Publications

We are pleased to announce today’s publication of the new SUMP Topic Guide on Integrating Mobility Management for Public and Private Organisations into SUMPs, for which TRT is the main author. How can we ensure that an increasing urban population does not translate into more traffic, congestion and pollution in European cities? Mobility management offers solutions to this issue. With its ‘soft approach’, mobility management is highly adaptable in promoting sustainable transport in different local circumstances. With SUMPs and mobility management both seeking to achieve the same overall goal – namely the increased use of sustainable modes of transport – measures associated with mobility management form an essential part of any SUMP. To support urban planners and transport practitioners in this process, a Topic Guide on Integrating Mobility Management for Public and Private Organisations into SUMPs has been developed by the third Policy Support Group of the CIVITAS initiative, which consisted of experts from five organisations (European Platform on Mobility Management, Klimaaktiv mobil, Tisséo Collectivités, Alba Iulia Municipality, Gdansk Municipality), the CIVITAS Policy Advisory Committee, and a group of stakeholders from the mobility management sector, with TRT as lead.

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.

TRT is happy to announce the publication of a broad study on new mobility patterns, describing the mobility choices of European citizens and how the urban logistics sector is developing in 16 EU cities. The study, conducted for the European Commission – DG MOVE, was commissioned to collect reliable and extensive data on passenger mobility, urban logistics, fleet composition, transport activity and traffic flows in Member States. The passenger mobility survey showed that, on average, EU citizens travelled 27 km per day for an average duration of 80 minutes. The predominant means of transport in 2021 was the car, which was used for almost half of all trips. Excluding trips made by car, walking is the most popular way of moving around in most of the EU, with the Netherlands as a notable exception, where cycling is more popular. New mobility forms are gaining traction: ride-hailing (23%) and ride-sharing (12%) are attracting the most users; however, they are generally used on an occasional basis. The results of the survey were influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected travel behaviour and restricted travel options. Indeed, 64% of respondents found that the pandemic affected their mobility.

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.