SUM project pushes for greener urban mobility
Get to know a new CIVITAS project that aims to help cities integrate New & Shared Modes with Public Transportation.
As the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the transport sector must be transformed to achieve the EU's climate goals. What's more, this transformation is an essential part of creating greener and more liveable urban environments, as expressed by the European Commission in its European Strategy for low-emission mobility. Studies suggest that a shift from private vehicles to public transport (PT) and new and shared modes (NSM) has great potential to reduce per capita emissions, and to mitigate the negative effects of urbanisation. Nevertheless, such a systemic shift is not easy to achieve in practice, since it requires behavioural and regulatory changes.
The SUM project is working to make this shift a reality. The project addresses the pressing challenges posed by urbanisation, congestion, and climate crisis by promoting the integration of new shared mobility modes with public transport. SUM's overarching objective is to enhance urban mobility transformation, first in 15 European cities that are looking to 2026, and then with 30 additional European cities with mobility goals for 2030. By helping cities to concretely integrate NSM and public transport, SUM will contribute considerably to the European Commission’s Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, which aims to ensure at least 100 climate-neutral European cities by 2030.
SUM will collect information and realistic data from nine living labs to develop the tools needed to overcome barriers to strong NSM-PT integration. Moreover, as a project under the umbrella of the CIVITAS Initiative, it will connect and work with a network of cities and other urban mobility projects. Leveraging this connect with the CIVITAS Community will help facilitate engagement of different stakeholders, communities, and projects to promote understanding and acceptance of new mobility services.
The SUM project’s consortium consists of private and public representatives that will work together to develop technological, co-creation, and policy tools to tackle barriers to the deployment of novel shared mobility systems. One the project’s objectives is to build synergies between private and public representatives to promote the replication and scaling-up of NSM solutions, to boost common learning, and to share best practices and lessons learned. ERTICO, one of the projec partners, will ensure knowledge is shared with the wider smart mobility community through fora such as MPMF, CCAM and 2Zero, all in cooperation with POLIS network. Moreover, a relationship with the MaaS Alliance, boosted by ERTICO, will allow the consortium to serve as a driving force for the adoption of MaaS solutions across Europe and beyond.
SUM consortium members are committed to creating greener, safer, and more accessible transportation systems, ultimately benefitting citizens, businesses, and the environment alike.
Follow the project’s social media channels (LinkedIn and Twitter) and the upcoming official website to get updated on the latest news and on how the project consortium will achieve its goals.
The SUM project is co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Innovation Action under grant agreement No. 101103646. It answers the Horizon Europe call for Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods, and is one among a number of EU activities that aim to achieve a sustainable and transformative future for European cities.
Author: G. Donolato
