This project involves 10 European cities (Rome, Versailles Grand Parc-Ile de France, Oslo, Mannheim, Lisbon, Leuven, Budapest, Thessaloniki, and Hanover Region) and a consortium of 41 international partners from across the public transport sector.
A combination of 84 measures will be taken by acting on the 5 axes of innovation that condition users’ choices:
- mentality and culture
- urban mobility planning
- ecosystem of mobility services
- road network management
- democratic governance
The project will facilitate cooperation between authorities and operators, provide a physical and digital environment to test measures, optimize public transport offerings in line with user needs and patterns, involve users in the entire mobility decision-making chain, trigger behavioral change in favor of public transport, and achieve an attractive, efficient, reliable, safe, inclusive, and affordable public transport system.
Gareth Macnaughton, Innovation Director at EIT Urban Mobility said, “In this climate crisis we must realize the fact that 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation. Electrification of private vehicles ¿¿ is not enough to contribute to climate neutrality. Convincing people to change habits and abandon private cars for shared mobility should mean making the whole experience as reliable, positive, safe and comfortable as possible.”
What Rome does through the project
On Rome, the UPPER project will introduce 9 measures in particular to ease the transition from private to public transport and improve its efficiency, sustainability and multimodal vocation:
- Implementation of electronic access gates to discourage the use of private transportation.
- Promotion of modal shift to public transport with the implementation of a LEZ (low emission zone).
- Adjustment of Public Transport offerings and inclusion of new mobility services at multimodal interchanges (coordinated public transport timetables, integrated information systems, unified fares and ticketing systems, and innovative services at transport nodes).
- Design of the new high-frequency, high-capacity public transport infrastructure, with an investment of 9 billion euros over 10 years to extend and modernize the metro (38.5 km and 27 new stations) and tramway (58 km) lines.
- Design of public transport surface infrastructure suitable for the gradual introduction of new electric buses (1,057 new buses between 2023 and 2026).
- Innovative features in the Multimodal Digital Mobility Service ( MDMS) system according to mobility patterns and user group needs.
- Use of advanced technologies to increase the efficiency and reliability of public transportation by enhancing the renovated Traffic Management Center (TMC).
- Design urban space to promote active modes of travel by implementing 100 km of bicycle lanes and creating local 30 km/h zones, affecting motorized traffic congestion and promoting active, multimodal mobility. Mobility hubs will be established at public transport interchanges for bicycle parking and shared vehicle use.
- Create incentive packages to support multi-modality with reduced fares for public transportation passes, encouragement of carpooling through ride-sharing platforms, and promotion of cycling as a means of school/work transportation.
