Mobility in the regions: the challenge of demand

Submit your abstract on this site before the 15th January 2024 (First you need to connect or create an account)

Abstract in French or English

The urgent need to protect the environment means that we must rapidly achieve ever-higher targets for decarbonising mobility. The regions are mobilising and developing ambitious public policies both to develop active modes of transport (walking, cycling) and the use of public transport, and to reduce the use of private cars.

On the one hand, these policies take the form of supply-side policies in a context marked by an accumulation of crises (health, energy, economic, etc.) that are having a major impact on the financial capacities of regions and transport players, and on the other hand by increasing regulation of car use. In this context, the introduction of more and better mobility services as an alternative to the private car runs the risk of generating demand that will be increasingly difficult and costly to satisfy, or of coming up against unsustainable mobility desires. The challenge is as simple to define as it is complex to achieve: bringing together supply and demand for mobility. How can we move towards a transition in mobility that is ambitious, sustainable and realistic? We propose to look at these issues from a European perspective, comparing visions and practices:

To support residents :

Faced with restrictions on car use and rising costs, but also potential beneficiaries of an increasing number of more or less adapted mobility solutions, what is the social acceptability of the sometimes brutal changes underway? What is the desire or resistance to the necessary changes, but also what are the potential levers for overcoming the difficulties in adopting the new practices that are necessary or desired? How can we support these changes and help them adopt new practices? What innovative services should be developed? How can mobility policies be adapted to new working practices (e.g. teleworking)? How can we better link regional development and the organisation of mobility?

Sharing and managing public spaces:

At a time when public spaces are having to give increasing space to plants, between calmer streets and roadways that are sometimes segmented into lanes allocated exclusively to one mode (car, bus, tram, bike, walking, etc.), how can we cope with the significant growth in the modal share of active modes? What kind of new networks (particularly for cycling) should be put in place? How should roads be shared? How can these structurally limited infrastructures be managed over time?

For the development of public transport: In a sector where investment costs are often very high (tramway, metro, REM, TER) and at a time when energy costs are rising (sometimes sharply and unpredictably), how can we continue to extend existing networks, set up new ones and improve capacity and frequency? What new financing methods, pricing systems and business models should be put in place? How can we prevent or deal with service saturation? How can intermodality be developed and complementarity between modes encouraged?