UPPER’s mission is to strengthen the role of public transport in achieving sustainability and innovative mobility in cities. It will do so by implementing a series of measures (84 to be specific) in 10 cities and regions around Europe. And when somebody says public transport, ECF says bikes!

Cycling has an important role to play in the further development of public transport systems. It can serve as a fast and easily accessible option for public transport users to complete the “first mile” and/or “last mile” of their trips.

Just like everyone else, commuters enjoy their comfort and providing them with an efficient and convenient way to use sustainable transport modes from start to finish increases the likelihood of them choosing this option. As such, cycling and public transit go hand in hand and each reinforces the usage of the other.

Cycling also has the benefit of making public transport accessible to a larger population across a wider area. Bicycles increase the range of accessible public transport stations and multimodal hubs in two main ways:

• by making the transport time shorter than if the users were to walk.
• by allowing more flexibility and being more cost-efficient than if a fixed (or on-demand) public transport line was used to reach the station.

In February 2023, in its resolution on developing an EU cycling strategy, the European Parliament declared that it “encourages, with a view to fostering multimodality, the creation of synergies between cycling and other modes of transport, such as making more places available for bikes inside trains and providing more secured parking areas for bikes at stations and mobility hubs;”. One of the aims of the UPPER project is to find and test the best solutions in Valencia, Rome, Versailles Grand Parc - Ile de France, Oslo, Mannheim, Lisbon, Leuven, Hannover Region, Budapest and Thessaloniki, to make this aspiration a reality.

ECF will focus on 10 measures in 6 different cities. These consist of creating multimodal hubs where active modes and public transport meet, developing incentive packages to support multimodality, enabling public transport in peri-urban areas, campaigning for sustainable modes of transport (including public transport and active modes) and, finally, enhancing multimodal interconnections and integration.

ECF is excited to be working with a consortium of 41 passionate partners for the next 4 years to develop the best examples for a multimodal and sustainable Europe!

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