(including in rural and peri-urban areas)
Public transport such as urban rail, metros, trams, buses, water buses, ferries or cable cars represent a safe, efficient and sustainable way to travel for a large number of Europeans. Public transport creates jobs, promotes territorial accessibility and social inclusion and is key for connectivity with rural and peri-urban areas.
Good quality public transport serves commuters and travellers, higher- and lower-income households, older and younger people, women and men alike. We need to adapt the urban public transport infrastructure and services to ensure better accessibility, including to better serve an ageing population in many cities as well as people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
Public transport has been at the core of EU urban mobility policies.
The 2013 urban mobility package introduced the EU concept of sustainable urban mobility planning (SUMP), with a focus on supporting people and public transport – including accessibility.
The 2020 Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy promotes a shift towards more sustainable transport modes. Among other goals, the strategy aims to increase the number of passengers travelling by rail and commuting by public transport.
The EU Urban Mobility Framework highlights public transport, accompanied by shared mobility solutions, as a priority, also because it provides low-emission, affordable and inclusive mobility options, enabling social cohesion and local economic development.
Within the Expert Group on Urban Mobility the Commission will work with all stakeholders to ensure that this form of transport remains the backbone of urban mobility to also tackle inequalities in accessing public transport.
Moreover, the annex to the 2023 Recommendation on national SUMP support programme includes an updated EU SUMP concept, firmly placing the most sustainable transport modes (public transport and active mobility) in the centre.
Rural and peri-urban transport
The 2021 Communication setting out a Long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas up to 2040 highlights that the further development of rural areas is dependent on them being well connected between one another as well as with peri-urban and urban areas. The accompanying EU Rural Action Plan includes a flagship action on rural mobility which has two goals:
- Support rural municipalities in identifying best practice examples building on the Commission’s experience with urban mobility networks.
- Promote the roll-out of digital platforms allowing people to use different modes of transport to reach their final destination (multimodal digital mobility services).
The EU Urban Mobility Framework creates a clear link between rural and urban mobility challenges. The EU aims to contribute to efficient and inclusive connectivity between rural, peri-urban and urban areas (including cross-border) via sustainable mobility options. In practice, this would mean that these areas are connected to urban areas in terms of sustainable mobility planning (optimally through SUMPs) and cover the whole functional urban area, including the links to the rural/peri-urban hinterland. This urban-rural connectivity concept also includes an integrated link between rural and urban areas in the planning of the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network, including urban nodes.
The EU is financing projects on how to exploit existing mobility policies and solutions in European rural areas and explore ways to support sustainable shared mobility, interconnected with demand responsive public transport.