Commute journal 5
The fifth Journal of the COMMUTE project (Collaborative Mobility Management for Urban Traffic and
Emissions Reduction) presents the final developments of the project until its closure on 31 January 2021.

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.

TABLE 1: MAPPING COMMUTE AGAINST THE ESTABLISHED UIA CHALLENGES 

Challenge 

Level 

Observations 

1. Leadership for implementation 

Medium

The nature of the collaborative management system is the real challenge for the project leadership, namely to succeed in implementing common solutions while respecting public and private targets and interests. 

The interests, work processes, and actions of the partners are, in many cases, different. However, all actions are elaborated together, co-constructed, and with absolute transparency. In order to follow each of the actions in a horizontal and joint way, the Project Manager holds a weekly meeting with all the partners on Friday mornings to discuss the different points of the project. In this way, it is possible to identify difficulties and anticipate solutions together. These regular meetings do help to tackle this major challenge. The different working methods and constraints between public administration and companies require indeed a great deal of anticipation so as to respect the planned timetable for the actions. 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. 

Weekly consortium meetings are complemented by thematic workshops where all the partners meet to develop the actions and deliverables, e.g. within the framework of the Inter-Company Workplace Travel Plan (teleworking, cycling, carpooling, micromobility), but also in the context of the drafting of the COMMUTE reference framework. 

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. 

2. Public procurement 

Medium 

Minor procurement issues to be reported at this stage, but more could come up. All the rules of public contracting and competition are respected by the partners without any difficulty and based on their own internal rules. For public actors, this challenge is more significant since procedures tend to be longer. Having to respect the action plan timeframe adds another difficulty. A lot of anticipation and planning is done, so the risk is subsequently managed. 

As regards the autonomous shuttle in the town of Pibrac, one of the actions planned within COMMUTE: due to the Municipal Elections of 15 and 22 March 2020, the deployment of the shuttle in the town of Pibrac was expected to be impacted and to experience delays. These constraints relating to the election period led to the adoption of an alternative solution, namely the deployment of the shuttle on a private site (Airbus) - but with the same test conditions of a public site (pedestrians, crossroads, etc). The nature of the action has not changed.  

Within the framework of the cycling actions’ launch, a new public procurement procedure will be opened by Tisséo Collectivités (TC). TC envisages a 2 years contract, including 2 packages:  

1/ « Back on track » pack including maintenance, repair and long-term rental  

2/ Test of a digital tool to supervise / monitor the practice / use of cycling  

 

It is to be noted that due to the lockdown following the Covid 19 outbreak, the cycling action, including the public procurement procedure, is on hold. 

As a consequence of the COVID situation, the autonomous shuttle action on the Airbus site had to be abandoned. The bicycle services were launched with a slight delay but were deployed without any problem. It should be noted that these services continue beyond the COMMUTE project. This continuity of actions is 100% financed by Tisséo Collectivités, the transport organising authority.

3. Integrated cross-departmental working 

Low 

Toulouse Metropole has set up a team to manage COMMUTE. Piloted by a Project Manager (expert in European project management), this team integrates several departments: Direction of Finances, Environment, Smart City and Innovation, IT, Infrastructure, Communication and Transport. 

Each of the partners have appointed three COMMUTE contact points (technical, communication and finance contact points), who, as ambassadors, have the mission of informing and involving all the relevant departments and employees. 

Given the range of stakeholders involved, organisational arrangements could become challenging.  Nevertheless, transversal collaboration across and with partners is controlled. Work with stakeholders has been carried out without any major difficulty so far. The COMMUTE project team is very organised and hierarchised. Each COMMUTE partner has a specific role within the project (WP leader, contributor, action leader, etc.), under the control and steering from the Project Manager. Under the guidance and control of the project leader, this collaborative and teamwork allows for better coherence and monitoring of the action plan. 

The collaborative spirit of the COMMUTE team was strengthened during the lockdown period. The WP leaders made themselves available to the teams to provide support. All teams showed solidarity and collaboration. Collaborative governance was resilient during the health crisis

4. Adopting a participative approach 

Medium 

The challenge is to make the collaborative system work by being very inclusive and ensuring full participation of all partners, incl. external stakeholders. This participative approach is crucial, especially for the provision and collection of data throughout the project, and for the take-up of the measures by the citizens. The project has so far been very inclusive, with participation happening within all the decision-making structures of the project, even with stakeholders. 

In addition to the weekly coordination meetings, COMMUTE includes several working and decision-making bodies: technical committees composed by the leaders of the different working groups, to supervise and resolve technical issues, and a steering committee, to decide and analyse strategic issues.  

The communication with the stakeholders is done through the Local Committee of the Urban Mobility (the first meeting will take place on May 15). 

The participative approach of COMMUTE is ensured in all instances - COTECH (technical committee), COPIL (steering committee), Local Mobility Committee with all stakeholders and third parties interested in the project, etc. No restriction is imposed to join the project – the only requirement being to sign the COMMUTE Charter, which formalises the subscription to the COMMUTE project and defines the commitment details of each interested party. The major principles are the following: 

- The interested parties consider urban mobility as a major challenge for the territory and subscribe to the principle of a collaborative management system led by Toulouse Metropole.  

- The interested parties respect each other mutually and adopt a positive attitude. They are open to dialogue and commit to actively participate in the process suggested by the COMMUTE project. Toulouse Metropole commits to respect the variety of third parties and to regularly communicate and provide updates on the latest developments of the project.  

In addition, during the various public events, partners bring in a high number of participants – employees, local inhabitants, and the general public. This guarantees a strong participatory approach of the project. Finally, the wide range of communication tools used during the project ensure a far-reaching communication about the project.   

Collaborative governance in the COMMUTE project as well as communication with stakeholders is formalised and guaranteed with the creation of the COMMUTE Local Committee, which is composed of COMMUTE Project Partners and any stakeholder wishing to contribute to the process and having signed the COMMUTE Charter beforehand. The objective is to define a collaborative working method and to co-construct with the stakeholders concerned a common vision of urban mobility at the scale of the airport area. The functioning implies setting up collaborative workshops and a steering and monitoring committee.  To date, the numerous requests from stakeholders (public and private actors) who have become members of the Local Committee for Commute Mobility (more than 25) have led to the creation of the COMMUTE Local Mobility Committee. Civil society and associations will be invited to the 3rd meeting of the Local Mobility Committee. Initially scheduled for 3 June 2020, this meeting will be postponed due to delays linked to the lockdown following the Covid 19 outbreak.

 

The 3rd Local Mobility Committee finally took place on 30 November 2020 in digital format due to health constraints. This meeting brought together a large number of participants (over 35) to discuss the issue of "Active modes". The objective of this Committee with the stakeholders was to:

- Share the progress of COMMUTE's reflections and actions, in particular those of the Inter-Company Mobility Plan, in terms of developing walkability and the use of bicycles

- To encourage the sharing of experiences and good practices between participants

- To inspire participants to develop innovative initiatives to promote active modes

- To invite participants to extend the COMMUTE project by engaging in partnerships around concrete projects

At the end of the event, a survey was carried out among the stakeholders to check their level of satisfaction:

- Did your participation in the Local Mobility Committee make you want to continue this collaborative management experience? 95% answered Yes

- Are you satisfied with the implementation of the Local Mobility Committee in the framework of the COMMUTE project? 89% answered Yes

- In general, do you think that the Local Mobility Committee 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

 

5. Monitoring and evaluation 

Medium 

Determining and agreeing on the KPIs with all public and private partners has been a challenge.  Nevertheless, a dedicated work package helped to facilitate it. Still, the identification of the KPIs took longer than expected. The existence of a large number of indicators per action required prioritisation and synthesis work. This work is led by the project management and the work package leader in charge of evaluation.  

Defining the right indicators has not been easy. It implies a great deal of mobility indicators that are mostly coming from the Human Resources Department of the companies, and relates to personal information. A long time has been needed in order to identify common targets and objectives to achieve. This work is carried out together with the UIA team and is about to be finalised. 

A “Governance” indicator will be included in the list of KPIs: a qualitative survey will be carried out among COMMUTE partners during May 2020. This action was also in progress but delayed due to the Covid 19 lockdown measures. 

 

The final evaluation of the project was carried out. All the indicators have been reinstated, but the comparison between the beginning and the end of the project was distorted by the COVID crisis. However, the reading of the final indicators of the project allows to note favourable evolutions despite the circumstances:

- Decline in the use of the "private car" from 70% to 61% (in 2019 before COVID from 75% to 70%)

- Significant increase in bicycle use from 10% to 20% (in 2019 before Covid from 5% to 10%)

- Increase in teleworking: The number of regular teleworkers has risen from 6% to 55% (in 2019 before Covid, 6% for ATR, ATB and SAFRAN)

- Increase in carpooling as an "occasional" mode, from 8% to 12% (in 2019 before Covid 4%)

- 15% of COMMUTE employees use the Karos application (in 2019 before Covid 10%)

- Estimated impact of the reduction in car use for the 5 COMMUTE companies:

- 90,000 km of car and 17 tons of greenhouse gases avoided per day (in 2019 before Covid: 53,000 KM avoided and 10 tons of greenhouse gases avoided per day)

- An estimated gain of 12 kg VOC, 52 kg NOX, 3 kg particles per day (in 2019 before Covid: 7 kg VOC, 30 kg NOX, 2 kg particles per day)

6. Financial Sustainability 

Medium 

Sustainability should be good, but as a first pilot project of this type, the financial sustainability of COMMUTE is untested. 

COMMUTE foresees the realisation of several economic models that will prove the sustainability of it. The question of sustainability and durability of the project is paramount. The COMMUTE team has already launched a reflection in order to anticipate the follow up after October 2020.  

Moreover, the continuation of the COMMUTE actions will be guaranteed. So will the development of the business models (expected in 2020), which will enable to identify the economic viability of the actions. The cost-benefits analyses that will be carried out will focus on the following: 

- Participative governance system 

- Teleworking and co-working 

- Cycling 

- Autonomous shuttle 

- Carpooling 

- Inter-Company Workplace Travel Plan and related active communication  

- Digital platform 

This action is generally in progress, but due to the Covid 19 outbreak and the related lockdown measures, most of the above-mentioned actions have been temporarily put on hold. This impacts the timeline and delivery of the actions. Lockdown measure might also impact the COMMUTE budget, with a possible risk of under-usage of the allocated budget due to actions being put on hold.  

The cost-benefit studies carried out showed the economic profitability of the COMMUTE project. This was an important factor in the decision to continue the project. Indeed, COMMUTE will continue to deploy these actions beyond the European project, which will be 100% covered by the partners. In particular:

- The deployment of the Inter-Company Mobility Plan with Tisséo Collectivités and the Business Club

- The continuation of the COMMUTE digital mobility platform which will be piloted by Tisséo Collectivités and Sopra Syeria

- The continuation of bicycle services in the airport area, provided by Tisséo Collectivités

- The treatment of the "red spots" and the priorities in terms of infrastructure to secure the cycle network by Toulouse Métropole

- COMMUTE partners and their Human Resources Departments become Ambassadors within their companies to continue to raise awareness of changes in mobility behaviour among their colleagues

- The Karos carpooling service continues

7. Communicating with target beneficiaries 

Medium 

One of COMMUTE's main objectives is to raise awareness of the need to change the way employees move around in the area. Resistance in changing mobility patterns is a high risk, which can be mitigated by clearly communicating about benefits and impacts for target groups. The implementation of project actions (awareness-raising, workshops, services, etc.) facilitate more and more the communication with the beneficiaries. 

COMMUTE has two levels of communication: 

- A communication towards the general public which informs about the project in general, and makes it possible to put forward Europe’s support in the setting up of concrete actions relating to mobility on the territory (internet, LinkedIn, exhibitions, etc.). 

- A more targeted communication addressed to the employees of the airport area, which is the actual target of the project. To do so, a communication campaign entitled « Changer sa Mobilité, on a tous à y gagner ! » (« Changing one’s mobility habits - a win-win for everyone! ») has just been launched towards the companies to raise the employees’ awareness and to accompany them in a mobility behavioural change. This communication campaign will be presented and developed in the next COMMUTE Zoom In in January 2020. 

The COMMUTE team is starting to prepare the closure of the project, which will have two audience targets: 

- The employees from the airport area 

- An institutional / academic / economic audience 

 

This action was also in progress but delayed due to the Covid 19 lockdown measures. 

 

The closing of the COMMUTE project was set for 3 March 2021 15:00-17:00.  The event had a 100% digital and live format.

 

The aim of the COMMUTE event was to present the project but also to make a final assessment of the actions and results. The event was very successful: 486 people connected to the event.

8. Upscaling 

Medium 

The challenge here is to meet the goal of defining a reference framework based on the business model of the project. This work has just begun. AFNOR (French Association of Normalisation) is the lead on this action, which is one of the last key ones of COMMUTE. It was also in progress until the Covid 19 lockdown measures.  

The COMMUTE reference framework was finally produced. It:

- establishes a method for piloting an urban mobility project with a collaborative management mode and deploying it on a territory, in a partnership framework; and

- specifies the requirements for implementing a collaborative management of an urban mobility project in a territory, in the context of home-work journeys.

It includes the general recommendations resulting from the feedback of the COMMUTE project partners concerning the actions and the management system of the project.

The method and requirements of this reference framework are generic and are intended to be applied to any actor, public or private, whatever its size or sector of activity, involved in a collaborative mobility management project, involved in the collaborative management of a mobility project on a territor

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
 

[1] Please see Zoom in 3 on the COMMUTE reference framework.

About this resource

Author
Vanessa Holve - UIA Expert
Project
Location
Toulouse Metropole, France
About UIA
Urban Innovative Actions
Programme/Initiative
2014-2020

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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