FACILITATING SUSTAINABLE CROSS-BORDER COMMUTING
Topic
Phyiscal and digital accessibility do not stop at national borders. However transport networks in particular have for a long time been planned in a purely national context, also in the Alpine Region which is characterised by numerous national borders. These networks are no longer in coherence with ever increasing passenger flows across borders. This is particularly true for public transport systems. Hence AG 5, focusing on aspects of digital accessibility, has sought for close coordination with AG4 to start the ARPAF project “Cross-border Mobility in the Alpine Region”.
Commuting across borders is a reality, and most of the transport flows are by cars. Congested roads with a negative impact on economy, society and the environment are the consequence. The CrossBorder project in coherence with EUSALP as a multilevel governance approach is a huge opportunity to address these problems and to find common solutions. With this strategic initiative the lack of coordinated transport infrastructure and network planning shall be addressed and solutions developed and tested in cross-border commuting hot spots.
Aim
This strategic initiative aims at identifying gaps in existing transport infrastructure and planning to facilitate sustainable cross-border commuting and increase the accessibility of border regions in EUSALP in order to avoid negative impacts on economy, society and the environment.
What has been achieved?
The CrossBorder project is the first to ever produce a statistical and cartographic overview of the phenomenon of cross-border commuting in the EUSALP perimeter, analyzing existing commuter flows and existing road and rail infrastructure in twelve pre-selected hot spots. This analysis has helped to identify gaps of cross-border mobility with respect to infrastructure and soft factors. Furthermore, the project has collected existing solutions and searched for new, innovative approaches in cross-border commuting that serve the target groups of transport providers, public authorities, commuters and enterprises. The solutions were discussed with relevant stakeholders in several hotspots of cross-border commuting in the Alpine Region to implement the findings of the previous analyses. The results of this strategic initiative provides a basis for future activities of EUSALP’s Action Groups (AGs) particularly for AG4 (Mobility) and AG5 (Connectivity).
Coherence with EUSALP Action Plan
This strategic initiative addresses the second objective of sustainable internal and external accessibility to all.
Further Information
Cross-border mobility in the Alpine Region https://www.alpine-region.eu/publications/cross-border-mobility-alpine-region
ARPAF Project “Cross-border” https://www.alpine-region.eu/projects/arpaf-cross-border