Technology, Innovation
Innovations for Better Rural Mobility
Research Report, Policy Insights,
16 December 2021
- Formulate a countrywide accessibility policy and implement Sustainable Regional Mobility Plans (SRMP).
- Adopt a whole-of-government approach for rural public services and the local economy.
- Make regulations more flexible to allow for the development of innovative, cost-effective mobility solutions.
- Combine public mobility budgets to achieve cost savings.
- Fund pilot schemes to test innovative mobility concepts.
- Prioritise financial support for innovative services according to higher impact levels rather than use of high tech.
- Use innovative financing approaches to increase funding pools and viability of individual transport services.
- Increase central government funding for shared and active travel in rural areas.
- Provide technical assistance for rural mobility at the national or regional level.
- Promote mobility hubs to connect local services to the core network.
- Support the development of national or regional Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
Artificial Intelligence in Proactive Road Infrastructure Safety Management
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
14 December 2021
- Develop a competitive market for the sharing and monetising of traffic and mobility data.
- Do not wait for real-time data before developing risk maps.
- Mandate the sharing of aggregate vehicle data.
- Learn from other fields and best practice for data sharing and privacy protection.
- Support research and innovation towards trusted and explainable AI.
- Align new tools with precise policy objectives.
- Develop new skills and digital infrastructure.
- Clarify regulatory frameworks for data protection and digital security.
- Design user-friendly risk-mapping tools.
Developing Innovative Mobility Solutions in the Brussels-Capital Region
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
12 December 2021
- Regulate mobility operators and MaaS providers separately.
- Adopt an explicitly pro-competitive approach to MaaS in policy and legislation.
- Clearly establish the status of MaaS providers via a licensing scheme.
- Review conditions for mobility operator licences to ensure they do not include barriers to developing MaaS.
- Add mandatory minimum data-sharing requirements relating to informational and operational data to licences for mobility operators.
- Build mandatory consumer data portability, subject to user consent, into the conditions of all mobility operator and MaaS provider licences.
- Adopt competition safeguards as part of the MaaS provider licensing framework.
- Ensure public transport operators have the freedom to negotiate the terms of public transport ticket resale with MaaS providers who, in turn, should be free to determine the pricing of services to consumers.
- Apply OECD and EU best practice principles on regulatory policy and governance to inform approaches to regulating MaaS.
- Make data reporting requirements to public authorities specific and directly related to regulatory tasks.
- The Good Move policy package should remain the key vehicle for implementing sustainable urban mobility policies.
Integrating Public Transport into Mobility as a Service
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
17 October 2021
- Adopt a light and flexible regulatory approach that allows Mobility as a Service to evolve.
- Integrate the governance of Mobility as a Service into broader sustainable mobility policies.
- Allow public transport operators the freedom to negotiate with Mobility as a Service providers.
- Create data-sharing frameworks that are as open as possible, as constrained as necessary.
- Define common building blocks for sharing data within a Mobility as a Service eco-system.
Container Port Automation: Impacts and Implications
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
7 October 2021
- Put more focus on flexible labour arrangements.
- Better identify the costs and benefits of port automation projects.
- Stimulate social dialogue and co-operation between employers and workers on port automation.
- Address social costs of automation.
Data-driven Transport Infrastructure Maintenance
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
12 September 2021
- Scale up and speed up the deployment of data-driven approaches to transport infrastructure maintenance.
- Update regulation and guidelines for transport infrastructure maintenance to facilitate the introduction of more data-driven approaches.
- Ensure data-driven infrastructure maintenance approaches follow good practices in data governance.
Micromobility, Equity and Sustainability
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
5 September 2021
- Base regulation on sustainable urban mobility policy objectives.
- Consult micromobility companies on public policy issues early and often to avoid distorting regulations.
- Apply outcome-based regulations linked to specific performance criteria.
- Ensure limits on market access allow competition; avoid static caps on shared micromobility vehicle fleets.
- Limit data-reporting requirements to information used for mobility planning.
- Set regulatory fees in light of the potential value of micromobility for sustainable mobility and the uncertain viability of business models.
- Support equitable and affordable micromobility services.
- Follow the principle of mode-neutrality when developping an urban transport system.
- Reallocate road and parking space to micromobility users, cyclists and pedestrians.
- Address motor vehicle speeds when regulating micromobility speed.
- Apply coherent regulation that treats micromobility operators equally.
- Adopt a permissive and adaptive regulatory approach to micromobility.
Big Data for Travel Demand Modelling
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
11 August 2021
- Collect data only for defined purposes and only the minimum required.
- Develop guidelines for the use of big data in transport models.
- Enable the collection of location data through smartphone apps.
- Protect privacy through multiple solutions.
- Define a roadmap for household travel surveys.
- Design and test smartphone-assisted household travel surveys.
- Leverage artificial intelligence for data mining.
- Create and promote a recognised data steward function in the public and private sectors.
- Invest in the data-related training of the public-sector workforce.
Cleaner Vehicles: Achieving a Resilient Technology Transition
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
20 July 2021
- Support the adoption of clean vehicles with targeted policy action and by increasing transparency of their carbon footprint.
- Prioritise a transition to direct electrification of vehicles and renewable energy.
- Address challenges in resource efficiency and sustainable supply chains.
- Prepare for a transition from fuel duties by seizing opportunities arising from increased connectivity and accelerating enabling regulatory actions.
- Include infrastructure for easy access to clean energy and digital connectivity of road transport in Covid‑19 recovery packages.
- Prepare for the impact of the sustainable mobility transition on jobs, required skill sets and social equity.
- Accelerate the development of other low-carbon technologies.
The Innovative Mobility Landscape: The Case of Mobility as a Service
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
5 July 2021
- Anchor the governance of Mobility as a Service in a strategic vision, applied to the whole functional urban area and informed by effective digital monitoring
- Seek greater understanding of how Mobility as a Service can add value for the user
- Guide Mobility as a Service where necessary to achieve agreed societal outcomes
- Adopt a flexible and light-handed regulatory approach towards Mobility as a Service platforms
- Adopt a predictable regulatory approach and allow for evolution
- Enhance public transport authorities’ and operators’ ability to negotiate terms of sale and re-use of tickets with Mobility as a Service providers
- Base data-sharing frameworks on the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”
- Build data portability into the MaaS ecosystem by default
- Consider common building blocks for sharing data
- Establish data-reporting requirements that are proportionate and targeted to outcomes
- Adopt complementary policies in other areas to ensure that the Mobility as a Service ecosystem contributes to desired policy outcomes
- Invest in the built environment and interchange facilities
- Skill sets will need to evolve to improve the public authority’s capacity to regulate and assess digital markets
Forging Links: Unblocking Transport with Blockchain?
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
25 February 2021
- Make regulations more flexible to accommodate the use of Blockchain and other Distributed Ledger Technologies.
- Use regulatory sandboxes to promote innovation while minimising risks.
- Actively engage with transport industry initiatives around Distributed Ledger Technologies
- Require some level of open data access for transport applications of Distributed Ledger Technology
- Make transport policies machine-readable
- Run pilot projects to identify use cases for Distributed Ledger Technologies in the public sector
Ready for Take-off? Integrating Drones into the Transport System
Research Report, Policy Insights,
23 February 2021
- Establish clear objectives and priorities for the introduction of drone transport by identifying the best first use cases.
- Design a communication strategy that directly addresses public concerns.
- Clarify and develop drones’ status within the broader framework of aerospace regulation.
- Co‑ordinate with the drone industry to inform investment, development, and equitable policy making.
- Foster the emergence of civil aviation authorities with interdisciplinary competencies and capabilities in order to integrate drones into the transport system.
- Support the design and implementation of a robust Unmanned Air Traffic Management system.
- Develop methods for assessing the impact of drones’ full life cycle on the environment.
- Incorporate drone operations into long-term urban planning strategy using data and predictive models.
Developing Strategic Approaches to Infrastructure Planning
Research Report, Policy Insights,
22 February 2021
- Governments should adopt a strategic approach to infrastructure planning. This should be communicated clearly via an explicit, detailed and periodically updated strategic infrastructure plan.
- Strategic infrastructure plans should be linked to explicit infrastructure funding envelopes, with project pipelines identified, at least in broad terms.
- Governments should consider the merits of establishing independent infrastructure advisory bodies to provide transparent, expert advice on long-term, cross-sectoral infrastructure strategy, planning and policy development, as well as priorities for medium-to-longer-term infrastructure investment.
- Arrangements for the establishment of independent bodies should address key governance principles, such as those identified in the OECD’s Principles for the Governance of Regulators.
- Infrastructure project appraisal should, as far as possible, be based on a consistent and transparent methodology.
- The OECD/ITF should publish a review of government and private sector infrastructure-related responses to the Covid‑19 pandemic.
- A formal policy framework should guide decisions on the stewardship of major infrastructure assets.
- Governments should review their infrastructure regulatory frameworks.
- Ex post performance assessment should be undertaken for all major projects.
- National infrastructure institutions and statistical agencies should co‑ordinate internationally to develop consistent infrastructure performance measures.
- Where cross-border infrastructure projects are adopted, they should be managed by a specific-purpose body with all parties represented. Policy objectives and performance standards should be clearly specified and governance, funding and accountability mechanisms established.
Regulation of For-Hire Passenger Transport: Portugal in International Comparison
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
9 June 2016
- Steer policy development towards mobility services that allow efficient achievement of public policy objectives regarding the needs of consumers and society.
- Encourage innovative and more flexible regulation of for-hire transport services.
- Embrace data-led regulation to improve societal outcomes.
- Keep the regulatory framework of for-hire passenger transport services as simple and uniform as possible.
App-Based Ride and Taxi Services: Principles for Regulation
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
9 May 2016
- Focus policy regarding for-hire passenger transport on the needs of consumers and society.
- Keep the regulation framework of for-hire passenger transport services as simple and uniform as possible.
- Encourage innovative and more flexible regulation of for-hire transport services.
- Embrace data-led regulation to improve societal outcomes.
Shared Mobility: Innovation for Liveable Cities
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
9 May 2016
- Shared mobility benefits depend on creating the right market conditions and operational frameworks.
- Shared mobility has significant environmental benefits, even with current engine technology.
- Shared mobility will radically change public transport and most traditional bus services will disappear.
- Public authorities must guide the deployment of shared mobility systems and anticipate their impacts.
Data-Driven Transport Policy
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
9 May 2016
- Data is being collected in ways that support new business models in transport but challenge existing regulation.
- Transport data is shifting to the private sector and away from the public sector.
- The shift of data ownership from the public to the private sector may ultimately imply a shift in control.
- Transport authorities should account for biases in the data they use and encourage use of adequate metadata.
- Mandatory private-public data sharing should be limited. Only where clear benefits to all parties exist and public authorities have capacity to handle the data should they be considered.
- Data sharing does not necessarily mean sharing raw data.
- Whatever data is collected and whoever holds it, dats should be an integral part of more flexible regulation of emerging transport services.
The Impact of Mega-Ships
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
30 April 2015
- Cost savings from bigger container ships are decreasing.
- The transport costs due to larger ships could be substantial.
- Supply chain risks related to mega-container ships are rising.
- Public policies need to better take account of this and act accordingly.
- Further increase of maximum container ship size would raise ransport costs.
Big Data and Transport
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
30 April 2015
- Road safety improvements can be accelerated through the specification and harmonisation of a limited set of safety-related vehicle data elements.
- Transport authorities will need to audit the data they use in order to understand what it says (and what it does not say) and how it can best be used.
- More effective protection of location data will have to be designed upfront into technologies, algorithms and processes.
- New models of public-private partnership involving data-sharing may be necessary to leverage all the benefits of Big Data.
- Data visualisation will play an increasingly important role in policy dialogue.
Automated and Autonomous Driving
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
30 April 2015
- Automated driving comprises a diverse set of emerging concepts that must be understood individually and as part of broader trends toward automation and connectivity
- Uncertainty on market deployment strategies and pathways to automation complicates the regulatory task
- Incrementally shifting the driving task from humans to machines will require changes in insurance
- The shift from human to machine may have an impact on what product information developers and manufacturers of autonomous vehicles share, and with whom
- Regulators and developers should actively plan to minimise legacy risks
Urban Mobility System Upgrade
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
31 March 2015
- Self-driving vehicles could change public transport as we currently know it.
- The potential impact of self-driving shared fleets on urban mobility is significant. It will be shaped by policy choices and deployment options.
- Active management is needed to lock in the benefits of freed space.
- Improvements in road safety are almost certain. Environmental benefits will depend on vehicle technology.
- New vehicle types and business models will be required.
- Public transport, taxi operations and urban transport governance will have to adapt.
- Mixing fleets of shared self-driving vehicles and privately-owned cars will not deliver the same benefits as a full TaxiBot/AutoVot fleet - but it still remains attractive.