The European Mobility Expo revealed that our continental neighbours face similar challenges
Fiona Guthrie (left) and fellow Talent in Mobility winners
If you like trams you’ll LOVE Strasbourg. With a population of 860,000 across the conurbation, France’s eighth largest city is criss-crossed by multiple light rail and BRT lines. Visitors from UK cities can’t avoid wondering what might have been if our leaders had shown similar vision and boldness.
The city was selected as the venue for the eleventh edition of European Mobility Expo (EuMo Expo), which was held on October 1-3 and attracted 11,000 visitors. The event’s traditional venue is Paris but the show’s organisers wanted to sidestep any potential issues with hosting major events in the Paris region in the wake of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Strasbourg was regarded as the obvious choice.
Speaking in the run-up to the show, Louis Nègre, president of the group which represents France’s transport authorities (GART) hailed the city as “a real showcase for public transport”.
The transport network [in Strasbourg] is among the best in France and a source of inspiration for professionals both nationally and across Europe as a whole
“The transport network there is among the best in France and a source of inspiration for professionals both nationally and across Europe as a whole,” he said.
This is a pan-European show with a distinctly French flavour. As you might expect, decarbonisation was a major talking point – and the exhibition featured many electric buses and associated technology. Excluding the populous Île-de-France region, the French equivalent of Greater London, the French Senate has estimated that transport authorities need some €60bn (£50bn) between now and 2030 to decarbonise their transport networks.
While new investments can be partly financed by loans, GART supports the idea that urban and regional mobility authorities should benefit from additional resources to ensure their mobility policies are financially sustainable.Public transport in France is still structurally fragile and struggles to obtain funding from national government, and GART recognises the need explore innovative funding solutions. Options include reallocating some of the tax revenue from road transport to mobility.
French national government now needs to ensure the sustainability of the business models of all mobility operators outside Île-de-France … as a matter of urgency
Nègre warned: “French national government now needs to ensure the sustainability of the business models of all mobility operators outside Île-de-France (be they urban, regional, metropolitan or in France’s overseas departments and territories) as a matter of urgency.
The show’s final day saw Nègre given the chance to quiz French transport minister François Durovray. The hour-long the session was genial, but the core message from the minister was uncompromising: creativity and collaborative working will be required to maintain and improve transport systems because there is little or no scope to increase funding from the government.
Another major talking point at the show was French ambitions for the ‘single ticket system’. It means everyone can access mobility offerings without having to cope with a plethora of different tickets specific to each transport network. The idea is just one of GART’s proposals for the 2022-2027 French presidential mandate, now taken up by national government and entering the experimental phase. This innovation is gradually taking shape and will start to become a reality on French transport networks in the coming months. In July, Syndicat des mobilités de Touraine, which provides transport services in a region surrounding the city of Tours, became the first mobility authority to sign the single ticket experiment agreement.
Whether its greater collaboration or innovation, it all hangs on the talents of those working in the transport sector – and the biennial Talent in Mobility awards seek to honour women and men who are playing their part in developing public transport and sustainable mobility across Europe. A jury of journalists from the European trade press, including Passenger Transport editor Robert Jack chooses the winners.
Among this year’s winners was Fiona Guthrie, HR director and deputy managing director at RATP Dev Transit London. Guthrie was named joint winner of the Best Project Manager award after running the ‘Garage Life’ programme, an innovative training initiative for bus drivers that significantly reduced dropout rates by creating a greater sense of comradeship in the workplace.
The challenge of recruiting and retaining staff for public transport operations is one that is shared across Europe and the jury were impressed by this straightforward but effective initiative.
The Public Transport Innovation Awards
The Public Transport Innovation Awards were announced during the European Mobility Expo show. The awards honour those innovations from exhibitors at EuMo Expo set to make the biggest contribution to the appeal of public transport through the development of new products and services. The 2024 winners are:
CATEGORY: Operating and ticketing systems
WINNER: KUBA for Kubapay
Kubapay is a ticketing solution designed to facilitate access to public transport: a hybrid platform that incorporates all key ticketing functions as well as managing
card-based ticketing (CBT), account-based ticketing (ABT) and open payment (EMV), thus delivering a SaaS solution that combines the benefits of digitalisation with the conventional management of traditional tickets.
CATEGORY: ITS: passenger information and services
WINNER: Keolis Besançon Mobilités: Validomètre
Keolis operates the Ginko bus and tram network in Besançon, where it is taking a new approach to ticket fraud using technology and behavioural science. The Validomètre displays the proportion of passengers who have validated their ticket via a fun interface. At each stop, when the driver opens the bus doors, the Validomètre is displayed on information screens. Once passengers have boarded, the number of new passengers (derived from the metering system) and the number of validations (derived from ticketing data from the validators) is displayed on
the vehicle’s on-board screen, revealing how many passengers have not validated their ticket.
CATEGORY: Accessibility – Facilities – Comfort – Design
WINNER: Keolis Rennes Métropole: Handimap: open data and digital innovation facilitating PRM access
Improvement in all forms of mobility is a priority for Rennes Métropole. The aim is to enhance mobility, in particular for persons with reduced mobility such as those with disabilities, the
elderly and young parents with pushchairs. Keolis and Someware have adapted their Handimap route finder to local specifics. Handimap suggests accessible routes taking into account three types of information: pavements, paths, alleys, public transport, etc.; on-site conditions (gradients, steps, cobblestones, pavement widths, etc.); and any on-street events such as roadworks logged in the database.
CATEGORY: Energy – Environment
WINNER: MOBICOOP: Coloc’Auto
Coloc’Auto is a platform that provides access to shared vehicles in rural environments. The solution is an additional enabler for diversified mobility offerings in sparsely-populated areas alongside ride-sharing and organised hitchhiking. Coloc’Auto can help to decrease purchases of new and used cars and cut CO2 impacts thanks to more rational use of each vehicle.
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
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