On 13 September 2019, the Commission published two studies on the multimodal transport, that is the use of different modes of transport on the same journey which offers various benefits as it takes advantage of the strengths of the different modes used and combines them in order to offer more efficient transport solutions.

The first study concerns the integrated ticketing and payment systems, and intends to provide a broad-spectrum analysis of the actual challenges they have to face. Integrated ticketing systems aim at making multimodal transport more sustainable and attractive for users by promoting a more efficient use of existing infrastructure and services. As such, they involve various players and require tight integration during the performance of all the phases of the travel chain. Therefore, the study identifies barriers, mainly commercial, stemming from the implementation of integrated ticketing and payment systems as well as the related possible actions.

The second study, instead, focuses on passengers’ rights, and examines the problems faced by passengers, in particular, when they travel with different transport modes under a single transport contract. Aware that the single-ticket multimodal travelling remains a niche market, and in light of the scarce availability of data, in order to reach the best trade-off between passenger welfare and profit for operators the study suggests to combine soft-law measures such as recommendations or code of conducts with actual ad hoc legislative instruments.

Marco Stillo