Horizon Europe Program

SPINE (Smart Public Transport Initiatives for Climate-Neutral Cities in Europe) aims to accelerate progress towards climate neutrality by integrating public transport systems with new mobility services, sharing schemes, active transport modes, and micromobility.

The objective is to develop digital twin simulations and tools (Digital Twining) to allow the creation of scenarios that combine different interventions and the implementation of the most promising ones; seven impact evaluation pilots are being carried out.

CINESI cooperates with the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in the development of the measures that apply to the city and specifically, in the creation of multimodal hubs. The initiative will also develop a multimodal urban transport digital twin that will be used to plan the city’s transport supply.

In addition, CINESI is the leader of one of the project’s tasks, which consists of improving the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) and the Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans (SULP).

EIT Urban Mobility Innovation (2021)

One of the main challenges encountered by public transport and car-sharing operators is maintaining the interior of vehicles in optimal condition during user turnovers.

The AntiTrash project (intelligent cleaning and damage prevention for shared mobility) aims to develop a system to automatically detect dirt or unlikely damage ocurrance in a shared vehicle or public transport.

By using machine learning techniques, images obtained by a camera that inspects the interior of the vehicles to evaluate its condition. Moreover, in the case of carsharing, the system would identify the person responsible for damage or litter inside the shared vehicle and directly invoice them for the cleaning costs, if applicable.

The project also promotes the use of smart materials (plastics, metals and polymers) to increase the interior durability of vehicles, as well as the use of nanotechnology to detect odors and particles that ensure good indoor air quality.

Cinesi led, in cooperation with the public transport operator TUSGSAL, one of the pilot tests within the project. A vehicle of their rolling stock was supplied with cameras and devices to detect dirt and damage. The obtained results were subsequently analyzed.

EIT Urban Mobility Innovation (2021)

Electric buses are becoming increasingly common in European cities. These vehicles run on charging batteries and operating systems. Depending on the charging scheme, there will be different impacts regarding operating costs, the allocation of public space and emissions throughout the life of the vehicle.

The objective of eUltimate is to develop a decision-making support tool to provide the optimal charging system for each city, minimising the impact of public transport services operated with electric vehicles.

The project focuses on the link between vehicle and charger. Analysing pilot test results, the real performance and operating costs of different charging systems is parameterized, so that the decision support tool identifies the technology that best adapts to the mobility requirements of each city. This approach surpasses tools developed by vehicle manufacturers to obtain a single charging solution.

Cinesi leads the work package comprising 7 pilot tests and is responsible for coordinating data collection. Additionaly, Cinesi serves as theprimary data provider for one of the cities.

EIT Urban Mobility Innovation (2021)

Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) services are becoming increasingly commmon in Europe, especially in medium and small size cities and low-density suburbs surrounding large metropolitan areas. 

The objective of the Multidepart project is to develop tools for planning, managing and monitoring DRT solutions after analysing service data at several pilot sites through the following tasks:

• Define a common methodology and KPI to plan, design and monitor on-demand transportation services.
• Develop the simulation and decision-making support tools required by the Transport Authorities to plan and manage on-demand bus services.
• Profile the different operating models, public-private collaboration frameworks and economic models most suitable for different scenarios, highlighting the best practices in each area.

Cinesi has defined the different typologies of existing on-demand services and has prepared a document that explains how to create an on-demand transport service or how to convert a regular service into a DRT service. Moreover, the collaboration with the public transport operator TUSGSAL has provided data on an existing DRT service.

DG Reform (2021)

The objective of the project is to provide technical support for effective change management in the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda (MITMA).It also focuses on facilitating communication and public engagement processes required for collaboration with other stakeholders in the implementation of the ‘ Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy 2030.

Cinesi developed two main tasks in the project. The first one consisted in carrying out a benchmark of different European countries to define the mobility competencies in mobility issues, human resources management and participatory processes of the different ministries. The other task consisted in orchestrating an extensive citizen engagement initiative for the Safe, Sustainable and Connected Mobility Strategy 2030 by conducting surveys of relevant stakeholders (more than 500) and facilitating citizen engagement workshops in 6 Spanish cities.

Mobility management in tourist destinations

The aim of the Civitas Destinations project is to analyse the effectiveness of innovative mobility management solutions in six European tourist cities: Madeira (Portugal), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Valletta (Malta), Elba (Italy), Rethymnon (Greece) and Limassol (Cyprus).
The project’s work areas are as follows:

• Planning sustainable urban mobility for residents and visitors
• Designing safe, attractive and accessible public spaces
• Shared mobility
• Emission-free transport
• Managing urban logistics in tourist destinations
• Mobility management and awareness for sustainable mobility
• Attractive, non-polluting, accessible and efficient public transport

Each city is working on an action plan to help its residents and tourists who visit them move around more sustainably. The project aims to show how sustainable mobility stimulates economic growth and job creation in European cities with strong tourism economies, while also providing sustainable environments for both visitors and residents.

Sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs)

URBACT is a European exchange and learning programme promoting sustainable urban development. Its mission is to enable cities to work together and develop solutions to existing urban challenges, reaffirming the key role they play in addressing increasingly complex societal changes.

URBACT helps develop new pragmatic, sustainable solutions that integrate financial, social and environmental aspects. It is about sharing best practices with all professionals involved in urban policy in Europe.

URBACT is made up of 550 cities, 30 countries and 7,000 active local stakeholders.

Cinesi has more specifically participated in the following two URBACT projects:
URBACT CityMobilNet: https://urbact.eu/citymobilnet

A total of 10 cities or regions from nine countries shared their challenges and experiences in creating a common vision that helped them develop their sustainable urban mobility plan at a local level.

Cinesi has provided technical support to the Portuguese city of Braga in drafting its SUMP, especially in the process of involving the various stakeholders.

URBACT Space4People

The aim of this network is to improve the quantity and quality of urban space in cities. In order to do this, it recommends defining actions in three main areas: improving the quality of urban space intended for pedestrians, integrating intermodal hubs within urban centres and optimising urban space intended for parking.

Cinesi provides technical support to the cities of Badalona (Spain) and Nazaré (Portugal) in urban space improvement projects.

Parking management

Parking management is one area that generates the most benefits in terms of quality of life, changes in behaviour and modal shift. The main aims of the PUSH & PULL project are as follows:

• To promote energy savings through a modal shift from cars to other more sustainable modes
• To promote local economies by encouraging a more rational parking approach and helping cities to save money by avoiding the costs of constructing additional parking
• To communicate knowledge to other cities that also want to implement a similar parking approach and provide political debate arguments to support them

Certification of sustainable urban mobility plans (SUMPs)

ADVANCE certification is a handy tool for improving sustainable urban mobility plans.

The aim of the ADVANCE methodology is to systemise the mobility planning process by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing mobility systems and prioritise improvement actions with relevant stakeholders and interested parties.

In fact, the quality improvement proposed by ADVANCE also aims to analyse, systemise and improve the entire process of SUMP development: citizen and stakeholder participation, a clear vision, collaboration among various departments, etc.

The ADVANCE process is based on a SUMP’s standardised development cycle and distinguishes between methodological elements (related to the elaboration process) and fields of action (related to the implementation of measures).

Mobility management in tourist destinations

The aim of the SEEMORE project has been to introduce energy efficient transport measures for tourists in eight European tourist regions. SEEMORE is committed to an integrated approach and has created shared information and mobility services based on close cooperation among local actors.

The involvement of local stakeholders has therefore led to the development of attractive and sustainable mobility alternatives to make tourist destinations more competitive.

The momentum of the SEEMORE project has enabled these eight regions to create a successful nexus among mobility alternatives, emerging technologies and private investment by promoting viable business models.

Bicycle mobility policies

BYPAD certification provides an in-depth analysis of the state of bicycle transportation policy in cities. BYPAD was initially implemented in seven European cities: Ghent, Graz, Troisdorf, Birmingham, Zwolle, Ferrara and Grenoble.

Due to its success, the BYPAD project has continued to be implemented until today with the aim of extending the methodology to other European cities and introducing it in other regions.

The BYPAD methodology involves bringing together politicians, technicians and representatives of local cycling groups so that they can answer a detailed questionnaire to obtain various perspectives on the state of development in various areas of local or regional bicycle transport policy.

The aim is to reach a collective assessment of the issues and progress towards quality objectives and measures for the future. An external supervisor (auditor) guides this process of the city’s self-assessment.

Mobility management in workplaces

The aim of the BENEFIT project is to show the attractiveness of using public transport to a specific group (workers) as compared to using a private vehicle.

The BENEFIT consortium consists of a total of nine partners from various countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Italy and Romania. One of the aspects to be consolidated is the effective transfer of knowledge among partners.

Local application is coordinated with the Mallorca Transport Consortium (CTM by its Catalan acronym) and focuses on promoting public transport in the corridor connecting Palma with the University and Bit Technology Park. It is intended to trigger a change in perception, behaviour and attitude on the part of workers and students regarding mobility by bus, subway and bicycle.

Urban goods distribution

SUGAR is a European project that focuses on finding solutions in the field of the urban distribution of goods.

The main aim of the SUGAR project is to encourage collaboration among various European stakeholders and transfer political knowhow and practices (regional experiences and initiatives) in this area.

SUGAR has promoted proposals for improvement in two areas within the framework of this inter-regional cooperation:

• Transport management (access control, circulation, regulation pricing, signage, intelligent communication technologies applied to transport, etc.)
• Reduction of pollutant emissions (incentives for using clean vehicles and modes, regulations on vehicle types and usage in critical environmental zones, etc.)

Energy efficient transport

The BIOSIRE project aims to encourage energy efficiency in the transport sector and the use of alternative fuels and environmentally friendly vehicles.

The main aim of BIOSIRE is to encourage the use of biofuels and electric propulsion in various tourist regions. The consortium consists of expert partners (UK, Germany, Italy and Poland) and those where the measures will be implemented (Spain, France, Austria and Croatia).

At a regional level, the Mallorca Transport Consortium and GEN biodiesel plant also participate. The aim is to increase the collection of used cooking oils to use these as a raw material for the subsequent local production of biodiesel, promoting a closed cycle of production and local consumption of this fuel type.

The goal is to transform the current market and involve multiple agents interested in adopting these measures: public transport operators, private fleets, public entities, taxi driver associations, private companies, etc.

Mobility associated with health centres

Several health centres in the cities of Barcelona, ​​Lisbon and Toulouse participated in a project funded by the European Commission to study the mobility associated with these types of centres.

The aim was to optimise accessibility by applying a series of measures to make it more sustainable.

Pilot tests showed that increasing the use of public transport led to major fuel savings and a reduction in pollutant emissions.