EVALUATION ROADMAP

Roadmaps aim to inform citizens and stakeholders about the Commission's work to allow them to provide feedback and to participate effectively in future consultation activities. Citizens and stakeholders are in particular invited to provide views on the Commission's understanding of the problem and possible solutions and to share any relevant information that they may have.

Title of the evaluation

Urban Mobility in the EU

Lead DG – responsible unit

DG MOVE B4 - Sustainable & intelligent transport

Indicative Planning

(planned start date and completion date)

Start Q4/2018-end Q4/2019

Additional Information

https://ec.europa.eu/transport/themes/urban/urban_mobility/ump_en 

The Roadmap is provided for information purposes only. It does not prejudge the final decision of the Commission on whether this initiative will be pursued or on its final content. All elements of the initiative described by the document, including its timing, are subject to change.

A. Context, purpose and scope of the evaluation

Context

Enhancing urban mobility while reducing congestion, accidents and pollution is a common challenge to all major cities. For decades the European Commission has been stimulating the development and application of sustainable urban mobility planning approaches and innovative solutions through its policies and funding programmes. In 2013, the Urban Mobility Package (UMP2013) 1  set out proposals for relevant action at local, Member State and EU level, with the concept of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans being the core element of the approach.  It was proposed to reinforce EU support in the area by encouraging the sharing of experiences and show-casing best practices; by providing targeted financial support through the European structural and investment funds and by providing financial support for research and Innovation. Moreover, specific recommendations were put forward for coordinated action between all levels of government and between the public and the private sector in four fields: urban logistics, urban access regulation, deployment of intelligent transport system (ITS) solutions and urban road safety. The objective of the package was to ensure that Europe's urban areas develop along a more sustainable path and that EU goals for a competitive and resource-efficient European transport system are met.

In the last few years we have witnessed important developments with direct and indirect impact on urban mobility, such as continuous increase in economic and political importance of cities, disruptive changes in transport and mobility of both technological (digitalisation, automation, new propulsion systems etc.) and societal (increasing popularity of shared mobility, orientation towards quality of life, rising awareness of negative consequences of reliance on private cars, rise of e-commerce, etc.) nature, as well as rising mobility (congestion), health (air pollution) and climate (emissions) challenges in urban mobility. Therefore, and as highlighted by the Graz Declaration signed on 30 October 2018 by EU transport ministers 2 ,  it is appropriate to examine whether this framework is fit for purpose and delivers as intended.

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this exercise is to review – after 5 years – the UMP2013 to validate the appropriateness of the proposed approach and measures, as well as their effectiveness in delivering the projected results and dealing with urban mobility challenges.

The evaluation shall assess the extent to which the UMP2013 provisions allow for the achievement of its objectives, which strengths and weaknesses it has displayed and to which extent the approach is appropriate to contribute to EU-level transport and decarbonisation objectives.

In line with the Better Regulation guidelines 3 this analysis of the evaluation shall cover:

·the overall effectiveness, i.e. assess the actual positive changes the package has generated, particularly in view of its original objectives;

·the efficiency, i.e. assess the actual costs 4 and negative changes relative to the actual benefits the implementation of the package has generated. Any potential for simplification and reduction of unnecessary regulatory costs will be identified;

·the relevance, i.e. assess whether the objectives are still in line with the current needs or problems; how the situation/context as regards urban mobility in the EU has evolved and whether the current framework still matches current needs; whether its scope is still fit for purpose; whether the framework is fit for post-2020 developments and challenges and will effectively deliver in the context of the long-term EU strategy on climate change and decarbonisation of transport at urban level;

·EU added value (i.e. the added value delivered by the package, over and above what reasonably could have been expected from national and regional policies);

·coherence of the proposed approach and measures included in UMP2013. It will assess whether the measures are internally coherent and whether the package is coherent with other EU interventions 5 (in the domains of alternative fuels/clean vehicles (including levels of emissions), road safety, air quality, intelligent transport systems (ITS), TEN-T and smart cities, especially when it comes to realisation of UMP2013 objectives and tackling mobility challenges in cities.

The evaluation will also cover the EU financial support for urban mobility projects. It will cover the period from 2013 until end of 2018 and all EU Member States. 

It will provide the evidence base for a possible revision of the current framework, provide recommendations and inform any further decisions on the development of the urban mobility policy.

B. Better regulation

Consultation of citizens and stakeholders

The aim of the envisaged consultations is to seek information and feedback from the relevant stakeholders and wider public in relation to the effects of the Urban Mobility Package. The consultation activities will target the following main categories of stakeholders: cities and their networks, stakeholders active in urban mobility and road safety fields, national and local administrations, citizens living in cities as well as the Committee of the Regions.

The following stakeholder activities are planned:

·A public consultation will be launched during Q2 of 2019 and last for 12 weeks. It will be available via the Commission's central public consultations page in 23 EU languages and replies can be submitted in any official EU language;

·Targeted consultation activities (including interviews and/or questionnaires as appropriate) of relevant stakeholders covering all main elements of the evaluation, including the aspect of possible future EU action in the urban mobility field;

·A stakeholder conference/workshop in a participatory format is planned to be organised in Brussels at the beginning of the consultation period.

·Other stakeholder meetings/workshops and Commission's expert groups can be also used for that purpose.

Information on the consultations will be presented in the DG MOVE urban mobility web-site 6 . A synopsis report will be published on the consultation page once all consultation activities are closed. 

Data collection and methodology

The relevant results and the evidence from the external study on the "Ex-post evaluation of the EU financial support to sustainable urban mobility and to the use of alternative fuels in EU urban areas" 7 covering the previous financial frameworks (2000-2006 and 2007-2013) will be taken into account.

The evaluation will also take into account related studies, activities and processes at EU level, covering at least:

•Pilot project study on innovative ways of sustainably financing public transport 8 ; 

•Partial or complete results of the evaluations of EU programmes and regulations, such as Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), Horizon 2020, TEN-T and others as appropriate, when it comes to urban mobility aspects;

•Works of the Urban agenda - Partnership on Urban Mobility, in particular its Action Plan;

•Works and results of Smart Cities and Communities initiative.

The current evaluation will collect all relevant information to develop indicators. External expertise will be used to update and complete the information between 2013 and today. Member State local authorities and relevant stakeholders will be contacted to obtain quantitative information to address the data needs mentioned above. Qualitative indicators will be developed to cover areas where quantitative information is not available or not relevant