch, Lead Manager, Policy Learning Platform
01:21:14 Q&A: Are you planning a specific communication about the offer to the citizens?
01:24:54 Presentation by Albert Guillaumes Marcer from Generalitat de Catalunya's road public transport, on shared mobility in rural regions
01:37:19 Q&A: DRT is highly loss-making, is it even worse performing with public transport or is it comparable?
01:38:15 Q&A: Are facing any skills shortages?
01:39:51 Presentation by Nuno Pomar, from the Intermunicipal Community of the Region Coimbra, who will provide the example of the Coimbra Sit Flexi - a DRT in very thinly populated areas
01:52:12 Q&A: Have you evaluated the service cost for each user?
01:53:40 Q&A: Is this service connected or promoted in the National coach service that serves the region (Rede Expressos, Flixbus...) in order to create some synergies? Or this is out of the scope?
01:54:51 Q&A: Which are the DRT solutions that are most economically viable, Taxis or dedicated mini-buses?
01:57:42 Q&A: Are you doing regular evaluations and how do you do it?
02:00:03 Plenary and conclusions: what are the most interesting things are you taking home?
Key learnings
- Rural regions face several specific challenges to providing inclusive and sustainable mobility. Participants noted challenges of infrastructure, distance, low population density and lack of critical demand, lack of skilled workers, infrequency of service and difficult business models as key issues to be overcome.
- Regions across Europe have demonstrated ways to encourage a shift to low-carbon transport and provide access to mobility services, including shared mobility solutions, long-distance cycling routes, integration of low-carbon modes into existing transport networks (with multi-modal hubs) and the use of on-demand systems.
- Shared mobility can help to improve rural mobility by providing options for those who do not own their own vehicles or for families with only one car. Local authorities can have a major role in setting the local framework, convening stakeholders, and encouraging collaboration, as well as working to increase awareness of vehicle sharing and building demand. This can start with a car-sharing action plan with ambitious long-term goals and concrete annual actions.
- Vehicle sharing systems in cities are often led by private companies, but this does not need to be the case, especially in rural areas where they can act more like a public service. Individuals can be encouraged to share their cars, and municipalities can also share their own vehicles, which are not used in weekends or evenings, as in Flanders, where over 40 municipalities share their vehicles.
- Active Transport also has a role to play in rural mobility, in particular cycling. However, there is a lack of infrastructure to make cycling comfortable and safe and connect rural areas with nearby hub towns. Long-distance cycle routes can connect settlements and can make use of existing infrastructure, such as canals and railways, as advocated in the CYCLING WATERWAYS project.
- Another group with specific needs is tourists, who are not familiar with the mobility systems available in a region. Having a single route planner to touristic points of interest that is easily accessible is essential to reduce last mile anxiety and convince tourists to use public transport instead of cars. Gamification can also be implemented to encourage use (as in GOOD-GO, which gives credits that can be spent at local businesses). The tourism demand boosts the economic viability of local public transport.
- Demand-responsive transport is a good alternative to public transport in rural regions, which can be prohibitively expensive. Successful schemes in Catalonia (Spain) and Coimbra (Portugal) demonstrate that they are feasible and popular.
- The State of Saarland (Germany) shared some of their experiences in starting a new DRT system. DRT was planned to supplement, not replace, the existing public transport offers, particularly in off-peak times. Saarland established financial support, a policy framework, and a single route planning and booking software system to enable implementation at the municipal level – a replicable framework for other regions.
- Different models and scales are possible for DRT. Coimbra’s system provides public transport via taxi where there is no public transport, with timetables, set stops and routes that only operate when there is demand. Journeys cost the same as a bus ticket, with the local authority paying the taxi drivers the difference between the actual cost and the income from the ticket.
Catalonia’s Clic.Cat system uses minibuses for the many DRT schemes of Catalonia, with 235 lines that cover more than 700 population centres. Requests are made via an app at least 15 minutes before the expected journey.
- While DRT is often associated with lower operational costs, the presented cases contradict this assumption. Presenters also highlighted the high social benefits of offering on-demand flexible mobility services as complement to regular public transport, keeping villages connected and thus alive.
- Both DRT and shared mobility need to be made as easy as possible to use, via applications and platforms, with real-time information. However, in all cases, special consideration needs to be taken of the vulnerable groups, including the elderly.
For vehicle sharing, they may be more reluctant to use a vehicle they are not used to or comfortable with, while for both vehicle sharing and on-demand transport, older users may not be comfortable with the use of websites and applications.
In Flanders, car-sharing services have used buddy systems, whereby someone is on hand to help, which has also contributed towards developing social cohesion. In Catalonia and Coimbra, phone reservation lines were kept open specifically for use by older users.
- Both DRT and shared systems require a high degree of flexibility and performance. After implementation, it is important to constantly monitor and improve the system, see what works and be able to change the system based on actual demand, or changing demands.
- Communication is key, and there is a strong need to make sure people know about mobility offers. Consistent communication is needed to trigger behaviour change and make people into frequent users. Developing a strong brand that is instantly recognisable is vital (as in GOOD-GO and Clic.Cat).
- To really secure buy-in, flexible schemes can be designed with public involvement, using participatory processes and citizen engagement.