Multimodal journey planners provide European travellers with comprehensive door-to-door information allowing for well-informed travel decisions according to their needs. It seamlessly integrates information from different transport modes, based on a strong backbone of rail and local public transport.
The development of multimodal journey planners will enable the development of a more efficient transport system; it will widely benefit citizens, as, for example, it is not always easy to get the right information about cross-border transport and connections; it should also allow for the possibility to go for a journey that least affects the environment.
Finally, enhancing multimodal travel planning can support urban policy goals as an integrated, citizen-centric approach is even more required in urban areas, including various transport modes and promoting the cleanest transport modes.
Legal framework
In the framework of Directive 2010/40/EU, EU specifications have been adopted in order to ensure compatibility, interoperability and continuity for the deployment and operational use of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) for the provision of EU-wide multi-modal travel information services.
In order to further support the harmonised implementation of the specification under the Directive 2010/40/EU, the European Commission adopted in 2017:
Action 36 of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy includes a revision of the Delegated Regulation, in particular to mandate the accessibility of dynamic data:
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/490 amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1926 was adopted on 29 November 2023.
This Delegated Regulation provides for:
National Access Points
- The establishment of National Access Points (NAP) in each EU Member State by 1 December 2019;
- Those NAPs will gather travel and traffic data from all type of transport from both private and public entities;
- The type of static travel data to be made available through the NAPs are detailed in Annex I of the Delegated Regulation;
- The timetable for the provision of the different data types described in Article 4(3) of the Delegated Regulation;
- Data provided via the NAP need to respect common standards.
Linking services
- Upon request, travel information service providers shall provide to another service provider routing results that help linking the travel information services;
- A reasonable and proportionate financial compensation may be required by the travel information services providers.
Service Providers
- Can use the data from NAPs to set up travel information services, such as websites or app for smart phones etc.;
- Have to comply with the terms and conditions for the use of the traffic and travel data provided via the NAPs that may be determined through a licence agreement;
- A reasonable financial compensation may be required and should be proportionate to the legitimate costs incurred of providing and disseminating the relevant travel and traffic data.
Implementation handbook
In order to support the implementation of this comprehensive legal framework, an implementation handbook has been elaborated to:
- Provide an overview on existing EU-funded supporting implementation activities, present existing results and best practices;
- Provide answers to implementation challenges for all stakeholders involved;
- Identify further implementation activities to be considered in the future.
Related documents
The provision of EU-wide Multimodal Travel Information Services - ITS Directive [SWD(2017) 324]