An EU-funded project is reducing traffic congestion around the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France, while boosting quality of life for local residents and workers by reducing stress, promoting sharing and social bonding. Thanks to the project’s efforts, employees in local businesses will have to travel to work less often and, when they do, it will be easier for them to pick environmentally friendly transport.
- 29 July 2020
This project, supported by the European Commission and led by Toulouse Metropole, is a remarkable example of public-private collaboration. The achievements so far are extremely satisfying, with 60 000 carpooling trips reported and 60 tonnes of CO2 avoided in one year.
The transport sector accounts for 29 % of France’s greenhouse gas emissions and 32 % of its particulate emissions. Traffic congestion is a problem around Toulouse’s Blagnac district, which is home to the sixth-largest airport in France, and many businesses.
By 2030, Toulouse’s metropolitan area is expected to be home to 250 000 additional people. New solutions are needed to ensure traffic is kept to a minimum while letting travellers reach the airport in comfort. To tackle the challenge, local authorities are taking a new approach.
Encouraging greener transport choices
New transport options have been implemented which encourage people to leave their cars at home when travelling to the airport or workplace. A driverless, autonomous shuttle bus is being tested that will be integrated into the airport’s road network. Cycling has raised much interest among project partners as it helps to keep commuters healthy and overlaps with other local initiatives.
A central transport hub at the airport makes it easy for anyone to transfer between their car, bike and other transport. At the start of the project, only 3 % of the employees in the area used carpooling (in which people share a car trip). The project aims to increase this to 10 % by 2021. More than 2 000 Airbus employees have already used carpooling apps to commute regularly.
Commute is also financing new equipment, such as parking spaces reserved especially for carpooling schemes. In parallel, the project is promoting the use of environmentally-friendly vehicles by constructing charging stations for rechargeable electric vehicles.
Flexible working environments
Of course, the most sustainable form of travel is one where no-one travels in the first place. That is why Commute is supporting local businesses to help their employees work from home more often, or to work more flexible hours. Co-working spaces and video conferencing equipment will enable employees to avoid unnecessary trips or meetings by working remotely.
With fewer workers travelling at rush hour, there will be fewer vehicles on the road at any one time. The results of these actions and their impacts will be monitored in real time. This data will be made available via a digital platform for urban mobility decision makers, who can use it for planning and policy development. An evaluation will be conducted at the end of the project to analyse its biggest successes and any challenges for similar initiatives in the future.
The project’s ultimate goal is to create a model that can be replicated at a greater scale and in other regions.
Funding is provided by the ERDF and Urban Innovative Actions, a European Union initiative that gives cities funding they can use to implement innovative projects.
Total investment and EU funding
Total investment for the project “COMMUTE (Collaborative Mobility Management for Urban Traffic and Emissions reduction)” is EUR 5 240 524, with the EU’s European Regional Development Fund contributing EUR 4 192 419 through the Urban Innovative Actions Initiative for the 2014-2020 programming period.