Two million inhabitants, the two million who live in Valencia, Gijón, Vitoria, Fuenlabrada, Logroño and Valladolid, will benefit from the “Connected Cities” project, the leading national reference platform for the implementation, development and innovation of urban mobility in cities, serving as a tool for city councils and placing the security and simplification of the tool for citizens at the centre of the project. Visitors from these municipalities will be added to this number of beneficiaries. The project presented in Valladolid by representatives of the six cities is an innovative solution at the state level, which will be adapted to the real needs of each municipality and will be open to the incorporation of other capitals.
Thanks to this initiative, the associated cities break down administrative and geographical boundaries because they also belong to six different Autonomous Communities – Valencian Community, Asturias, Basque Country, Madrid, La Rioja and Castile and Leon – to offer real solutions to those who live in these places. In fact, people will be part of “a big city” because with this solution, residents who travel to any city in the network “will feel at home.”
The project has been presented by the Mayor of Valladolid, Óscar Puente; Gorka Urtaran (Mayor of Vitoria); Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza (Mayor of Logroño), Ana González (Mayor of Gijón); Giuseppe Grezzi (Councillor for Sustainable Mobility and Urban Space of Valencia), and Ana María Pérez Santiago (Deputy Mayor and Councillor for Sustainable Urban Development of Fuenlabrada). Representatives of all associated municipalities and councillors Manuel Saravia (Urban Planning and Housing), Luis Vélez (Mobility and Urban Space) and Charo Chávez (Innovation, Economic Development, Employment and Trade) also attended the event.
An example of its application
A citizen of Valladolid, once registered on the platform and associated with a payment method, will be able to authorize his vehicle to access the ZBE (Low Emission Zone), check the traffic status, take a bus managed by AUVASA or rent a bicycle from the public system.
The next day, if you travel to Logroño, you will not need any new registration and you will be able to access the ZBE of the capital of La Rioja if your vehicle meets the characteristics of the ZBE of Logroño.
In addition, on another trip to Valencia, you can take the EMT (Municipal Transport Company) or rent a motosharing service in the Valencian capital. All of this can be done without registering on any other platform, with general and specific support from each operator, and the most economical rates will be applied to the type of user and the way of travel, with guaranteed post-payment. All in one application, with one registration and one payment method, which will simplify the procedures for travelers.
The Mayor of Valladolid, Óscar Puente, has praised the new model of collaboration between cities, which is advancing common solutions: “And the cities that have embarked on this project are very aware of this new reality. That is why we intend to develop technological applications aimed at promoting new forms of sustainable mobility and making public transport more flexible and competitive. This will translate into a reduction in polluting emissions, greater energy efficiency in travel, more equitable use of public space – which remains very uneven in favour of private vehicles – and a reduction in the number of accidents, to name just a few of the advantages that will come with the implementation of initiatives such as the one we are presenting today.”
The project – with a budget of 27.7 million euros – is presented in the call for European funds in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain and has an execution period of 31 months.. It will be completed in June 2024. Specifically, it is included in the so-called Next Generation funds of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, within the Program of Aid to Municipalities for the Implementation of Low Emission Zones and the Digital and Sustainable Transformation of Urban Transport.
The fundamental goal is the development and implementation of a multi-city, open-source digital platform for the collection, processing and exploitation of mobility data in an integrated and interoperable manner. It will provide different urban mobility services and mobility management in a coordinated manner, including the joint management of monetary transfers with users.
Areas of action:
- Cities: a centralized platform for real-time planning, studies and decision-making. Data-driven governance and similar experiences in similar cities. Planning trips with sustainability criteria.
- Operators: digital contact with the user and real-time data, adjustment of the offer based on global data, tariff unification and centralized post-paid management.
- Users: information in a single app, real-time offers, trip planning, obtaining the best possible price, adaptation to the type of user and 100% accessible.
The development of a single, common platform for the cities of Valladolid, Valencia, Vitoria, Logroño, Gijón and Fuenlabrada will be the birth of a new paradigm of collaboration and sustainable development in which to advance in solutions with a common standard, sharing development costs, comparing situations between similar cities, scalable and replicable in the rest of the cities that wish to join this network.
Despite the magnitude and technological complexity of the system, it will guarantee accessibility to the entire population. For example, people with difficulty accessing technology, the elderly or those with visual difficulties will be assisted with this system.
Furthermore, this tool will mark a milestone in research and development for the private sector by promoting innovation among mobility service providers, ICT providers, standardizing companies, etc.
Open platform focused on utilization
Usability, simplicity, accessibility and intuitive navigation will be applied with a balance between the best experience for the regular user – generally younger – and the less common experience for this type of device – older people and/or those with some type of disability, generally vision- seeking to reach the largest possible number of travellers.
This platform, which is easily accessible and unique in Spain, will be the integrating backbone of all traditional public transport services in cities associated with the system and new shared mobility services that are gradually incorporated in the localities. This is a pioneering project that will generate an open source platform that can be integrated with any city or mode of transport that wishes to join the network.
The availability of new technological applications would make public transport more flexible and competitive, as well as new forms of sustainable mobility, encouraging its use over private vehicles. In general terms, this will translate into fewer polluting emissions, greater energy efficiency in travel, less use of public space and, consequently, even a reduction in accidents.
In addition, the platform will allow integration with the rest of the basic transport services, operated, managed or related to the corresponding Public Administration:
- Taxi.
- Urban and interurban railway services.
- Intercity Bus
- Public Bicycle
Simplification, taking into account the experience of users, is the fundamental premise from which this project was born. The need to “integrate any mode of transport into a single APP, regardless of the city you are in” is the central axis from which any decision to be made starts.