Maritime
Innovations for Better Rural Mobility
Research Report, Policy Insights,
16 December 2021
- Formulate a countrywide accessibility policy and implement Sustainable Regional Mobility Plans (SRMP).
- Adopt a whole-of-government approach for rural public services and the local economy.
- Make regulations more flexible to allow for the development of innovative, cost-effective mobility solutions.
- Combine public mobility budgets to achieve cost savings.
- Fund pilot schemes to test innovative mobility concepts.
- Prioritise financial support for innovative services according to higher impact levels rather than use of high tech.
- Use innovative financing approaches to increase funding pools and viability of individual transport services.
- Increase central government funding for shared and active travel in rural areas.
- Provide technical assistance for rural mobility at the national or regional level.
- Promote mobility hubs to connect local services to the core network.
- Support the development of national or regional Mobility as a Service (MaaS).
Developing Innovative Mobility Solutions in the Brussels-Capital Region
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
12 December 2021
- Regulate mobility operators and MaaS providers separately.
- Adopt an explicitly pro-competitive approach to MaaS in policy and legislation.
- Clearly establish the status of MaaS providers via a licensing scheme.
- Review conditions for mobility operator licences to ensure they do not include barriers to developing MaaS.
- Add mandatory minimum data-sharing requirements relating to informational and operational data to licences for mobility operators.
- Build mandatory consumer data portability, subject to user consent, into the conditions of all mobility operator and MaaS provider licences.
- Adopt competition safeguards as part of the MaaS provider licensing framework.
- Ensure public transport operators have the freedom to negotiate the terms of public transport ticket resale with MaaS providers who, in turn, should be free to determine the pricing of services to consumers.
- Apply OECD and EU best practice principles on regulatory policy and governance to inform approaches to regulating MaaS.
- Make data reporting requirements to public authorities specific and directly related to regulatory tasks.
- The Good Move policy package should remain the key vehicle for implementing sustainable urban mobility policies.
Integrating Public Transport into Mobility as a Service
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
17 October 2021
- Adopt a light and flexible regulatory approach that allows Mobility as a Service to evolve.
- Integrate the governance of Mobility as a Service into broader sustainable mobility policies.
- Allow public transport operators the freedom to negotiate with Mobility as a Service providers.
- Create data-sharing frameworks that are as open as possible, as constrained as necessary.
- Define common building blocks for sharing data within a Mobility as a Service eco-system.
Data-driven Transport Infrastructure Maintenance
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
12 September 2021
- Scale up and speed up the deployment of data-driven approaches to transport infrastructure maintenance.
- Update regulation and guidelines for transport infrastructure maintenance to facilitate the introduction of more data-driven approaches.
- Ensure data-driven infrastructure maintenance approaches follow good practices in data governance.
Developing Innovative Mobility Solutions in the Brussels-Capital Region
Promotional Publication,
7 September 2021
Micromobility, Equity and Sustainability
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
5 September 2021
- Base regulation on sustainable urban mobility policy objectives.
- Consult micromobility companies on public policy issues early and often to avoid distorting regulations.
- Apply outcome-based regulations linked to specific performance criteria.
- Ensure limits on market access allow competition; avoid static caps on shared micromobility vehicle fleets.
- Limit data-reporting requirements to information used for mobility planning.
- Set regulatory fees in light of the potential value of micromobility for sustainable mobility and the uncertain viability of business models.
- Support equitable and affordable micromobility services.
- Follow the principle of mode-neutrality when developping an urban transport system.
- Reallocate road and parking space to micromobility users, cyclists and pedestrians.
- Address motor vehicle speeds when regulating micromobility speed.
- Apply coherent regulation that treats micromobility operators equally.
- Adopt a permissive and adaptive regulatory approach to micromobility.
Travel Transitions: How Transport Planners and Policy Makers Can Respond to Shifting Mobility Trends
Research Report, Policy Insights,
16 August 2021
- Scan for emerging travel trends using a combination of traditional and new data sources.
- Measure the performance of the transport system with indicators that reflect how mobility contributes to societal objectives.
- Take a proactive approach to anticipating travel transitions by scanning developments inside and outside the transport sector.
- Account for uncertainty when making predictions and be explicit about the different sources of uncertainty .
- Shift from a “predict and provide” approach towards a “decide and provide” approach in the face of deep uncertainty.
- Change the mindset and enhance the skillset of the transport-planning workforce.
- Foster a strengthening of international knowledge sharing and co-operation via a “learning by doing” approach.
- Adapt transport governance to better account for uncertainty in planning.
Cleaner Vehicles: Achieving a Resilient Technology Transition
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
20 July 2021
- Support the adoption of clean vehicles with targeted policy action and by increasing transparency of their carbon footprint.
- Prioritise a transition to direct electrification of vehicles and renewable energy.
- Address challenges in resource efficiency and sustainable supply chains.
- Prepare for a transition from fuel duties by seizing opportunities arising from increased connectivity and accelerating enabling regulatory actions.
- Include infrastructure for easy access to clean energy and digital connectivity of road transport in Covid‑19 recovery packages.
- Prepare for the impact of the sustainable mobility transition on jobs, required skill sets and social equity.
- Accelerate the development of other low-carbon technologies.
The Innovative Mobility Landscape: The Case of Mobility as a Service
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
5 July 2021
- Anchor the governance of Mobility as a Service in a strategic vision, applied to the whole functional urban area and informed by effective digital monitoring
- Seek greater understanding of how Mobility as a Service can add value for the user
- Guide Mobility as a Service where necessary to achieve agreed societal outcomes
- Adopt a flexible and light-handed regulatory approach towards Mobility as a Service platforms
- Adopt a predictable regulatory approach and allow for evolution
- Enhance public transport authorities’ and operators’ ability to negotiate terms of sale and re-use of tickets with Mobility as a Service providers
- Base data-sharing frameworks on the principle of “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”
- Build data portability into the MaaS ecosystem by default
- Consider common building blocks for sharing data
- Establish data-reporting requirements that are proportionate and targeted to outcomes
- Adopt complementary policies in other areas to ensure that the Mobility as a Service ecosystem contributes to desired policy outcomes
- Invest in the built environment and interchange facilities
- Skill sets will need to evolve to improve the public authority’s capacity to regulate and assess digital markets
Decongesting our Cities
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
10 May 2021
- Present congestion charging in a positive light, as value pricing or decongestion charging, rather than as an additional tax.
- Consider congestion charging as part of sustainable urban mobility plans.
- Make more use of HOT lanes and peak pricing on tolled expressways.
- Ensure adequate user choice to accommodate responses to congestion charging.
- Ensure that congestion charging revenues are used effectively and in ways that have public support.
- Hypothecate revenues from congestion charges flexibly.
- Use differentiated congestion charges to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs.
Reversing Car Dependency
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
24 February 2021
- Review the street space and urban land share allocated to cars.
- Use road space allocation to proactively manage traffic.
- Abolish minimum parking space requirements for new developments.
- Consider road pricing to drive more efficient use of scarce road space and urban land.
- Use parking rates to discourage excessive driving.
- End employer-paid parking subsidies.
- Ensure that quality alternatives to private cars are convenient and efficient.
- Work towards integrated planning of transport and land-use.
- Review land-use regulations that hinder compact development patterns.
Developing Strategic Approaches to Infrastructure Planning
Research Report, Policy Insights,
22 February 2021
- Governments should adopt a strategic approach to infrastructure planning. This should be communicated clearly via an explicit, detailed and periodically updated strategic infrastructure plan.
- Strategic infrastructure plans should be linked to explicit infrastructure funding envelopes, with project pipelines identified, at least in broad terms.
- Governments should consider the merits of establishing independent infrastructure advisory bodies to provide transparent, expert advice on long-term, cross-sectoral infrastructure strategy, planning and policy development, as well as priorities for medium-to-longer-term infrastructure investment.
- Arrangements for the establishment of independent bodies should address key governance principles, such as those identified in the OECD’s Principles for the Governance of Regulators.
- Infrastructure project appraisal should, as far as possible, be based on a consistent and transparent methodology.
- The OECD/ITF should publish a review of government and private sector infrastructure-related responses to the Covid‑19 pandemic.
- A formal policy framework should guide decisions on the stewardship of major infrastructure assets.
- Governments should review their infrastructure regulatory frameworks.
- Ex post performance assessment should be undertaken for all major projects.
- National infrastructure institutions and statistical agencies should co‑ordinate internationally to develop consistent infrastructure performance measures.
- Where cross-border infrastructure projects are adopted, they should be managed by a specific-purpose body with all parties represented. Policy objectives and performance standards should be clearly specified and governance, funding and accountability mechanisms established.
Connecting Remote Communities
Roundtable Report, Policy Insights,
11 January 2021
- Develop objectives for the accessibility of remote communities.
- Establish workable definitions of remoteness and isolation to compare accessibility across regions.
- Adapt appraisal tools to account for all costs and benefits of providing good connectivity for remote regions.
- Monitor the effectiveness of support schemes for better connecting remote communities.
- Develop integrated accessibility plans to link transport and basic services.
- Support innovations that could reduce costs or improve service quality.
Adapting Transport Policy to Climate Change
Research Report, Policy Insights,
30 November 2015
- Uncertainty is different from risk.
- Climate effects are subject to uncertainty.
- There are techniques to deal with risk.
- There is currently no robust method to treat Knightian uncertainty.
- Risk, uncertainty and discount rate all affect carbon value.
Road Infrastructure Safety Management
IRTAD, Policy Insights,
6 October 2015
- Benchmark road infrastructure against good practices in other countries.
- Implement new minimum safety standards for road infrastructure.
- Continue evaluation and research to quantify safety impacts of planning decisions.
- Implement suitable Road Infrastructure Safety Management procedures for each stage of road development including planning design, pre-opening and full operation.
- Make Road Infrastructure Safety Management procedures legally binding.
- Involve both road and health authorities when developing road accident data bases.
- Assure adequate institutional management capacity and investment levels.
- Use existing tools and guidelines; adopt second-best solutions where state-of-the-art solutions are not feasible.
- Identify the Road Safety Infrastructure Management procedures that fit specific needs and understand barriers to implementation.
- Share good practices of Road infrastructure Safety Management procedures and intervention measures.
- Monitor the safety performance of road infrastructure.
- Develop self-explaining roads.
International Experiences on Public Transport Provision in Rural Areas
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
29 June 2015
- We are currently seeing a major change in the perception of ‘public transport’.
- Demand-responsive transport is seen as one of the key options to meet public transport challenges in rural areas.
- Significant scope still exists for ‘conventional’ public transport.
- Better coordination between different types of services is required.
- Relaxing quantitative taxi regulation can enable new innovative solutions.
The Impact of Mega-Ships
Case-Specific Policy Analysis, Policy Insights,
30 April 2015
- Cost savings from bigger container ships are decreasing.
- The transport costs due to larger ships could be substantial.
- Supply chain risks related to mega-container ships are rising.
- Public policies need to better take account of this and act accordingly.
- Further increase of maximum container ship size would raise ransport costs.
Urban Mobility System Upgrade
Corporate Partnership Board Report, Policy Insights,
31 March 2015
- Self-driving vehicles could change public transport as we currently know it.
- The potential impact of self-driving shared fleets on urban mobility is significant. It will be shaped by policy choices and deployment options.
- Active management is needed to lock in the benefits of freed space.
- Improvements in road safety are almost certain. Environmental benefits will depend on vehicle technology.
- New vehicle types and business models will be required.
- Public transport, taxi operations and urban transport governance will have to adapt.
- Mixing fleets of shared self-driving vehicles and privately-owned cars will not deliver the same benefits as a full TaxiBot/AutoVot fleet - but it still remains attractive.