Mobility Plans: the way forward for a sustainable urban mobility

The practice of Urban Mobility Plans has emerged in the past ten years as a comprehensive road map, reflecting real concern on how public transport should develop as a sustainable activity itself, but also to support economic activity and reinforce social cohesion. Those local comprehensive strategies in fact signaled the evolution of the Public Transport Authorities themselves. Through the process of decentralization, a large number of central governments in Europe decided to hand over to local administration, whether at regional or sub-regional level, the competencies for urban transport with a view to improve efficiency. As a response to the devolution of new roles and responsibilities, Public Transport Authorities started building a wider strategy for improving transport services, based on the existing transport networks and including new technologies and new services related to mobility at large. They also included a variety of actions such as tariff integration, green zones and the promotion of soft modes.