Planning and policy decisions in Urban Mobility Plans (UMPs) are optimally based on extensive transport system data, travel demand data as well as travel behaviour. Developed cities and regions are using transport demand models to investigate the impact of particular measures. Those models rely on data input from various sources - i.e. from traffic counts, household surveys and further socio-economic and geo data. Most developing cities lack such comprehensive data to inform mobility planning and policy decisions, but many are catching up. At the same time, classic transport master plans are not flexible enough to react on the dynamic growth of developing cities, as they’re not regularly reviewed and thus, becoming obsolete.

Planning urban mobility is a complex undertaking for any city, even more so when urban functions, people and mobility are scattered across different towns of polycentric or cross-border regions. Indeed, planning mobility in polycentric and cross-border regions requires the coordination of policies and services of many stakeholders - transport and urban planners, local and regional policy makers, urban and interurban public transport providers - within and across different centres and administrative boundaries. This webinar debated on the methodology to develop a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for regions with a polycentric or cross-border profile, bringing together key stakeholders to initiate dialogue across institutional and geographic boundaries. First, the Poly-SUMP methodology for urban mobility planning in complex regions was presented. Then, two different experiences from cities and regions of the CIVITAS Forum Network were offered: Thessaloniki and Central Macedonia (EL), Nova Gorica (SI) and Gorizia (IT) provided an outlook on the challenges and potentials of planning mobility respectively on a polycentric and cross-border region.

The main point to address in ‘city logistics’ is how to respond to freight requirements while decreasing environmental and social impacts. The ultimate goal being to decrease the flows of commercial road vehicles without increasing other flows like consumer car flows, to decrease commercial vehicles’ emissions and to prevent traffic congestion caused by vans and lorries double-parking during delivery. SOLUTIONS will look at policy options for public authorities to achieve these goals, including regulations (traffic restriction, low emissions zones), transport pricing and taxes, transport planning and the development of infrastructure dedicated to urban freight (lorry lanes, delivery and loading spaces, urban consolidation centres). Public authorities and private operators, both of whom have an interest in improving their vehicle fuel efficiency, consolidating of urban freight, and improving the efficiency of deliveries, have to work together to define the best urban freight schemes.

When addressing network and mobility management, SOLUTIONS will tackle various intelligent transport systems (ITS) technologies and communication technologies applied to transport. This include cooperative systems, transport and traffic management, congestion management, tolling and charging, public transport information systems and other public and individual user technologies. The goal of all these applications being to ensure seamless connectivity, flexible travel, lower environmental impact and support of multimodal mobility patterns and lifestyles. The measures and solutions examined will be those that make the best use of the available resources and help plan and implement additions to the infrastructure network with a focus on the current and future mobility needs. It is important to ensure that mobility is not restricted but rather carried out in an intelligent manner while considering all advantages and disadvantages of different modes and how they can contribute to a sustainable mobility network.

SOLUTIONS will focus on infrastructure for public transport (tramways, bus lanes, passenger waiting and boarding areas), infrastructure for soft modes (e.g. cycle routes, pedestrian facilities) and infrastructure for urban freight systems. Quality passenger transport is highly dependent on improved infrastructure whilst continued efficient operations are reliant on adequate and timely maintenance. This element will also include better sharing of road-space between guided vehicles (e.g. trams and guided buses) and bus lanes as well as separate dedicated public transport routes. With respect to walking and cycling, easy substitutes for trips of less than 5 kilometers, improvements in infrastructure quality and safety, design of cycle ways and pavements, parking spaces for bicycles, and more will be addressed. Freight transport infrastructure issues to be considered will include loading areas, appropriate access control including signage as well as other measures to improve productivity with reduced disruption.

SOLUTIONS will look at clean vehicles to consider readily available fuels, technologies, and energy-efficient options that offer substantial greenhouse gas emission reductions potential. The suitability of different option of clean vehicle technology depends not only on the local circumstances, but also on the national framework. The measures and solutions selected will cover a spectrum of technology options and vehicle categories to offer clean vehicle solutions to the variety of cities in the different regions. Important considerations will be the prerequisites for the application of different technologies and fuels, their feasibility in the local framework and the side effects that might be associated with their application. By building on experiences gained by other cities as fostered in the SOLUTIONS project, municipalities can reduce the risk of implementating clean vehicle technology, by determining potential investment costs and possible side effects. With regards to CO2 emitted by energy consumption, SOLUTIONS will take into account the full life cycle and Well-to-Wheel phase to ensure sustainability of the solutions suggested.

The SOLUTIONS project addresses a range of measures in the Cluster 1 Sustainable Public Transport . The main focus of the cluster and this e-learning course is to present summarised information and recommendations about designing, financing and operating integrated transport systems.