Task 1: Scoping report:
The Contractor is requested to:
— present an overview of good practices in rural areas from all EU Member States including selecting the two best examples (geographically well balanced) including at least three of the aspects mentioned below. Comparison with at least 2 examples in third countries might be a plus,
— look at concepts where shared and public transport is combined through digital solutions and how the lack of data compared with urban areas can be overcome,
— proposing a clear methodology for how to select 2 rural areas for the pilot phase in Task 2,
— provide a general overview of the current situation in the selected rural environments where the demonstration activities will take place in order to highlight why they will improve the situation. The contractor shall concisely present some of the main transport challenges the selected rural areas are currently facing and provide the relevant data,
— this shall be followed by an identification of the key stakeholders and user groups that will be involved in the project and an outline of the strategy that will encourage synergies between them.
Identification phase,
— identify which services to be deployed. The system to be developed should be focusing on relevant factors for how to improve the mobility of people living in rural areas including travel patterns, service models and digital solutions and platforms. It would be targeted at innovative transport services combined with public transport in rural areas,
— identify and define the expected penetration rate of the proposed service, i.e. geographically and/or demographically,
— identify applicable links to other modes of transport,
— take on-demand services into consideration,
— take shared mobility services into consideration,
— use real life data gathering.
Task 2: Demonstration phase (pilot study):
A real world demonstration phase (pilot) at geographical locations following the conclusions in the scoping report. It is up to the Contractor to decide how many different rural demonstration sites shall be implemented but at least 2 rural demonstration sites have to be selected in at least 2 EU-countries. The identified location could have an already existing service from which conclusions could be drawn, be adapted for the implementation of a service from scratch or be a mix of the 2. In any case the Contractor need to describe in a more structured way the steps needed to realise the demonstrator. The task includes 1 implementation phase and 1 evaluation phase.
Task 3: Awareness raising activities:
The third task concerns awareness raising about sustainable shared mobility interconnected with public transport in European rural areas. It involves relevant stakeholders in the discussion, an awareness raising campaign and a final conference.