#	Pagina
attuale pagina	/open-h2020/projects/211649/results.html

Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HiReach (High reach innovative mobility solutions to cope with transport poverty)

Teaser

Summary

HiReach aims at addressing the mobility needs of different groups vulnerable to transport poverty and social exclusion like people with temporarily or permanent reduced mobility, children, young and elderly people, women, migrants and ethnic minorities, low income and unemployed, to favour more inclusive and flexible mobility solutions. The project also analyses geographical and spatial elements affecting transport poverty to figure out mobility options that can simultaneously combine the needs of several groups in different target areas like urban-peripheral, peri-urban, rural, and remote or deprived territories.

By combining different attributes of available transport concepts and bottom-up initiatives with new operational schemes and IT applications, HiReach explores viable business models for small scale, modular and easily replicable mobility services that can be provided at affordable prices and/or with minimum subsidies. For the first time, community transport services, informal ridesharing and van pooling, innovative ride-hailing mobility services and on-demand public transport are assessed within the scope of a new collaborative and well-regulated business environment.

The HiReach mechanism for exploring, generating and testing inclusive mobility solutions is based on the creative work of startups and innovative entrepreneurs, but also on social innovation through the direct involvement of different social groups as developers, co-users and co-owners of the proposed solutions. HiReach is working in 6 European study regions: Counties of Esslingen and GÃ¶ppingen (Germany), Naxos and Small Cyclades (Greece), Inner Area Southern Salento (Italy), Guarda and Torres Vedras (Portugal), Buzau (Romania), North and South-East Luxembourg.

Work performed

1) HiReach has preliminarily elaborated a definition of transport poverty analysing and combining linked research topics and condensed in the scientific literature. Two main layers have been identified for addressing transport poverty:
â€¢ Spatial specificities and common factors of mobility challenges in prioritised areas - definition of spatial clusters according to common geographical elements - high density, scattered development and urban sprawl, low density - and functional spatial relations - commuting relations, migration movements â€“ with 3 targeted spatial layers, i) the urban, ii) peri-urban and iii) rural areas that were analysed in their characteristics between different parts of the European Union;
â€¢ Mobility socio-economic landscape(s) â€“ definition and analysis of 7 prioritized social groups: low income and unemployed, elderly people, people with reduced mobility, women, migrants and ethnic minorities, children and young people, people living in rural and deprived areas;

HiReach conducted desk research across the EU Member States. Current patterns and accessibility needs have been also analysed through fieldwork activities in 6 study regions (Esslingen and GÃ¶ppingen; Naxos and Small Cyclades; Southern Salento; Guarda; North and South-East Luxembourg; Buzau) and resulting in 47 interviews with experts and stakeholders and 23 focus group sessions organised with 166 people involved.
Spatial and social specificities have been connected to an analysis of mobility patterns and needs to arrive at a holistic and comprehensive understanding of transport poverty.
HiReach has also summarised the results of this activity by using user-cantered design and marketing principles that led to the creation of 6 Personas (Giulia from Italy, Victor from Romania, Sami from Germany, Konstantina from Greece, Thierry from Luxembourg, Maria from Portugal). Personas are a representation of the identified needs, attitudes and behaviour of the HiReach group of vulnerable users and geographical layers.

2) HiReach has conducted a preliminary assessment of the limits and drawbacks of the current supply of public transport services and other available mobility options, in terms of inclusion and accessibility for the social groups targeted by the project and including elements like the EU and Member States legislative, institutional and organizational frameworks.
The research was based on literature review of available studies and led to the classification and analysis of available mobility options in 3 main clusters and 13 types of options/services: i) publicly contracted (public transport â€“ including demand-responsive transport services and rural transport, transport for people with reduced mobility, school transport, incentives and subsidies for unemployed and low-income people; ii) market-based (taxis, private hire vehicle companies, transportation network companies, vehicle sharing) and iii) community-based (Community Transport Services, community bus services, peer-to-peer ride sharing, community cars, Peer-to-peer car sharing).
The limits and drawbacks of the current transport offer have been summarised in 4 clusters of problems. Existing funding sources, particularly for the potential of pooling them to support inclusive mobility, have been also identified for each service type.

3) HiReach selected and deeply analysed 20 case studies of inclusive mobility solutions.
A cross-analysis has evaluated the different business models, the original management solutions, the social and technological innovations and the organizational and operational frameworks, including their business potential and how they can be transferred to other regions in Europe.
The 20 handpicked solutions include also innovative schemes for rural and special transport services that can be implemented with minimum subsidies, direct involvement of the communities or that are already provided as market-based solutions.

Final results

A win-win mechanism for start-ups and public authorities
EU research and innovation in public transport quite often does not fail to produce new concepts - that are also tested and implemented through large consortia and investments from the industry and operators but lack of a proper linkage with the start-ups ecosystem and of tools for properly detecting and integrating bottom-up experiments and creative ideas from young entrepreneurs and SMEs into public policies. On the other hand, new business ideas might fail due to a lack of basic knowledge, practice and information on current organizational and legal frameworks as well as of market functioning from early stage start-ups (particularly with reference to the potential of being.

HiReach will progress towards a full linkage with the start-up ecosystem though a variety of service and support activities for pre-acceleration of mobility solutions. The novelty of the mechanism is the bridge with a number of existing European start-ups accelerators.

Progressing towards collaborative economy challenges
The role of marketplace platforms in both professional and peer-to-peer mobility solutions is already producing a number of regulative provisions at national and regional/local level aimed at securing both market competition and customersâ€™ protection.

HiReach will contribute to substantiate and make clear the difference between the genuine sharing economy that can solve mobility poverty challenges and the profit-making collaborative economy that needs fair regulation of transport service providers (from the new category of network transport companies focusing their business models on digital platforms to small/flexible transport operators and social enterprises).