Cross-border cooperation in public transport is essential for enhancing connectivity and accessibility, especially in peripheral and rural areas. Central Europe involving 148 million people in regions and cities of nine EU Member States: Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia sought to find ways to effectively facilitate commuting.

WHAT

In June 2017, countries of Central Europe came together to address mobility through the CONNECT2CE – “Improved rail connections and smart mobility in Central Europe” project tackled the challenge of improving accessibility in Central Europe’s regional, peripheral, and cross-border areas by developing coordinated public transport strategies and tools. The project’s goals include enhancing connectivity by establishing standards for public transport, integrating ticketing across multiple operators, and implementing innovative ICT tools like web portals and mobile apps to improve accessibility and attractiveness of public transport. This aims to streamline travel, harmonize schedules, and facilitate cross-border rail services for a more seamless transportation experience. CONNECT2CE employed the following strategies to achieve its goals:

• Harmonization of Services: The project established standards for frequency, quality, and costs of public transport services. This included harmonizing multimodal timetables and implementing cross-border rail services to enhance connectivity.
• Integrated Ticketing Systems: Partners developed and implemented integrated ticketing systems, allowing passengers to use one ticket across different transport modes and operators. This facilitated seamless travel across regions and borders.
• Innovative ICT Tools: The development of multilingual web portals and mobile applications made public transport information more accessible and user-friendly, thereby increasing the attractiveness of public transport.
• Transnational Cooperation and Governance: The project fostered enhanced regional cooperation in public transport planning through joint training, the development of decision support tools, and the establishment of a long-term governance platform.
• Pilot Actions: Eight pilot actions were implemented to test and refine the strategies and tools developed, ensuring practical applicability and effectiveness in improving peripheral and cross-border mobility.

WHO

13 partners from 8 countries collaborated to implement this project, with Central European Initiative - Executive Secretariat (Italy) being the lead partner, while the rest spanned over 7 different countries: Società Ferrovie Udine Cividale s.r.l., Prometni institut Ljubljana d.o.o., KTI Institute for Transport Sciences Nonprofit Ltd., Accademia Europea Bolzano/Bozen, Sistemi Territoriali S.p.A., VBB Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH, Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút Zrt., Regionalmanagement Burgenland GmbH, HŽ PUTNIČKI PRIJEVOZ d.o.o., Slovenske železnice-Potniški promet, d.o.o., Klaster intermodalnog prijevoza, and Plzeňský kraj. 

WHERE

The project was implemented across Central Europe, including regions in eight countries: Italy, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. 

HOW

The total budget for CONNECT2CE was EUR 2,602,924.73, with EU funding amounting to EUR 2,142,529.39 (82.5%) through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the 2014-2020 Interreg VB Central Europe Programme.

RESULTS

The CONNECT2CE project successfully improved the planning capacities of public authorities in peripheral and cross-border areas, resulting in several key outcomes:

• Enhanced Regional Cooperation: Improved collaboration among regional authorities and stakeholders through the exchange of best practices and joint training.
• Increased Accessibility: Better connectivity for citizens in peripheral and cross-border regions to main transport networks and nodes.
• Long-Term Governance: Establishment of a governance platform for the ongoing harmonization of transnational mobility strategies.
• Successful Pilot Actions: Implementation of eight pilot actions that demonstrated the practical benefits of the developed strategies and tools.