Technology, Innovation
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.
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.
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.
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.
How Urban Delivery Vehicles can Boost Electric Mobility
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
9 December 2020
- Prioritise electrification of vehicles with high mileage and regular daily activity, including LCVs in last-mile delivery.
- Promote electric light commercial vehicles in cities and tightly regulate combustion-engine vehicles.
- Strengthen fuel economy standards, zero-emission mandates and economic incentives for light commercial vehicles.
- Define regulatory requirements and clarify costs for upgrades to the electricity grid needed for electric vehicles.
- Use vehicle design and components of electric passenger cars to unlock price reductions of electric light commercial vehicles.
- Strengthen co-operation among stakeholders to reduce investments risks for the manufacturing of electric light commercial vehicles.
Regulations and Standards for Clean Trucks and Buses
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
14 September 2020
- Ensure that vehicle safety regulations and standards for electric and hydrogen cover all classes of road vehicles and better differentiate between light and heavy vehicles.
- Leverage the experience of international regulatory fora to extend the coverage of safety-related requirements to heavy electric vehicles.
- Ensure that the scope of regulations on the safety of hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles addresses aspects that are currently not adequately considered.
- Involve diverse transport and energy stakeholders in the development of charging standards for electric heavy vehicles.
- Address missing elements in regulations and standards related to electric road systems.
- Develop hydrogen refuelling protocols for heavy vehicles using gaseous storage at 70 MPa, new nozzles and instruments guaranteeing compliance with stringent fuel quality requirements.
- Increase the focus of pre-normative research on the safe use of low- and zero emission vehicles with existing vehicle infrastructure, especially for hydrogen-powered options.
- Harmonise regulations on tailpipe GHG emissions and energy consumption of heavy vehicles, also integrating instruments evaluating energy use for low- and zero-emission vehicles.
- Fully integrate electricity and hydrogen into regulatory policies on low-carbon fuels.
- Address non-regulated pollutants and integrate hydrogen-powered vehicles using internal combustion engines in regulations on tailpipe pollutant emissions.
- Address the environmental performance of vehicle batteries with regulatory innovation targeting their durability, carbon footprint and the sustainability of associated supply chains.
- Develop an internationally harmonised regulatory framework for the application of differentiated road charges and access restrictions based on environmental performances of vehicles.