CUSTOM: Facilitating Seamless Public Transit Use for People with Impairments
Published on
05/05/2025
About this project
Innovative Action description
The CUSTOM project addresses the mobility challenges faced by over 100 million Europeans, including 250,000 individuals in Hamburg, who experience disabilities that limit their access to public transport and social inclusion. Currently, impaired users in Hamburg struggle with a fragmented transport system, with no cost-free digital assistance tools available to support seamless travel across buses, trains, and ferries.
CUSTOM proposes an innovative solution by developing a comprehensive accessibility app that enables visually, hearing, cognitively, and physically impaired individuals to easily navigate all public transport modes. Through co-design workshops with impaired user groups, the project ensures the system meets the specific needs of these individuals. The app integrates across the transport network, promoting greater autonomy and reducing social exclusion.
The project aims to create a fully accessible transport network, facilitating 250 million independent trips annually for impaired users in Hamburg. By leveraging a holistic approach and the Two-Senses Principle, CUSTOM enhances existing transport systems and is scalable across regions and modes. Additionally, the project will generate a policy framework to encourage adoption in other European regions, advancing inclusive mobility across the continent.
CUSTOM proposes an innovative solution by developing a comprehensive accessibility app that enables visually, hearing, cognitively, and physically impaired individuals to easily navigate all public transport modes. Through co-design workshops with impaired user groups, the project ensures the system meets the specific needs of these individuals. The app integrates across the transport network, promoting greater autonomy and reducing social exclusion.
The project aims to create a fully accessible transport network, facilitating 250 million independent trips annually for impaired users in Hamburg. By leveraging a holistic approach and the Two-Senses Principle, CUSTOM enhances existing transport systems and is scalable across regions and modes. Additionally, the project will generate a policy framework to encourage adoption in other European regions, advancing inclusive mobility across the continent.
This project is looking for
Given that Hamburg is considered a more developed region, the MUA seeks to establish a balanced and meaningful partnership by engaging at least two cities from less developed regions or regions in transition, with the possibility of including one city from a more developed region.
The Transfer Partner should demonstrate an interest and motivation in fostering inclusion—especially by involving more people with special needs. Ideally, the Transfer Partner has already gained experience with inclusion-focused initiatives at a city-wide level, reflecting a commitment to accessibility and participation.
The Transfer Partner should have a sufficiently developed public transport system that includes different modes of public transportation. The EUI aims to bring together transfer partners of various sizes, which is why the complexity of the public transport system does not need to be comparable to that of a larger city like Hamburg. However, a certain degree of structural diversity (e.g. multiple providers or service types) is desirable to ensure that the findings and solutions developed in the CUSTOM project remain transferable. It is explicitly emphasized that this requirement also applies to smaller cities, where public transportation systems are typically less extensive.
The Transfer Partner should demonstrate an interest and motivation in fostering inclusion—especially by involving more people with special needs. Ideally, the Transfer Partner has already gained experience with inclusion-focused initiatives at a city-wide level, reflecting a commitment to accessibility and participation.
The Transfer Partner should have a sufficiently developed public transport system that includes different modes of public transportation. The EUI aims to bring together transfer partners of various sizes, which is why the complexity of the public transport system does not need to be comparable to that of a larger city like Hamburg. However, a certain degree of structural diversity (e.g. multiple providers or service types) is desirable to ensure that the findings and solutions developed in the CUSTOM project remain transferable. It is explicitly emphasized that this requirement also applies to smaller cities, where public transportation systems are typically less extensive.
City size
Towns (< 50,000 inhabitants)
Regional development level of the city
Less developed regions
Transition region
More developed region
Applying to
EUI-IA Third Call for Proposals - Technology in cities
Launch of the Call in May 2024 - End of the Call in October 2024
See more about the call for proposals
EUI - Innovative Actions Third Call for ProposalsAuthor
Thomasz Kusiak
France
Head of Division
Authority for Traffic and Mobility Transition
