Cross-border Mobility in the Alpine Region

Since the launch of the Strategy, the Action Groups as well as the Executive Board of the Strategy have identified a number of themes and issues that need further and deeper investigation and preparatory activities in order to achieve the set goals. To support this, the Alpine Region Preparatory Action Fund (ARPAF) was developed. Five projects were selected by the EUSALP Executive Board and started in 2018; amongst them the project “CrossBorder”. The Office of the Tyrolean Government (AdTL) as AG4 Leader joins the AG5 Co-Leader, the Swiss Center for Mountain Regions (SAB), as well as CIPRA International in the project CrossBorder on cross-border commuter mobility. The overarching challenge in the Alpine Region is to balance economic development and environmental protection. Thus, innovative approaches and mutually beneficial interaction between the mountain regions at its core and the surrounding lowlands and urban areas are needed to ensure that this region remains one of the most attractive living spaces as well as competitive areas in Europe. However, regarding the issue of transport, infrastructure networks have for a long time been planned in a purely national context. These transport networks, therefore, are no longer in coherence with the increasing passenger flows across borders. This holds particularly true for public transport systems. Most of the commuters' transport flows across borders are by car. Congested roads with a negative impact on economy, society, and the environment are the consequence. To tackle these issues and to improve cross-border mobility in the Alpine Region, the ARPAF project CrossBorder was set up. The aims of the project are: - to establish an overview of cross-border mobility across the Alpine Region with a focus on daily commuting; - to identify gaps of cross-border mobility with respect to infrastructure and soft factors; - to identify solutions for facilitating daily cross-border passenger flows by sustainable transport modes through new opportunities offered by digitalisation; - to provide a basis for future activities of AG4 and AG5 of EUSALP; - to implement the findings in several hotspots for cross-border commuting in the Alpine Region.

After two years of project duration, the ARPAF project CrossBorder is coming to an end in December 2019. At the 3rd EUSALP Annual Forum in November 2019, the project’s final event is being held. There, the project partners present the main results; representatives from cross-border commuting hotspots relate their experiences; a panel discusses the key findings of the project; and AG4 and AG5 lay out their plans for integrating the project results in their activities going forward. To present a synthesis of the most important findings and insights of CrossBorder in a single compact form, a project Compendium was produced to summarize all the project results. It begins with the foundational CrossBorder study Analysis of existing cross-border mobility networks. This study constitutes the basis for the entire project, as it provides an overview of cross-border commuting, including an analysis of the quality of infrastructure networks in twelve Alpine cross-border commuting hotspots. Not least because the Alpine Region accounts for almost half of all European cross-border commuter flows, it is crucial to have compiled this statistical and cartographic overview for the region. Considering this massive amount of cross-border traffic flows, it becomes clear that cross-border cooperation in mobility is imperative. Therefore, the CrossBorder Compendium goes on to present the results of the CrossBorder report Collection of existing cooperation models for cross-border mobility. From a set of diverse cooperation models, the report concludes several success factors and challenges in cross-border mobility cooperation in the Alpine Region. Consequently, these findings can be consulted when trying to successfully transfer or establish cross-border cooperation elsewhere. Additionally, these insights are accessible in an interactive story map. Further tracing the project’s logic, the subsequent section of the CrossBorder Compendium synthesizes all the solutions to improve cross-border mobility and passenger flows that were gathered within CrossBorder. They include a toolbox for company mobility management; a report on the potentials of digitalization and innovative mobility solutions for public authorities and transport operators; and a Compact on Behaviour Change for commuters. In parallel to the substantive work carried out within the CrossBorder project, workshops were held in the commuting hotspots to bring together the relevant stakeholders including commuters, service providers, enterprises, and public authorities. The topics, discussions, and results of the hotspot workshops are summarized in the next section of the CrossBorder Compendium. Finally, nine political recommendations for improving cross-border mobility in the Alpine Region are presented. This section of the CrossBorder Compendium explains how each recommendation is informed by the results of the CrossBorder project; how it would improve cross-border mobility in the Alpine Region; and how to implement the recommendation. In conclusion, the CrossBorder Compendium lays out the way ahead in cross-border mobility in the Alpine Region and how AG4 and AG5 will take the CrossBorder project results and integrate them in their continued work on improving cross-border mobility and passenger flows in the Alpine Region.