On 14th of November, Mobilissimus was present at the third national ROPAT conference (The reunion of public transport operators, manufacturers and authorities) annual event, where local authorities representatives and transport operators reunite to reflect on their operational opportunities and challenges.
We salute the organisers’ approach to put face to face a large number of stakeholders, from senior officials in the Ministry of Transport and funders such as EBRD to industry actors and elected officials. As anticipated, Intercommunity Development Association (ADI - Asociații de dezvoltare intercomunitară) had a strong presence, with many voicing the concerns regarding the need to consolidate ADIs’ status across the country.
The main themes that captured our attention were:
- Integrated Mobility: Discussions centred on creating seamless multimodal transport systems to meet urban and interurban needs. Examples included open data infrastructure initiatives led by TPBI (Bucharest-Ilfov Transport Authority), enabling more effective collaboration among stakeholders and best practice examples shared by experts from UITP’ Sustainable Mobility team (Georgiana Tuță).
- Innovation and Technology: Presentations highlighted digital tools, such as interactive mapping applications, designed to improve transport planning and services. Innovations in electric and autonomous transport systems were also explored, with a focus on increased safety on board on trams.
- Funding and Partnerships: A dedicated panel addressed strategies to access EU funds and national grants. The role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in implementing projects like integrated public transport systems and subsidies was emphasized, especially in relation to the EU Regulation 1370/2007.
Among the topics of increased importance, we noticed the narrative around the potential of the tram-train and metropolitan train options gaining traction. Although even the early adopters are just at the inception stage, it is great to see that meaningful transport alternatives are sought by cities wanting to future-proof the transport needs within their communities.
At a larger scale, Mrs Aura Răducu (Coordinator of ARSC’s Mobility Department and former minister of European Funds) placed the spotlight on the need for public-private partnership as a method to boost the pace of modernisation of the public transport services and to increase the healthy competition between providers and authorities alike. The issues identified were numerous, but the most debated was the need for integration across county borders – an area which leaves all passengers puzzled when trying to plan a trip. An integrated digital service is vital to at least understand what services are covering which counties, along with a timetabling service which would offer the trip information, especially when connections are needed.
In the context of the substantial EU funding streams aimed at improving country’s transport system, Mobilissimus is pleased to feature in the speaker’s notes, with reference to the work we developed for the Metropolitan Association for Sustainable Development of Public Transport Brașov. We are always open for further collaborations in this field, with local authorities and transport operators alike, to help them maximise the potential of their most recent investments in their fleet or digitalisation. We can do this by careful timetable planning, implementing the latest best practice harmonisation techniques, while also taking into account the specifics of the operator or authority’s constrains.