LINK - The European Forum on Intermodal Passenger Travel
Overview
Background & policy context:
The trends of growing long-distance traffic by road and air and stagnating rail and local public transport lead to an unsustainable imbalance. In the focus on the combined use of various transport modes for long distance and cross border travel, improved intermodal passenger transport is one key to a more efficient and integrated transport system to make travelling easier while, at the same time, minimising environmental impact. The co-modality approach for the freight sector, advocated by the EC in its mid-term review of the 2001 White Paper, is applicable also in the passenger sector and aims at the potential of complementarities between individual and collective modes.
The current status in Europe is heterogeneous; to travel across Europe on a single ticket provided with door-to-door information is a splendid vision, but in reality is often very difficult. One major challenge that must be met, if we are to achieve this vision, is to align cooperation with competition.
The predecessor study 'Towards Passenger Intermodality in the EU' (commissioned by DGTREN, finalised in 2004) proposed among others things the creation of a Forum to bring together the relevant stakeholders to overcome market and policy fragmentation.
Objectives:
The LINK project pursued the creation of a European Forum on Intermodal Passenger Travel in order to enhance the combined use of different transport modes, with focus on long distance and cross-border travelling.
The main task of this Forum was to provide and run a platform for the exchange, knowledge transfer and promotion of intermodal solutions. The LINK project aimed at becoming a communication node between and network of authorities, associations, operators and user groups at different levels (EU, nationwide, transregional). Its impact on the European transport sector depended on its ability to tie in important stakeholders and experts; and also to link to other support actions.
Another task was to outline a strategy for policy support to develop the LINK Forum into a self-sustaining organisation in the long term that will make intermodality an important topic on the political agenda as well as reality for passengers.
Methodology:
A first task for the Forum was consultations amongst stakeholders and experts in the field of intermodality, concerning their interests and opinions, main implementation problems and best practices.
The core of the Forum activities laid in network activities including conferences, workshops and five working groups regarding the key issues:
- door-to-door information and ticketing;
- networks interchanges;
- integration of long distance transport 'last mile';
- planning implementation;
- context conditions.
The selection of well balanced workings groups as regards transport modes, regions and types of stakeholders was supported by the results of the stakeholder consultation. The working groups brought together different kinds of relevant stakeholders (administrations, politicians, operators, researchers, users groups and the industry) in a transnational context in order to develop practical strategies for rolling out high quality passenger intermodality.
A policy advisory board of high-level representatives fostered the political marketing of the project's essentials.
A Knowledge and Promotion Centre structured and monitored research as a key for better understanding as well as dissemination, including a best practice database and a virtual library (on the project's website). In the case of LINK, dissemination was not only an added feature to the project but the essential part.
The parallel project KITE (Knowledge base for Intermodal passenger Travel in Europe) filled existing gaps in research with latest and Europe-wide findings which could be transferred by LINK.
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