Technology options in urban transport : changing paradigms and promising innovation pathways

Urban transport is related to a wide range of unsolved problems and challenges that need to be tackled in order to guarantee a high quality of life in European cities and to make the transport system an even more efficient pillar of the European economies. This final report highlights relevant aspects and pathways for a transition to a more sustainable urban transport system. For this purpose, relevant technologies and the factors influencing end-user behaviour were analysed, as well as the interrelations between them. The transport system is understood as a socio-technical system of five key elements: paradigms and visions, mobility patterns, technologies and infrastructures, business models, and transport policies. In this report it is illustrated that changes in all elements of the transport system are taking place:  On the one hand, a broad range of innovative technologies and concepts to achieve sustainable urban transport are emerging or are already used.  On the other hand, the paradigm of sustainable transport is about to dominate transport planning in many urban areas and at different governmental levels - which has by far not always been like this. Further there is evidence that travel behaviour is not as static as it seems, but rather changes over time. In several countries, the travel behaviour of some societal groups is evidently changing. All of the five elements offer pathways to sustainable urban transport. Nevertheless, successful pathways do not only require new developments in one of these elements, but in several or in all of them, and at the same time. Against this background it is essential that governance strategies deal with the transport system as a whole. Integrated policies need to consider technical, as well as non-technical factors and developments. The facilitation of learning opportunities is crucial. Innovations need "spaces" to be tested and demonstrated. But, for a successful transition, the transport users need to be taken into account more systematically. More research is needed in order to understand the dynamics that are currently at work in the transport system and the way users adapt to changes in the long run.