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).
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.
Developing Innovative Mobility Solutions in the Brussels-Capital Region
Promotional Publication,
7 September 2021
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
Shared Mobility Simulations for Dublin
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
9 October 2018
- Consider integrating Shared Mobility services into the Greater Dublin Area transport system.
- Shared mobility services should be provided on a large-enough scale to reap full benefits.
- Use shared services as a feeder service for high-capacity public transport and the existing bus network.
- Use alternative fuels for shared mobility fleet to reduce emissions further.
- Target potential early adopters for Shared Mobility services in order to achieve scale of service.
- Set the regulatory framework for shared mobility services to generate maximum societal benefit.
Information Sharing for Efficient Maritime Logistics
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
25 September 2018
- Support the emergence of open standards in maritime logistics.
- Ensure interoperability between public and private systems for the exchange of logistics information.
- Support ports in creating co-ordination platforms and Single Windows.
- Ensure that digitalisation in the maritime logistics chain occurs in a competitive environment.
- Closely monitor cyber security vulnerabilities in maritime logistics.
Blockchain and Beyond: Encoding 21st Century Transport
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
16 May 2018
- Public authorities must prepare for a much more networked and meshed world.
- Take into account changes in data science and technology when developing Mobility as a Service.
- Look beyond initial cryptocurrency applications of distributed ledger technologies.
- Governments should help deploy the building blocks that enable wider uptake of distributed ledgers.
- Apply blockchain technology now for slow and (relatively) small transport use cases; anticipate next generation distributed ledger technologies for “big and fast” applications to be deployed later.
- Governments should develop algorithmic code-based regulation to accompany the uptake of distributed ledger technologies.
Cooperative Mobility Systems and Automated Driving
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
2 May 2018
- Shared mobility is still a relatively new field but is progressing rapidly. With business models and preferred technologies still in flux, policy makers need to prepare considered responses to these developments without delay.
- Service concepts and technology currently and on the brink of being explored need to consider a range of design domain restrictions, dependencies on infrastructure, operating principles and user interfaces.
- Specific service concepts should be matched to specific operational environments, on a detailed local level as well as across continents and cultures.
- Government action will affect how automated vehicles will impact society. Existing approaches will not be appropriate for long. Their understanding and input will help to balance the debate on whether AVs can indeed alleviate a series of stubborn problems.
Integrating Urban Public Transport Systems and Cycling
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
25 April 2018
- Design interchange stations to provide secure, uncongested conditions for transfer by the shortest routes possible.
- Provide adequate bike parking areas at stations and stops.
- Integrate ticketing and information systems as well as the physical transport infrastructure.
- Establish integrated urban transport plans in consultation with stakeholders and the public.
Shared Mobility Simulations for Auckland
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
27 November 2017
- Consider integrating shared mobility services into Auckland’s existing transport offer.
- Use shared services as feeder service for train, ferry and bus rapid transit services to increase use of public transport.
- Ensure shared mobility services are provided in a large enough area of Auckland.
- Target shared mobility services for potential early adopters.
- Integrate land use and transport policies to limit urban sprawl and support the uptake of shared mobility services.
- Create a legal and regulatory framework focused on delivering societal benefits from uptake of shared mobility services.
- Make sharing of performance data a pre-requisite for licensing shared mobility services.
Capacity Building through Efficient Use of Existing Airport Infrastructure
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
30 October 2017
- Whilst governments should act cautiously and avoid intervention unless there are strong reasons for it, airports, airlines, air navigation service providers, and regulators need to pursue all possible technical innovations to improve the utilisation of airport capacity. Collaborative decision-making is critical to achieving optimal outcomes.
- Governments should consider policies improving air connectivity alongside all impacts of air transport, in particular in terms of noise and air pollution impacts on local communities.
- Governments should constantly re-evaluate caps on aircraft movements that are designed to contain noise impacts, as technological improvements make it possible to reduce noise nuisance while allowing for more aircraft operations.
- IATA WSG should continue to evolve to facilitate more efficient use of scarce airport capacity, ultimately benefitting passengers and other users of aviation. Authorities should ensure that the rules are applied in practice as intended.
- Any system of slot allocation at congested airports needs to take account of the potential benefits of competition. When slots are allocated to new entrants they should be in sufficient quantity to support viable business models.
- The potential to use primary slot auctioning to improve welfare outcomes at congested airports should not be ruled out. To make decisions on primary slot auctioning, the transfer of rents needs to be considered explicitly, and steps taken to avoid excessive disruption to incumbent airlines.
- Secondary slot trading should be allowed and facilitated for more efficient utilisation of capacity.
- Congested airports should eliminate price discrimination against large aircraft wherever such discrimination is present.
Managing the Transition to Driverless Road Freight Transport
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
30 May 2017
- Continue driverless truck pilot projects to test vehicles, network technology and communications protocols.
- Set international standards, road rules and vehicle regulations for self-driving trucks.
- Establish a temporary transition advisory board for the trucking industry.
- Consider a temporary permit system to manage the speed of adoption and to support a just transition for displaced drivers, while ensuring fair access to markets.
Shaping the Relationship Between Public Transport and Innovative Mobility
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
30 May 2017
- Focus on improving overall mobility outcomes, not just on lowering public transport costs.
- Set a vision for urban transport that includes full integration of innovative mobility options.
- Ensure partnerships between public transport and innovative mobility operators to improve mobility for all people, including those with disabilities.
- Target low-performing or costly routes, and leverage government assets to guide convergence.
- Split regulatory oversight from operation of urban transport and adapt procurement practices.
- Mitigate innovation risk for new services through pilots and portfolio management.
- Incentivise age- and disability-friendly interactions in partnerships between public transport and ride-service operators.
Transition to Shared Mobility
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
30 May 2017
- Start to integrate shared mobility solutions into existing urban transport plans.
- Leverage shared mobility to increase use of existing high-capacity public transport.
- Deploy shared mobility services in a phased way that maximises public acceptance.
- Optimise overall efficiency while assuring a healthy level of competition in the market.
- Limit exclusive occupancy of shared vehicles to avoid the erosion of traffic reduction and CO2 emissions.
- Leverage the significant potential of improved territorial accessibility created by shared mobility.
- Make shared mobility services fully accessible to citizens with reduced mobility benefits.
Data-led Governance of Road Freight Transport
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
30 May 2017
- Use currently available data within existing frameworks.
- Consider a completely new data-driven regulatory approach.
- Develop cross-sectoral approaches to data handling and processing.
- Investigate the best uses of new technologies, systems, and data science.
- Investigate applicability of wider and less structured big data sets.
- Consider impacts of automation of road freight vehicles.