Overview
Around 80% of European citizens live in urban areas, which is where 85% of European GNP is generated. Urban public transport is a key issue for the EU. Efficient urban transport systems are critical for the functioning and sustainable development of urban areas.They ensure that:
- all citizens have proper access to all components of urban life (including education, employment, culture);
- the risk of social exclusion is minimised;
- the distribution of goods is properly achieved;
- the quality of urban life is improved.
Several EU policies are influenced by the decisions taken on urban mobility and could benefit from better coordination of actions in that regard: energy supply, safety and security, environmental policy, regional policy, internal markets and others.The urban mobility sector needs research in order to be able to keep up with the pace of technological and social changes, and to maintain the attractiveness of its offer for users.
The EU is already taking steps towards supporting research co-operation and stimulating research excellence in surface transport. This is being done notably through modal European technology platforms such as ERRAC (rail) and ERTRAC (road). However, urban transport transversal issues are not fully covered by those platforms, and stakeholders in the sector felt that there was a gap which needed to be filled.
The project intends to achieve a full inclusion of urban mobility issues into the EU research agenda.
The project aims to identify and develop innovative concepts and tools for organising a proper coordination at EU level between all relevant stakeholders concerning research on urban mobility, through:
- identification of priority research areas in the field of urban mobility which would benefit from a better coordination of stakeholders at EU level, taking into account both technology- and policy-oriented research;
- identification and promotion of innovative research strategies for sustainable urban transport, and of coordinated information and communication strategies targeting transport users and operators;
- proposal of instruments serving to improve the knowledge base on urban mobility at European level;
- promotion of tools supporting urban transport policy development, such as integration of land use planning, including technical harmonisation at the European level;
- promotion of intermodality between existing mobility services and promotion of innovative intermodal mobility services in urban areas;
- building up appropriate links between existing modal technology platforms (ERRAC, ERTRAC) in order to cover transversal/intermodal issues addressing similar priorities.
The project activities are grouped into work packages. The three key work packages
- WP1: State of the art and vision
- WP2: Strategic research agenda
- WP3: Stakeholder relationship management
are interrelated through a matrix structure with four research areas:
- data collection/demand analysis;
- sustainable strategies/traffic planning and management/land use;
- integrated and harmonised systems and services;
- user aspects - security, comfort, accessibility.
WP1 looks at the achievements of urban mobility research so far and formulate a vision for the future. Its crucial task is to determine the current status of research and technological development in the field of urban mobility.
The primary objective of WP2 is to elaborate a strategic research agenda (SRA), i.e. a detailed action plan for the structuring and implementation of European research priorities in the field of urban mobility.
WP3 ensures, through organising and moderating two EURFORUM plenary sessions (in 2007), the validation of key deliverables by relevant stakeholders from various urban mobility fields (operators, organising authorities, industry and users), selected according to their role and decision-making position in the sector, respecting proportions of European countries represented.
Funding
Results
The main outcome of EURFORUM project is the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for urban mobility. This SRA has been developed starting from an analysis of the State-of-the-Art (SoA) on the urban transport research issues, and the formulation of a Vision for the Future. In fact, this SRA is based on the comparison between the SoA (where do we stand with respect to our knowledge) and the Vision (where do we want to be with respect to policy outcomes), and takes up the set of issues which are considered crucial for the future development of urban transport:
- innovative strategies for clean urban transport;
- tools to support urban transport policy development;
- exchange of know-how and dissemination of good practice experiences coming from different transport sectors;
- tools to fill the gap between available knowledge and realised implementation by identifying barriers and developing appropriate solutions;
- coordinated information and communication strategies targeting transport users, operators and infrastructure managers;
- intermodality between existing mobility services and innovative intermodal mobility services in urban areas;
- improvement of the knowledge base on urban mobility Europe-wide (i.e. across agglomerations);
- urban mobility research including and combining the subjects identified in existing modal technology platforms, and appropriate links between existing modal 'Technology Platforms' (ERRAC, ERTRAC, WATERBORNE, ISTAG, EIRAC, ACARE, etc.), in order to cover transversal intermodal issues addressing similar priorities (e.g. Traffic Planning, Traffic Management).
The concept developed by EURFORUM is to create room for innovative co-ordination and cooperation of stakeholders and decision-makers with regard to urban mobility research developed at European level and supported by the European Commission.
Technical Implications
The SRA has identified and described the following future topics for urban mobility research grouped according to the two components of transport demand (Users' needs and behaviour, and the urban structure), and the two components of transport supply (integrated mobility services, and integrated transport systems), as well as according to Urban Transport Demand Analysis and Modelling for Policy Support.
T1: Topics for future research relating to 'User Needs And Behaviour' are:
- Better understanding of the mobility behaviour of individuals and firms;
- Improving the accessibility and sustainability of our cities;
- Knowing the user: market research;
- Impact of policy measures and system innovations on mobility behaviour;
- Impact of societal changes on mobility behaviour;
- How to actively influence user behaviour;
- User acceptance analyses.
T2: Topics for future research relating to 'Urban Structure' are:
- Analysis and assessment of interactions between urban land use and transport;
- Making land development more sustainable through more efficient taxation;
- More efficient use of existing transport infrastructure;
- Developing approaches for integrated planning;
- Fostering the use of integrated planning approaches.
T3: Topics for future research concerning 'Mobility Services' are:
- Towards seamless multimodal transport;
- Compatible urban mobility services;
- Customisation of services;
- Development of sound business models and organisational frameworks;
- Technical issues.
T4: The section on 'Integrated Systems' covers the following topics for future research:
- Reducing negative impacts of urban transport (including: safety, security and environmental impacts);
- Integration of urban transport networks (including: infrastructure sharing, funding, intermodality, intelligent integrated network management);
- Implementation of new urban freight concepts;
- Strengthening of the alternatives to the private car (including: pedestrians and cyclists, better data for improved public transport operation, taxis and alternative modes,
- organisational and regulatory framework for urban transport, innovations in public transport infrastructure and rolling stock).
T5: Future research topics regarding 'Urban Transport D
Policy implications
The main recommendations are:
P1: To prepare a roadmap for the implementation of the SRA and periodically update of the SRA;
P2: To ensure the coordination with technology platforms and ERA-NET;
P3: To target public authorities for coordinated R&D and demonstration actions;
P4: To disseminate and communicate standards, theories and good practices of integrated urban transport planning and managing;
P5: To build consensus on strategic actions, including, for example, the preparation of a charter on R&D targeting 'European urban mobility' for more sustainable cities and for the benefit of all European citizens to be signed by public authorities.