Governance & Integration

The Governance & Integration Working Group tackles key challenges faced by local and regional authorities in shaping policies to accelerate sustainable urban mobility. Its discussions focus on enhancing equity, safeguarding public interest, and responding to rapid technological advancements.

The future of public transport remains a significant focus, with discussions on how autonomous vehicles, digital ticketing systems, and real-time passenger information can transform efficiency and accessibility. These innovations offer great potential to modernise public transport, but they require careful planning and regulation to ensure they benefit all users, particularly in underserved areas.

A central topic is the integration of shared micromobility services and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in cooperation with different Working Groups. The group explores how services like bike-sharing, e-scooters, and MaaS platforms can work together to create seamless, multi-modal transport systems. By integrating various modes—such as public transport, shared mobility, and ride-hailing—into a single platform, cities can improve connectivity, especially for first- and last-mile journeys. This approach aims to reduce car dependency, making sustainable options more convenient and accessible.

Public-private engagement and leadership for change are seen as essential to driving sustainable mobility. The Group explores how public authorities can collaborate with private mobility providers, encouraging innovation while ensuring public interests such as sustainability and accessibility. Strong leadership is crucial to managing these partnerships and driving long-term, strategic change. Leaders must adopt a forward-thinking approach that balances innovation with social and environmental goals.

On the employment front, the Group combines discussions on labour and transition management. As digitalisation and automation reshape the transport sector, the workforce must adapt. The Working Group highlights the need for reskilling and upskilling workers to meet the demands of new technologies. At the same time, managing the transition towards more sustainable transport systems requires careful planning, ensuring that technological shifts are inclusive and socially equitable.

One of the critical issues raised by the Working Group is transport poverty—the inability of certain groups to access reliable, affordable, and sustainable transport. This affects low-income communities, the elderly, and people living in suburban or rural areas. The Group stresses the importance of developing policies that address this inequality, ensuring that mobility solutions are accessible to everyone, regardless of socio-economic status. By tackling transport poverty, cities and regions can improve social inclusion and ensure that all citizens benefit from sustainable urban mobility.

Relevant publications

Most relevant and recent reports published, focusing on urban freight:

• Arthur D. Little x POLIS report: ‘The future of mobility 5.0 (2024)
• Catch me if you can! – Micromobility paper (2023)
• Upcoming report: Careful what you wish for…Practical implications of regulatory requirements for Shared Micro-mobility

Topic Priorities for 2025

Our current topic priorities for 2025 are the following:

• Upscaling shared mobility: strategies for supporting and scaling up shared mobility services, while ensuring local and regional governments and transport authorities retain and leverage a steering role; mobility credits and micro-incentives: understanding the available solutions and strategic potential of allocating public support to very specific types of trips, considering types of users, locations, hours, and purposes of trips; inclusive shared mobility: ensuring that shared mobility services are accessible to all, including people with disabilities, families, and older individuals;
• Behaviour change: exploring the scientific foundations for an understanding of transport behaviour, and how it can be changed by local and regional public policies and measures;
• Public transport governance: future governance strategies for public transport to meet evolving needs and trends, and support its role as the backbone of urban mobility and the key to advance sustainability and overcome transport poverty;
• Cross-border mobility and governance: integration of mobility systems across borders, particularly relevant for European cities and regions;
• Data collection and integration: addressing the challenges cities face in collecting and integrating mobility data;
• Impact of new technologies on workforce: investigating how new transport technologies affect the workforce and labour market (and how that in turn affects the transport market);
• Climate change: exploring ways to increase resilience and accelerate the transition to sustainable urban mobility, including strategic planning, managing transitions, shaping public policy and communication, promoting behaviour change and encouraging public engagement.