The COMMUTE project Journal 5

1.    Executive summary

COMMUTE is now over: all actions have been finalised and are now being evaluated. This edition focuses on the implementation and finalisation of key actions, their evaluation and final assessment, as well as the COMMUTE final event. It also provides the latest update on the challenges that the project encountered over the past months. One of the main challenges has been the impact of Covid-19 on the implementation of the actions. Similarly to other European projects, COMMUTE has been affected by the extraordinary circumstances linked to the pandemic. For instance, as a consequence, the public procurement of the cy-cling action has been delayed, and the deployment of the autonomous shuttle has been cancelled. These circumstances also led to a three months extension of the project, and a final event which took place online.

COMMUTE Journal 5 will be followed by a last Journal, which will mark the conclusion of an exciting pro-ject that mobilised and inspired a group of passionate public and private actors. It has been an amazing and resilient public-private partnership, that will for sure inspire other cities in France and beyond.

2. 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 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% single car users – “autosolistes”).

       3. Key milestones

The following milestones present the developments of COMMUTE until its closure in January 2021. Delays due to the Covid-19 impact are also reflected below:

- April 2018: Public kick-off event

- June 2018: Construction  of the carpooling parking

- 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

- 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”)

- 3 March 2021: Online final event

       4. Progress to date:

This fifth Journal identifies three key aspects of COMMUTE that are particularly relevant at the end of the project:

1. Final implementation and results

2. Evaluation and final assessment

3. Final event

COMMUTE actions have been concluded in January 2021, despite the situation due to the pandemic. The evaluation and final assessment have also taken place. Here more details on the COMMUTE’s latest developments:

1. Final implementation and results

These are the key implementation steps and results of COMMUTE after three years of public-private partnership:

1.1 The COMMUTE Local Urban Mobility Committee (CLMU):

This body was created by COMMUTE and brings 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".

Three Local Committee meetings were held (2 in 2019 and 1 in 2020) with the following objectives:

- 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; and

- to participate in the development of a master plan for mobility in the area.

1.2 The COMMUTE digital platform:

The digital platform of COMMUTE is collaborative decision support tool that makes it possible to:

• Manage home-work mobility with a joint commitment from Toulouse Métropole, Tisséo Collectivités and partner companies on economic, social and environmental levers.

• Understand the mobility needs of employees for a site, a company, a territorial area.

• Analyse mobility performance as a function of location and time (time of trips).

• Evaluate the potential of actions to help decision-making and target engaging communication actions.

• Analyse the potential of infrastructures and identify the most efficient investments.

• Analyse more broadly the flow of mobility between areas of activity by relying on anonymised telecom operator data.

• Evaluate the impact of the actions of the area if they are replicated at the scale of other areas via global external simulations (e.g.: increasing the modal share of cycling).

1.3 The COMMUTE Inter-Company Mobility Plan (PMIE):

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:

• Establishment of a home-work short-carpooling service with the local operator Karos: An experience of massification of an efficient and conclusive carpooling service with a significant evolution in the use of this mode. Results: 4,700 registered employees, 135,000 carpools carried out, an average journey of 23 km, 1 million kilometers avoided, 140 tons of CO2, 330 kilos of Nox, 30 kilos of PM 2.5. 77 00 km is the size of the KAROS COMMUTE network.
• Establishment of bicycle services in the airport area: A range of bicycle services designed by companies, supported by communities, used by employees. These were the keys to the success of a comprehensive bicycle policy. The services offered included for instance itinerant workshops, bike school and “Back on the saddle” campaign, personalised rental and digital tool (“Uwinbike”) which allow an analysis of home-work trips by bike, the creation of inter-company challenges and offers (“Proof of pedaling” – rewards based on the evidence of the kilometers cycled).
• Experimentation on the practice of walking: Workshops on the link between public transport and the last kilometers. Definition of two directional signage circuits on the ground: St Martin / Ramassiers zone and airport zone.
• Animation / Awareness-raising actions: A necessary awareness-raising campaign among employees, based on a progressive and incentive action plan, has been carried out to accentuate the modal shift. It was entitled “Changing your mobility, a gain for all!” It included:
  • 10 collaborative workshops on carpooling, co-construction of nudges, PMIE action plan, etc.
  • Communication tools, incl. a carpooling guide and an engaging communication campaign, as well as motion design videos.
  • 1 event, which as the inter-company carpooling challenge organised by KAROS.
  • Other activities, e.g. company stands run by mobility advisers.

1.4 COMMUTE infrastructure and equipment

As part of the project, infrastructure works and improvements have been carried out:

• Cycling:

• 6 new cycling lanes
• Cycling hub
• Access by bike to Safran partner
• Carpooling:
• Parkings: at Toulouse Blagnac airport (8 places) and Pibrac (25 places)
• Electric charging facilities (2 charging places in Pibrac)
• Carpooling spots (8 drop off/pick up spots located nearby a public transport station)

2. Evaluation and final assessment

COMMUTE's major success has been to set up a public and private collaborative management model for mobility. This collective work arrangement made it possible to share the analysis of urban organisation and mobility in the Toulouse airport and aeronautical economic zone. Economic players and public authorities were able to experiment with the implementation of an Inter-Company Workplace Mobility action plan that addressed the challenges of daily commuting between home and work.

Results (estimates) at the end of the project in December 2020 are the following. These results have been impacted by the Covid 19 crisis:

• Decline in the use of the "private car", which fell from 70% to 61% (in 2019 before COVID from 75% to 70%)
• Significant increase in the use of bicycles, which has increased from 10% to 20% (in 2019 before Covid from 5% to 10%)
• Increase in teleworking: the number of regular teleworkers increased from 6% to 55% (in 2019 before Covid 6% in particular for ATR, ATB and SAFRAN)
• Advancement of carpooling as an “occasional” mode, going from 8% to 12% (in 2019 before Covid 4%)
• 15% of employees in COMMUTE companies use the Karos application (in 2019 before Covid 10%)
• Estimated impact of the decline of the car across the five COMMUTE companies:
• 90,000 km by car and 17 tonnes of greenhouse gas avoided per day (in 2019 before Covid: 53,000 km avoided and 10 tonnes of greenhouse gas avoided per day)
• An estimated gain of 12 kg VOC, 52 kg of NOX, 3 kg of particles each day (in 2019 before Covid: 7 kg VOC, 30 kg of NOX, 2 kg of particles each day)

A significant change in behaviour can be noted with a real decline in the "private car" for journeys between home and work at the level of the 5 COMMUTE companies:

• A real boom in cycling to work, observed for all COMMUTE companies.
• Despite the health crisis, the modal share of carpooling as a “daily” mode of travel has remained stable. It is gaining momentum as a "casual" fashion.
• The success of the Karos experiment and the Pibrac carpooling area suggests a strong potential for the development of this practice in the years to come.
• A slight decline in the use of public transport, a mode of travel directly impacted by the health crisis
• Teleworking has made great progress within companies, with an evolution of remote working tools and their use, accelerated by the health crisis.

3. Final event

The COMMUTE final event was originally scheduled for 26 January 2021 (the project ended on 31 January 2021). This event had a "hybrid" format: it was to take place at the MEETT (new Toulouse Congress Center) and welcome the public (around 40 people), in particular the project partners, speakers, technical teams (management, project manager, etc.), then also to be followed via digital connection by other guests (general public). A “Save the date” was sent at the end of December 2020 by Mr. Moudenc, Mayor / President of Toulouse Métropole, to more than 5,000 guests. However, due to the new health instructions launched in mid-January 2021 in France announcing a curfew from 6 pm, it was decided to cancel the event at the MEETT and to postpone it to a later date.

The new date for the final event of the COMMUTE project was then set for 3 March 2021. The event this time was 100% digital and live. The objective of the COMMUTE event was to present the project but also to draw up a final assessment of the actions and results. The programme was structured as follows:

• Opening : This first part included introductory speeches, in particular by elected officials of Toulouse Métropole, but also of very high-level interventions:
  • European Commission: Mrs Vandoorne, deputy head of the unit in charge of research, innovation and urban mobility, DG Mobility and Transport at the European Commission who gave an update on European urban policies (focus on Mobility).
  • The national level: Mr. Fugit, rapporteur of the "Mobility Orientation Law" (LOM Law) promulgated in France at the end of 2019 (excused at the last moment).
• COMMUTE movie: The film presenting the COMMUTE project as well as the report of the actions was presented exclusively during the final closing event. See COMMUTE movie link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euyMXBYmpJw
• Roundtables: “COMMUTE, the keys to success”: This second part of the event was dedicated to presenting the actions and results of the COMMUTE project by the various project partners. Three round tables took place:
  • Collaborative governance of mobility: a new community-employer approach for more efficiency.
  • The essential levers: organization, methods and tools.
  • Support for change: actions and results.
• Expert advice: Mrs. Dorthe Nielsen, Executive Director of the European network of cities EUROCITIES and Mr. Viard, Sociologist, gave their opinions as experts and challenged the partners.
• Interactive questions / answers: Throughout the event, guests were able to ask questions live. A question / answer time has been reserved during the event.

The event was closed by Mr. Jean-Luc Moudenc, Mayor / President of Toulouse Métropole and Mr. Tim Caulfield, Director of the UIA Initiative.

The results of the event were very successful, with 486 people connected in total.

5. COMMUTE 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 has been put on hold since 17 March 2020 and relaunched after the summer. It has been extended by three months.

6. Takeaways and conclusions

COMMUTE has been a successful experience of public-private collaborative governance of mobility. All actions and infrastructure have been completed, apart from the action on the autonomous shuttle, which could not be carried out due to the pandemic. Lockdowns, partial unemployment of COMMUTE partner companies and the closure of certain companies’ sites, have had an impact on the implementation of the Inter-Company Workplace Mobility Action Plan, mainly leading to a shorter testing period of the action on cycling services - but this action continues beyond the end of the project and is 100 % financed by the COMMUTE partner Tisséo - and to a shorter testing period of the third places (1 month).

The project was based on the principle that an efficient reduction in urban congestion and emissions on a territory cannot be effective in the absence of short-term improvement of infrastructure, but also without simultaneous, coordinated involvement and consistent with all stakeholders. COMMUTE therefore aimed to assess the interest of a new form of public-private collaborative governance of mobility in the aeronautical and airport area of ​​Toulouse-Blagnac, involving employers and the competent authorities.

This experimental area was chosen to be particularly representative of the problem to be addressed, namely high urban congestion and massive use of private cars. To achieve these decongestion objectives, the collaborative governance relied on several essential levers:

• An organisation facilitating exchanges with the various stakeholders in a formalised framework and making it possible to co-construct with everyone a shared vision of mobility in the area.
• Alternative solutions to the private car, some of which have been tested within the framework of this project: carpooling, cycling, teleworking, third places ... and the identification of the brakes to their deployment (specific development needs ... such as areas and carpooling parking, bicycle development and equipment, etc.)
• Methods and tools, such as the Inter-Company Workplace Mobility Plan, a digital platform for sharing mobility data in the area promoting decision-making, but also engaging communication essential to the conversion of employees to new management practices. low-carbon mobility.

The result of the deployment of COMMUTE over 3 years is eloquent: a reduction in private cars by 9 points, a significant increase in carpooling (more than a million kilometers avoided), active modes leading to a reduction in emissions in the area and a genuine demonstrated socio-economic interest.

COMMUTE has also been summarised in a reference framework (“Référentiel COMMUTE”[1]) reflecting the approach and processes developed. It might also lead to the development of a COMMUTE standard on collaborative management of urban mobility. COMMUTE could quickly become the norm to be replicated in other territories, both at national and European level.

What can also summarise COMMUTE is a great sense of resilience and solidarity, which has always been at the core of the collaborative governance approach of the consortium. Despite the pandemic, the soul of the project has continued to live and the group of partners has shown that public-private governance can be a strong asset in difficult times. Several aspects characterise the governance of the COMMUTE project: collaborative and structured governance, which has succeeded in making public actors, companies and technical partners work together around mobility in the airport and aeronautical area of ​​Toulouse airport, and to produce the expected results: experimentation of new forms of mobility and new ways of working; with measurable results on transport externalities (CO2, congestion, etc.); and to put in place sustainable infrastructures and structures that will continue to operate beyond the project stage. Indeed, some achievements implemented during the project will continue beyond COMMUTE, while others may be of a temporary nature. Inclusive governance also: local businesses, inducers of mobility through the daily trips of their employees, became local players in mobility and boosted the realisation of new needs. One can surely say that the COMMUTE collaborative governance approach had anticipated the recommendations of the Citizen's Convention for the Climate and the Mobility Orientation Law (“LOM”). Last but not least, COMMUTE is synonymous of an adaptive, agile and resilient governance, which has been able to change the objectives initially set, to adapt to changes in mobility practices in the population concerned, and to adjust to the health crisis linked to COVID-19.

To conclude, it is important to mention that the efforts undertaken will continue beyond the 3 years of experience: COMMUTE ended on 31 January 2021, but Tisséo Collectivités, in conjunction with the partners, is continuing a large number of actions beyond this date:

• The implementation of the Inter-Company Mobility plan action plan. The management will be provided by the Club Entreprises Réussir, with methodological support from Tisséo Collectivités' corporate mobility consulting service, without financial commitment but with the provision of tools for territorial analysis, mobility survey and communication.
• The Karos carpooling service continues until December 2021.

At the same time, Tisséo Collectivités and Tisséo Voyageurs will study the transfer modalities of the Covoitéo service (carpooling platform and spots) with the objective of massifying the use of the Covoitéo service in complementarity with the Public Transport offer.

• The bicycle services launched by COMMUTE will be continued since they are implemented under public contracts. The three services "workshop", "bike-school" and "rental" will end in October 2022. The testing of the digital application will end in May 2021.

These services are part of the action plan of the urban agglomeration cycle master plan and foreshadow the development of bicycle services carried by Tisséo Collectivités in its capacity as the mobility organizing authority.

• The continuation, within the framework of an experimental innovation market, of the use of the digital mobility platform, in other areas of the agglomeration in support of several Inter-Company mobility plan initiatives. Beyond that, a call for tenders will be launched to have this type of tool permanently available, if it proves to be useful for the business mobility consultancy mission.

In addition, at the national level, COMMUTE inspired two other winning project:

• 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.

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.

7. 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
• Livrable_D714_Bilan_mi-parcours_V1
• Note de presse clotûre
• Projet Demeter - Fiche 10 - PLIMO - Plan inter-entreprises de mobilité v3
• Projet-Demeter-Dossier-de-Presse-v3
• Projet COMMUTE - Réunion de lancement des travaux du WP 5 - 30.05.2018 – CR
• Présentation Outil potentiel de report modal Plateforme digitale
• Projet Référentiel COMMUTE V5
• Sondage Référentiel COMMUTE