Armonisation and coordination of technical and legal standards in the transport sector are an absolute priority for the EU, as pointed out in the EU Commission’s Communication (2017) 534"Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions“.

Upon appraisal of the Association of the European Border Regions (AEBR) and DG REGIO, seven obstacles have been selected under the thematic area „(Public) transport of passengers” within the b-solutions‘ 2nd Call for Proposals.

Hindrances concerning both land and sea-modes of transport, as well as infrastructural management difficulties and enviromental issues are the main topics of the selected cases.

Take a look at the list below, you might face some similar hurdles in your region:

MOBITRANS – Boosting Minho River Cross–Border Mobility - AECT Rio Minho

(SP-PT)

The creation and the operation of a joint cross-border public transportation service is prevented by the presence of two different legal frameworks and the neglect of regional and cross-border transportation instances at a national level. To establish a joint operation of an international service and a domestic concession, the elaboration of a multilevel protocol at local, regional and national level would be needed.

European solution for a vignette for air pollution control - EGTC Eurodistrict Strasbourg-Ortenau

(DE-FR)

European Countries are entitled to define and implement their own measures against air pollution and also to develop vignettes based on Euro classes. However, there is not mutual recognition of the national vignettes and therefore, this results in the absence of  coordination concerning the environmental politics especially in cross-border areas where regulations affect negatively the citizens crossing the border with their own vehicles.

SeaFlix_Cross Border Mobility - French Riviera Chamber of Commerce (CCINCA)

(FR-IT-MC)

The French Riviera Chamber of Commerce & Industry as a manager of different ports of the area, intends to set up maritime shuttles that would connect the main cities of the region to the port of Monaco at a very competitive price. However, the differences existing in the 3 national legislations, especially concerning balancing subsidy support, act as an obstacle that hinder the establishment and the oparation of this cross-border alternative mode of transport. 

Tackling cross-border obstacles regarding E-bike sharing infrastructure - Ministry of the German-speaking Community

(DE-BE)

Cross-border municipalities  were interested in further developing cycling in the area. In this context, the German-speaking Community already exchanged with Velocity (an operator of E-bike sharing stations in Germany, Aachen) to discuss the possibilities to implement their infrastructure in Belgium, where E-Bike stations are not available yet. However, differences in legal regulations and tax law management have to be overcame in order to setup the facilities.

Cross border rail connectivity for the Port of Strasbourg - Port autonome de Strasbourg

(FR-DE)

The development of cross-border freight trains from the Port of Strasbourg to Germany and the other way round suffers from administrative hindrances due to difficulties in the rail interoperability between the German and French railway network. These difficulties result in additional costs. The obstacles concern mainly the different requirements concerning drivers, engines, security, language and the logistic requirements.

Trilateral bridge in Euroregion Neisse-Nisa-Nysa - Euroregion Neisse-Nisa-Nysa

(CZ-DE-PL)

The river Nisa crosses 3 border towns Hrádek nad Nisou (CZ), Zittau (D) and Bogatynia (PL) and limits the unification of the three cycling paths already existing in the three municipalities. The idea is to build a trilateral cross-border bridge, but it is unclear how to proceed since the 3 states have individual specific building requirements. Furthermore, there are three different Interreg Programmes in the area but they don’t enable to finance trilateral projects with partners from 3 countries.

Launch of a regular passenger transport, with cabotage, between Chaves and Verín- EGTC Eurocity Chaves-Verín

(PT-SP)

The European grouping of territorial cooperation Eurocidade Chaves-Verín intends to carry out a regular passenger transport service with cabotage. However, the national entities with competence on internationa/cross-border passenger transport do not include in their authorizations the transport service with cabotage, contrary to what is provided for in REGULATION (EC) No 1073/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 21 October 2009 on common rules for access to the international market for coach and bus services, and amending Regulation (EC) No 561/2006.