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Despite the acceleration of new mobility solutions and the increasing relevance of models in urban transport planning, particularly in the context of decarbonisation and climate neutrality, a clear, concise and up-to-date guidance document on modelling tools for the urban mobility planner’s community was missing.

TRT, as part of the WP8 (Process assessment, SUMPs recommendations and roadmaps) activities within the HARMONY project, drafted the document “Guidelines on Modelling tools for Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) in the new mobility era” whose aim is to provide local planning authorities with guidance on transport modelling applications in their SUMP implementation process, building on the concept of SUMP, as outlined by the European Commission’s Urban Mobility Package and described in detail in the European SUMP Guidelines 2.0 (second edition).

The project highlighted the importance of a bottom-up approach in urban planning, through the implementation of co-creation labs in six metropolitan areas (Athens, Oxfordshire, Rotterdam, Trikala, Turin, and Upper Silesian-Zaglebie Metropolis). Within this context, HARMONY Guidelines on Modelling tools are useful to assess new mobility technologies impacts in the urban environment, answering to questions related to transport models.

The article “Muovere le merci, cambiare paradigma” (“Moving goods, shifting to a new paradigm”, available in Italian only) was published in the December 2022 issue of Logistica Management, an industry magazine focused on logistics management, as part of its special report on intermodality. Focussing on the growing importance of freight intermodal transport as an alternative to the “all-road” mode, TRT’s Alessandro Filippoli and Giuseppe Galli provide an analysis of this transport choice by highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, also in light of recent policy trends at the European level and the developments of competitive scenarios in the market arena. The need to make wise and farsighted choices is stressed, particularly if companies aim at gaining operational resiliency in face of the technological, normative, and economic changes they are expected to confront with in the years to come.

Download the article here.

A paper co-authored by TRT was published online by Transport Policy. The article is based on the outcome of an extensive survey managed by TRT on behalf of the JRC Sevilla of the European Commission in 20 cities across 11 European countries during the second quarter of 2021, with a total of 10000 respondents. The survey explored the changes in transport and mobility patterns that were triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as citizens’ potential new expectations arising from this situation regarding public transport policy and urban planning. The information collected covered the change in the frequency of technology-based alternatives to travel -such as teleworking and online shopping-compared to the pre-pandemic period. It also included the change in trip frequency, purpose, mode and destination. Using the survey dataset as input, a classification model was applied to explain the change in mode choice based on the respondent characteristics and preferences. Findings suggest that the changes in mobility patterns induced by the pandemic are the result of the combination of the degree of mobility restrictions imposed in each city, the adoption of new lifestyle and work patterns, and individual choices that depend on personal risk aversion.

We are pleased to announce today’s publication of the new SUMP Topic Guide on Planning for Attractive Public Transport, for which TRT is the main author.

Public transport should be regarded as a challenge to be made more attractive and resilient, through the design of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs).

Urban planners need to go beyond “business as usual” to achieve a tangible modal shift away from private vehicles, towards public transportation. This is a necessary step in the fight to reducing emissions and tackling global warming.

To support urban planners and transport practitioners in this process, this SUMP Topic Guide has been developed by the second Policy Support Group of the CIVITAS ELEVATE Coordination and Support Action, with the involvement of five experts from selected organisations (International Association of Public Transport – UITP, European Passengers Federation – EPF, Technical University of Berlin – TUB, City of Gdynia, Gothenburg Transport Operator), the chair of the CIVITAS Policy Advisory Committee, TRT and 12 stakeholders from the urban mobility sector.

It provides guidance on public transport in the mobility planning and implementation process, in order to achieve more attractive public transport.

The Topic Guide is part of a compendium of EU guidance documents, complementing the revised second edition of the SUMP Guidelines.

Read the publication here. This and other SUMP Topic Guides can be accessed via the Eltis website here.

The article “Mobility-as-a-Service: regulations and recommendations” has been published in the MMYY edition of Smart City and Mobility Lab. Based on the extensive research activity and the experiences from three pilot projects (Manchester, Budapest, Luxembourg) developed within the research project MaaS4EU, the article discusses the regulatory, technological and policy elements that are key for the growth and development of the MaaS market.

Read here (only in italian).

This paper presents the results of the survey on international freight transport carried by TRT for Bank of Italy (the central bank of Italy) in 2020, as part of the compilation of the national balance of payments.

Based on the sample surveys carried by TRT since 1998, the paper describes the key costs trends in the Italian freight transport sector. In 2020 TRT interviewed about 210 international freight operators from different transport segments and collected data on over 6.200 shipments, namely on freight rates and ancillary costs between different origins and destinations. s part of the compilation of the national balance of payments. For the statistics of the balance of payments, moreover, TRT estimates the market shares of freight carriers by nationality.

During 2020, the incidence of transport costs on the value of goods exported to and imported from Italy increased, reversing the downward trend observed in the previous years. The transport sector has been inevitably affected by the Covid-19 emergency. The air transport sector suffered most due to a drop in passenger flights, leading to a severe shortage of “belly” capacity and a sharp increase in freight rates. In the maritime sector, significant price increases were observed in the container, ro-ro and liquid bulk sectors. As for land transport, transport costs slightly increased in the rail sector and slightly decreased in the road sector.

Link to the project page.

Download the full report (only available in Italian)

The 2011 Transport White Paper “Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area – Towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system” is the document with which the European Commission has outlined the strategy on the future EU transport system and which defines the political agenda for the next decades.

The main objectives of the strategy are (i) reduce carbon dioxide emissions in transport to a level that is 60 % below that of 1990; (ii) reduce the transport sector’s dependence on oil; (iii) reduce congestion growth.

The strategy is articulated through 40 action points and 132 initiatives aimed at achieving 10 operational targets at different time horizons (2030 and 2050).

TRT, member of the consortium led by Ricardo NL and participated by M-Five, E3Modelling and TEPR was responsible for carrying out the mid-term evaluation of the effectiveness of the strategy in order to support the European Commission in identifying any proposals for revising the document.

The evaluation provides a robust evidence-based assessment of the White Paper and the actions following from it since its adoption in 2011. It examines the effectiveness, efficiency, coherence, relevance and EU added value of the White Paper in line with the Better Regulation Guidelines.

The evaluation looks at the identified needs for transport policy, the objectives and goals set in the White Paper, the proposed initiatives, reached outcomes and their results, as well as the overall impact of the strategy since it was put in place.

The results of the evaluation are intended to inform subsequent decisions of the Commission on possible priorities for the future agenda of EU transport policy.

Link to the project page.

Download the full report