The COMMUTE project (Collaborative Mobility Management for Urban Traffic and Emissions reduction) Journal 6 Project led by the city of Toulouse
COMMUTE’s actions have been fully implemented and evaluated, following three years of fruitful public-private cooperation. This edition focuses on the final evaluation of the project, the COMMUTE reference framework (“Référentiel COMMUTE”), and the legacy of the project, including the digital platform, the KAROS app, the actions around cycling, and follow up projects such as ECOMODE and VILAGIL. Journal 6 also provides the latest update on the final challenges that the project encountered over the past months.
The main innovation of the COMMUTE project has been the implementation of a collaborative public and private governance of mobility at the airport and aeronautical zone of Toulouse associating the public operators of mobility with the big companies of the zone, to reduce the impact of individual car use for home-work trips.
The COMMUTE collaborative governance approach has been both a real challenge and a real success. It has changed the way projects are approached in Toulouse by encouraging a much more collaborative and transversal management. The COMMUTE project has also encouraged the creation of a dedicated cross-cutting team in Toulouse metropole, led by a project manager with the support of different experts in charge of various aspects: digital, environment, works, innovation, mobility.
This Journal marks the conclusion of an inspiring project that brought together a group of passionate public and private actors, with Toulouse Metropole as experienced and inspiring lead. COMMUTE’s rich legacy highlights the success of the project, that will further inspire cities in France and beyond.
Project summary
Toulouse Métropole was the lead of COMMUTE, which was awarded within the framework of the “Urban Innovative Actions” (UIA) programme of the European Commission and, as such, received a European grant of 80% of the total cost (5.2M € including 4.1M € European grant) for a period of 3 years (end of 2017 to end of January 2021).
Eight public and private partners worked together with Toulouse Métropole: Tisséo Collectivités, Airbus, Toulouse-Blagnac Airport, ATR, SAFRAN, Réussir Business Club, Sopra Steria and Afnor over the course of 3 years.
The COMMUTE experiment was carried out in the Toulouse airport aeronautical zone. COMMUTE's ambition has been to transform the demand for mobility and to implement a common action making it possible to act in defined and shared sectors and to effectively deploy shared levers. This was necessary given the attractiveness of the area, that generates traffic in the Toulouse metropolitan area: + 15,000 new arrivals per year / + 500,000 trips per day projected for 2025 / the car, the main mode of travel in the airport / aeronautical area (83% by car, including 71% individual car users – “autosolistes”).
Key milestones
The following milestones present the developments of COMMUTE until its closure in January 2021 and beyond. Delays due to the Covid-19 impact are also reflected below:
- April 2018: Public kick-off event
- June 2018: Construction of the carpooling parking and the charging station for rechargeable electric and hybrid vehicles in Pibrac
- January 2019: First version of the digital platform released and collection of public and private data
- Summer 2019: Mid-term review of the project
- September 2019: Launch of the Inter-Company Workplace Mobility Plan: cycling strategy, carpooling, teleworking, public transport, etc.
- December 2019: Second version of the digital platform released (including decision-making functionalities and third users' interfaces)
- January 2020: The design of the management and governance system are improved including economic and legal dimensions
- February 2020 : Construction of cyclinglanes in Pibrac, connecting the COMMUTE carpooling parking lot with the train station
- Action cancelled due to Covid19: autonomous shuttle deployment
- July 2020 (new date tbc due to Covid 19 consequences): The economic model of the collaborative management system is defined based on feedback from experimentations. This will ensure the replicability of the project
- October 2020: Launch of the cycling services action
- December 2020: Finalisation of cycling infrastructures; end of awareness-raising actions for behavioural change with employees
- January 2021 : Testing of third places; final qualitative and quantitative evaluation; COMMUTE reference framework (“Référentiel”)
- 31 January 2021: Closure of the COMMUTE project
- 3 March 2021: Online final event
- 31 January: 2022: Final qualitative report
Progress to date:
This sixth Journal identifies three key aspects of COMMUTE that are particularly relevant following the end of the project and beyond:
- COMMUTE final evaluation
- COMMUTE reference framework
- COMMUTE legacy
1. COMMUTE final evaluation
The COMMUTE evaluation has been carried out in three stages:
- Mid-term evaluation: Summer 2019
- Final evaluation: 31 January 2021
- Final qualitative report: 31 January 2022
The final evaluation is both quantitative (KPIs) and qualitative (mobility surveys).
COMMUTE’s final qualitative report is still ongoing. Toulouse Métropole, as the urban authority, has been in charge of the monitoring and evaluation of the project. It subcontracted this task to the Urban planning agency of the Toulouse Metropolitan region (AUAT - Agence d'Urbanisme de l'Agglomération Toulousaine), which will highlight the following aspects of the project: the operational challenges encountered during the implementation phase, the main results achieved during the year since the official end of the UIA projects, and the long-term sustainability and scalability of your UIA project. It will also provide the overall impressions of the project leader on the levels of innovation, the involvement of local stakeholders and measurability, and the overall added value that UIA has brought to your city.
It is to be noted that this final evaluation has also been the opportunity to update the project Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of COMMUTE, with a new survey circulated to the COMMUTE company employees at the end of 2021. This update of KPIs is being led by the AUAT. Both the KPIs update and the final evaluation report will be available by 31 January 2022.
First results from the final evaluation point out the difficulties encountered by COMMUTE due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlights that several lockdowns and a period of short-time work affected particularly the employees of the COMMUTE area and had a major impact on the use of public transport and car-pooling (social distancing recommendations).
2) COMMUTE reference framework
The implementation of the COMMUTE collaborative governance has led to a reference framework[1], which should eventually lead to a European ISO standard for mobility management in the years to come.
One of the main goals of the COMMUTE project focused on transferability. COMMUTE partners and the Work Package leader for the reference framework, namely Airbus, have cooperated with AFNOR, the French standardisation agency, and developed a reference framework on collaborative governance of urban mobility. This framework ensures that the project’s learnings can be transferred and replicated now that COMMUTE has come to an end. Regular partner meetings enabled the analysis of externalities and added value generated by that new governance system, which fed into the development of the reference framework.
The reference framework was the last action of COMMUTE to be concluded. It will serve as a basis for a future ISO standard for mobility management systems. Legal requirements linked to intellectual property rights prevented the development of a standard so far. All COMMUTE deliverables had to be made public, which makes the development of a standard impossible, since it is expected to belong to the standardisation committee. AFNOR decided to apply a process that is similar to a standard, so this reference framework follows the ISO model for mobility management systems. As COMMUTE partners wish so, this reference framework might become a European or international standard in the future. Project partners will have to commit to the development of the standard and fulfil all legal requirements. It is to be noted that several French mobility stakeholders wish to develop sustainable mobility standards: discussions are ongoing regarding a set of ISO standards on sustainable mobility.
Within the development of the reference framework, a normative mapping has been carried out for the project’s pilots, led by Tisseo. The aim was to identify existing reference frameworks and feed into the decision on the COMMUTE framework and the pilots’ deployment. It also contributed to provide references in order to avoid “reinventing the wheel”. For instance, it helped to understand the standards and norms for electric vehicles’ charging (charging points at COMMUTE carpooling hub). Norm ISO 37101 on management systems for sustainable development within territorial communities also inspired the COMMUTE reference framework.
3) COMMUTE legacy
Many of the COMMUTE actions are being continued. These actions have been mostly taken over by Tisséo Collectivités. This is for instance the case of the cycling services, set up by Tisséo Collectivités during the COMMUTE project, and which Tisséo Collectivités has committed to further support, also financially, until 31 December 2022 at least. A public procurement procedure allocated the provision of the service to « Maison du Vélo ».
Regarding infrastructure and equipment, car parks at Toulouse Blagnac airport (8 places) and Pibrac (25 places) will remain, as well as the electric charging facilities (2 charging places in Pibrac) and carpooling spots (8 drop off/pick up spots located nearby a public transport station and cycling lanes). KAROS, the carpooling service provider, will continue to be active until 31 December 2021. The carpooling app will then continue beyond 2021 (more details to be provided soon).
The COMMUTE Inter-Company Workplace Travel Plan (PMIE) also continues. During the COMMUTE project, and under the leadership of Tisséo Collectivités and the Réussir Business Club, five COMMUTE partner companies (Airbus, ATR, Toulouse Blagnac Sopra Steria Airport and Safran) designed and implemented a common and shared mobility plan approach which resulted in on a concrete action plan[2].
All the partner companies of COMMUTE also continue to raise awareness about the need to shift away from individual car use in the aeronautical area. The COMMUTE spirit is deeply rooted in the partner companies. The promotion of cycling as an alternative to the car has been particularly successful during the project and continues to be. It is thanks to COMMUTE that companies in the aeronautical zone have realized the interest from employees for cycling solutions. Cycling actions will continue, with companies actively supporting this important focus of the project.
The COMMUTE digital platform, led by Sopra Steria during the project as project partner, continues with Sopra Steria now as a subcontractor to Tisséo Collectivités. For the digital platform to continue with Sopra Steria as lead, the city organized an “experimental procurement” procedure based on technical specificities acquired by Sopra Steria throughout the project. This unique procurement process allows for the continuation of the digital platform for another year. The scope of the digital platform has also been extended, with Tisséo Collectivités contacting the Toulouse University Hospital and military headquarters to be part of the platform. This should happen early 2022.
The COMMUTE Local Urban Mobility Committee (CLMU), which had been created by COMMUTE and brought together the nine partners as well as the stakeholders of the public and private airport area - whose membership was formalised by the signing of the "COMMUTE Charter" – will continue, but in a different form. Three Local Committee meetings were held (2 in 2019 and 1 in 2020) to co-build with stakeholders a common vision of urban mobility at the level of the airport area, through the establishment of collaborative workshops on carpooling, cycling and walking. The other key objective was to participate in the development of a master plan for mobility in the area. The CLMU has been replaced by the “Partners’ Committee” (“Comité des partenaires”), which is a new requirement from the French national Mobility Law (Loi d’Orientation des Mobilités – LOM). COMMUTE is considered as a pioneer in the matter, inspiring a Rapporteur of the LOM to set up such a “Partners’ Committees” where relevant. COMMUTE has indeed be a precursor of the LOM, which sets collaborative management principles, which have already implemented by COMMUTE over the past years.
In terms of replication, Toulouse Blagnac Airport and Sopra Steria (partners in the COMMUTE project) are part of the Horizon 2020 project "Stargate" - LC-GD-5-1-2020 - "Green airports and ports as multimodal hubs for sustainable and smart mobility" (European Green deal call), which has just been approved by the European Commission (2021-2026). This project is the response of a consortium of 22 entities led by Brussels Airport committing to create green airports as multimodal hubs for sustainable and smart mobility. One of the pillars of the project was strongly inspired by the collaborative governance model of the COMMUTE project, including a focus on multimodal, sustainable and smart mobility through an innovative mobility governance practice aiming at creating an intermodal hub, and dedicated tools to enhance the digitalisation and decarbonisation of passenger and freight transport.
In addition, at national level, COMMUTE inspired two other winning projects:
- VILAGIL: A project winner in 2019 of the national call for projects "Territories of innovation" to decongest and decarbonise the urban area, in partnership with other peri-urban and rural intercommunities.
As mentioned in Journal 5, VILAGIL addresses several targets (electromobility, third places, development, urban air mobility, logistics, data valuation, MaaS, civic engagement, etc.) and brings together around twenty public and private partners, who co-invest to carry the program, with financial support from the State via the Banque des Territoires (Caisse des Dépôts). Currently being launched, it will support Francazal's development over the next few years. It is part of the continuity of a partnership dynamic already well underway in the region, around several emblematic partnership projects.
- ECO_MODE : Winner of the State / ADEME "Energy Savings Certificates" (CEE) call for programmes, ECO_MODE is a public-private collaborative program led by Toulouse Métropole. This programme follows in particular the European project COMMUTE and the 3 partners of Toulouse Métropole are Tisséo Collectivités, Airbus and Sopra Steria. ECO_MODE aims to decarbonise mobility by acting on individual behavior and travel choices, while promoting and rewarding mobility that consumes little fossil energy (carpooling, cycling, metro, tram, micro-mobility, teleworking and third parties). places of companies ...), as an alternative to the use of the private car (autosolism). The objective of the programme is to avoid 72,000 daily trips by private car in the Toulouse metropolitan area by 2022 (18,175 tonnes of C02 and 7 million liters of fuel), i.e. a decrease of 2 points in the modal share of the individual car. The ECO_MODE device will constitute an important base for the deployment of MaaS in Toulouse.
TABLE 1: MAPPING COMMUTE AGAINST THE ESTABLISHED UIA CHALLENGES
The table below provides an overview of COMMUTE challenges based on the UIA challenges mapping, which corresponds to challenges identified throughout all UIA projects. It is to be noted that many challenges have been listed as “Medium” since the implementation of the French lockdown linked to the Covid 19 outbreak. COMMUTE had been put on hold between 17 March and September 2020:
The nature of the collaborative management system has been the real challenge for the project management, namely to successfully implement common solutions while respecting the public and private objectives and interests of the partners. The interests, work processes, and actions of the partners are, in many cases, different. However, all actions were developed together, co-constructed, and in full transparency. In order to follow each of the actions horizontally and jointly, the project leader organised a weekly meeting with all partners on Friday mornings to discuss the different points of the project. In this way, it was possible to identify difficulties and anticipate solutions together. These regular meetings did help to tackle this major challenge. The definition of a joint timetable, regular meetings and the respect of the project plans are tools that contribute to overcoming this challenge. This new working method makes it possible to achieve the desired objectives with greater consistency. The methodology of sharing and co-construction allows for a more coordinated and integrated correlation and deployment of the action plan, while respecting the different public and private interests.
During the period of lockdown and health restrictions, the weekly face-to-face meetings were replaced by meetings by videoconference. The pace was also slowed down (1 meeting every 15 days) due to periods of short-time working for most of the partners. Despite these constraints, the continuity of the actions was ensured.
In addition to the weekly meetings and in order to facilitate the collaborative work, a governance was contractually agreed (COMMUTE Partnership Agreement):
- A General Assembly composed of all the partners, the UIA mandated entity (if possible), the stakeholders and the UIA expert. Its main role: information and consultation.
- A Steering Committee composed of one representative per partner. Its main role was to take formal decisions and approve reports.
- A Technical Committee composed by the leaders of the Work Packages. Its main role: operational and technical management and reporting.
- Working Groups chaired by each of the Work package leaders. Each WP meeting will meet as needed and will be facilitated by the WP leader.
All COMMUTE partners have played a key role in the project and therefore also in the governance. No hierarchy between partners.
Public procurement issues were a minor or managed challenge. All public procurement and competition rules were known and respected by the public and private partners without much difficulty and on the basis of their own internal, national and European rules. For the public partners, this challenge was more important as the procedures tended to be longer. The main difficulty was to respect the timetable of the action plan within the deadlines imposed by the contracts. The COVID crisis had an impact on public procurement (some delays).
A great deal of anticipation and planning had to be done in order to anticipate all the public contracts planned in the project. With all the partners, the work was to identify the public contracts, their outline, the procedures and the deadlines in order to be able to launch them in the project schedule.
However, it should be noted that due to the pandemic, a number of the procurement contracts were delayed, in particular the contract for the launch of the bicycle services, which was launched with a slight delay but was deployed without any problems. To make up for the delay, the project partners decided to continue these services beyond the COMMUTE project. This continuity of actions is 100% financed by Tisséo Collectivités, the transport organising authority.
To mitigate procurement risks, it has been important to identify them as early as possible so that they can be deployed in accordance with the project schedule.
It is important to be aware of internal, national and European procurement rules in order to comply with legal procedures.
For public partners, this upstream work has been fundamental since contractualisation processes are longer. One way of working in a coordinated manner is to involve the departments responsible for financial matters in the project from the outset in order to facilitate the anticipation of procedures.
Given the large number of actors (public and private) involved in the project, the very time-consuming action programme, the restrictive timetable, the numerous themes dealt with around urban mobility (digital, data, environment, social, innovation, etc.), the organisational arrangements were a real challenge for all the partners, but mainly for the Urban Authority, Toulouse Métropole.
Toulouse Métropole set up a team to manage COMMUTE. Led by a project manager (an expert in European project management), this team includes several departments (1 expert per department): Finance, Environment, Smart City and Innovation, IT, Infrastructure, Communication and Transport. All these people support the project leader's management and participate (depending on the agenda) in the various meetings.
Concerning the other partners: each of the partners appointed three COMMUTE contact points (technical, communication and financial contact points), who, as ambassadors, have the task of informing and raising awareness among all the departments and staff concerned.
In addition, each work package had a coordinator and contributors. The aim was to promote cross-functionality in order to integrate all departments and partners in all actions.
One of the keys to the success of the project was the cross-functional and integrated organisation to deliver the action plan on time. COMMUTE was highly organised. Each COMMUTE partner had a specific role within the project (WP leader, contributor, action leader, etc.), under the control and guidance of the project leader (Urban Authority). This collaborative and team work led to a better coherence and monitoring of the action plan.
The collaborative spirit of the COMMUTE team became the soul of the project. This spirit was reinforced during the crisis period as the project experienced difficulties (short-time working, closure of companies, etc.): The WP leaders made themselves available to the teams to support them. All teams showed solidarity and collaboration. Collaborative governance was resilient during the health crisis.
The challenge was to make the collaborative management system work in a very inclusive way, ensuring the full participation of all partners but also of external stakeholders in the project. This participatory approach was crucial for the implementation of the actions, notably for the provision and collection of data throughout the project, for raising awareness among employees in terms of behavioural change, but also for the understanding and involvement of all (public and private actors, citizens, etc.) in adopting the measures recommended by the project. This ownership of the project cannot be achieved without ensuring a participatory, comprehensive and inclusive approach.
COMMUTE set up a body to ensure communication and stakeholder involvement: the "COMMUTE Local Mobility Committee" which brought together the 9 project partners with all stakeholders and third parties interested in the project. No restrictions were imposed to join the Committee, the only requirement being to sign the "COMMUTE Charter" (no financial commitment), which formalises the adhesion to the COMMUTE project and defines the details of the voluntary commitment of each interested party. The objective of this Committee, which met several times with the stakeholders, was to:
- Share the progress of the COMMUTE reflections and actions
- Encourage the sharing of experiences and good practices between participants
- Encourage participants to develop innovative initiatives to promote active modes
- Invite participants to extend the COMMUTE project by engaging in partnerships around concrete projects.
The creation of the COMMUTE Local Mobility Committee (CLMC), composed of all stakeholders wishing to contribute to the process, has made it possible to define a collaborative and co-constructive working method to obtain a common vision of urban mobility at the scale of the COMMUTE area. This participatory approach guaranteed sustainable, long-lasting and replicable results.
A survey was carried out among the stakeholders to check their level of satisfaction:
- Did your participation in the CLMC make you want to continue this collaborative management experience? 95% answered Yes
- Are you satisfied with the implementation of the CLMC within the COMMUTE project? 89% answered Yes
- In general, do you think that the CLMC has improved decision-making for sustainable mobility in the airport area? 37% answered "Yes, a significant impact", 53% answered "Yes, a moderate impact" and 11% "No impact".
The project was evaluated from the outset using different tools (dashboards, mobility surveys, etc.). Identifying and agreeing on key performance indicators was a challenge. Nevertheless, a dedicated Work Package on evaluation (WP5) facilitated this task by assuming this aspect as a separate action. The identification of key performance indicators was not easy and took longer than expected. The existence of a large number of actions, indicators per action and priorities required prioritisation and synthesis work. This work was carried out by the project management and the work package manager in charge of the evaluation with the contribution of all partners. The KPIs were updated one year after the end of the project (see below).
It has taken a long time to identify common targets and objectives to be achieved (Indicators). This work was carried out in collaboration with the UIA team. COMMUTE provided for an ex-ante, intermediate and final evaluation.
Several quantitative indicators mainly related to mobility and the environment were selected.
A qualitative indicator "Governance" was included in the list of KPIs: a qualitative survey was conducted among COMMUTE partners during May 2020. This action was also underway but delayed due to the Covid 19 lockdown.
The final evaluation allowed for the comparison between the beginning and the end of the project but this was distorted by the COVID crisis. However, the reading of the final project indicators showed favourable developments despite the circumstances.
One of the keys to the success of the project was to treat evaluation as an action in its own right. Many resources (human and financial) were made available to carry out this action. The urban authority (Toulouse Métropole), which was in charge of steering this action, subcontracted it to the Agence d'urbanisme de l'Agglomération toulousaine, experts in public policy evaluation. Several tools were used to evaluate COMMUTE: dashboards, digital platforms, employee mobility surveys, polls, etc.
The evaluation of projects should not be underestimated, as it is a crucial element that has enabled the scope and impact of results to be measured, their reproducibility to be ensured and modifications or improvements to be reintroduced, and good practices and knowledge to be capitalised on.
Sustainability and durability of the project is very important. The COMMUTE team launched a reflection to anticipate the follow-up to be given after January 2021. Cost-analysis studies have been carried out within the framework of the project to determine the sustainability and the possible economic model of the actions. The sustainability of COMMUTE is guaranteed. This is based on several models. The commitment of the public partners to assume 100% of the costs for a significant number of actions, the use of public procurement, the participation of public and private partners in the framework of projects co-financed by the French State but also the participation in other European projects. Only the deployment of the autonomous shuttle had to be abandoned due to the COVID crisis.
In the COMMUTE project, cost-benefit analyses were carried out covering the following issues:
- Participatory governance system
- Teleworking and coworking
- Cycling
- Autonomous shuttle
- Carpooling
- Inter-company workplace travel plan and associated active communication
- Digital platform
The results of all these studies confirmed the economic profitability of the actions (and environmental profitability, of course).
COMMUTE continues to implement these actions which are 100% funded by the partners and/or with national and European funds. In particular:
- The deployment of the inter-company mobility plan with the support of Tisséo Collectivités and the Réussir business club.
- The continuation of the digital mobility platform COMMUTE, as a decision-making tool, piloted by Tisséo Collectivités and Sopra Steria (with the contribution of partners who continue to transmit mobility data).
- The continuation of bicycle services in the airport area, provided by Tisséo Collectivités.
- The infrastructure to secure the cycle network provided by Toulouse Métropole.
- The Karos carpooling service continues, etc.
Public/private governance continues within the framework of the new LOM law (Loi d'orientation des mobilités voted in December 2019) which asks the mobility organising authorities to guarantee it (COMMUTE inspired the LOM law).
One of the main objectives of COMMUTE was to raise awareness of the need to change the way employees travel in the region and to support them in this modal shift. Resistance to change in mobility habits is a high risk, which can be mitigated by clearly communicating the benefits and impacts to the target groups. The implementation of communication actions (awareness raising, workshops, services, etc.) makes it increasingly easy to reach the beneficiaries and to achieve the results.
COMMUTE had set up two levels of communication:
- A communication towards the general public which informs about the project in general, and allows to highlight the support of Europe in the implementation of concrete actions related to mobility in the territory (events, internet, LinkedIn, exhibitions, etc.).
- More targeted communication aimed at employees in the airport area, which is the real target of the project. To this end, a specific communication campaign entitled "Change your Mobility, we all stand to gain" has been launched among companies in order to raise awareness among employees and to help them change their mobility behaviour.
Other awareness-raising actions were carried out throughout the project: seminars, workshops, targeted meetings, etc.
In addition, COMMUTE participated as a guest at all events, round tables and workshops organised by UIA.
Communication has been a key and cross-cutting element for the success of the project. All partners were concerned. This communication had to be external (popularised for the understanding of all audiences) and internal (more technical and specific to the project target).
In addition to traditional means of communication, new technologies had to be used: social networks, videoconferences, etc. in order to get the messages across as far as possible.
Communication was always done in accordance with the European project's graphic charter, making it clear that this project was made possible thanks to European aid.
Due to the COVID crisis, the means of communication were adapted: videoconferences, digital events, etc.
The challenge here was to make the project replicable and adaptable to any other territory in France or Europe.
The COMMUTE project is mainly aimed at employees in the Toulouse airport area, but it can be replicated in other employment areas in France or Europe with similar road congestion problems. Furthermore, COMMUTE could also be applied to other targets in addition to employees: university areas, hospitals, and citizens in general. COMMUTE wanted to carry out a "standardisation" exercise to facilitate this transferability.
To meet this objective of defining a reference framework, COMMUTE wished to integrate into its team the partner "AFNOR" (Association Française de Normalisation) which was appointed leader of this action, which is one of the last keys of COMMUTE. The COMMUTE reference framework:
- establishes a method for piloting an urban mobility project with a collaborative management mode and deploying it on a territory, in a partnership framework
- specifies the requirements for the implementation of a collaborative management of an urban mobility project on a territory, in the context of commuting.
It includes the general recommendations resulting from the feedback of the COMMUTE project partners concerning the actions and the management system of the project.
This reference framework includes general recommendations resulting from the feedback of the COMMUTE partners on the actions and management system of the project.
It is undoubtedly an essential tool to facilitate its replicability, particularly in terms of collaborative urban mobility management.
AFNOR has created a working group to transform the Commute standard into the future international standard ISO 37101
Takeaways and conclusions
The COMMUTE project aimed to promote the modal shift of employees towards new modes of transport or new forms of work as an alternative to the private car. It had high stakes in terms of mobility but also in terms of economic development, environment and health.
The main innovation of the COMMUTE project was the implementation of a collaborative public and private governance of mobility in the airport and aeronautical zone of Toulouse associating the public operators of mobility with the big companies of the zone to reduce the impact of the individual use of cars for home-work trips. COMMUTE’s innovative collaborative management system has been the real challenge of the project. The organisation of regular meetings has effectively helped to meet this major challenge. The different working methods and constraints between the public administration and the enterprises required a lot of anticipation to respect the timetable for the implementation of the actions. The definition of a common timetable and the respect of the action plan are tools that helped to overcome this challenge. This working method allowed the objectives to be achieved with greater consistency. The methodology of sharing and co-construction allowed for a more coordinated and integrated correlation and deployment of the action plan, while respecting the different public and private interests.
Most partners continue to be involved in the actions initiated by COMMUTE: Toulouse Métropole and Tisséo Collectivités are involved within the framework of their public mobility policies; private companies within the framework of the Inter-Company Mobility Plan; and the Réussir Business Club continues to raise awareness and encourage new companies to join the "Mobility" initiative. Last but not least, AFNOR initiated the international standardisation work around the implementation of a collaborative governance system for mobility inspired in the COMMUTE project.
In terms of knowledge transfer, Toulouse Métropole and Tisséo Collectivités continue to transfer their knowledge on COMMUTE. Some examples include the presentation of COMMUTE at the EU Climate Pact Exchange Network on Sustainable Mobility, to networks such as EUROCITIES, EIT Urban Mobility, and at the Paris-Orly airport platform, while also raising awareness of the Business Club “Réussir” including 400 companies in the Toulouse region. The continued deployment of the COMMUTE Intercompany Mobility Plan in new employment areas of Toulouse is also part of the knowledge transfer following the end of the project.
COMMUTE is also entirely transferable to other economic areas that are experiencing road congestion problems. The final COMMUTE deliverable "Collaborative management of an urban mobility project - Reference system", to which all COMMUTE partners contributed under AFNOR coordination, was delivered in order to facilitate the transposition of the "COMMUTE method" by other local authorities and employment areas, elsewhere in France or in Europe, which are seeking to collectively improve home-work mobility.
The COMMUTE method has changed the way projects are approached in Toulouse by encouraging a much more collaborative and transversal management. The COMMUTE project has encouraged the creation of a dedicated cross-cutting team in Toulouse metropole, led by a project manager with the support of different experts in charge of various aspects: digital, environment, works, innovation, mobility, etc. The collaborative governance approach has been both a real challenge and a real success, with many results such as:
- A digital platform for mobility in this area designed as a decision-making tool for the partners (collaborative governance) with the aim of sharing public and private data in order to obtain a "real-time inventory" enabling decision-makers to identify mobility problems in the area and adopt appropriate solutions (Sopra Steria)
- COMMUTE widely disseminated to raise awareness among other interested SMEs (Club d'entreprises Réussir)
- The replicability of the project ensured thanks to the COMMUTE standard reference framework (Afnor).
The composition of the COMMUTE partnership was comprehensive, coherent, representative and relevant. It has been a public-private partnership that brought together the main actors necessary for the implementation of a global strategy and a mobility action plan in a specific economic area. The public transport authorities, the most important employers in the area, the airport platform, a business club – all are promoting the dissemination of COMMUTE results and its replicability through the creation of a reference framework, that should lead to a European standard.
The city’s relation with the project partners changed thanks to COMMUTE to become more collaborative and regular. COMMUTE has also allowed the partners to have a better understanding of the urban authority, its missions, its functioning, its organisation, favouring the implementation of common actions and an easier and regular dialogue.
COMMUTE's aim was to set up a collaborative public and private governance of mobility. The main advice to other cities interested in replicating the COMMUTE approach is to set up a solid and sustainable governance of the project based on collaboration and co-construction.
References
Further to information provision from key members of the COMMUTE project, the following sources supported the collation and drafting of this journal:
- COMMUTE website: https://www.toulouse-metropole.fr/projets/commute
- COMMUTE communication tools
- COMMUTE D.7.2.4-Evaluation Finale
- COMMUTE D.6.5.1 Services vélos dans le cadre du PMIE
- COMMUTE D.6.5.3 Evaluation des services vélos
- D.4.1.6. Recommendations Générales
- COMMUTE Présentation Plateforme Digitale
- COMMUTE_D5.2.1-D5.2.2-D5.3.3_Cartographie sources données
- COMMUTE_Convention Données
- COMMUTE_Cartographie_données_sources_20180727_v1.0
- COMMUTE_Anonymisation_Données_RH_20181005_v0.3
- COMMUTE_D2.1.2-Plan de management de projet
- Dossier de candidature UIA V4
- Indicateurs fiches actions_2903
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- Note de presse clotûre
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About this resource
The Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) is a European Union initiative that provided funding to urban areas across Europe to test new and unproven solutions to urban challenges. The initiative had a total ERDF budget of €372 million for 2014-2020.
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