Transforming Catalonia’s Mobility System for Net Zero

Catalonia has a vision to transition towards a sustainable transport system (2003 Mobility Law). There are, however, barriers to the translation of the 2003 law and climate target into action. The interviews with stakeholders indicated disagreements over the desirability of the law’s vision, particularly concerning the future of the car industry and the level of change needed in the transport system. The interviews also indicated that the region's fragmented governance structure leads to a lack of coordination and resources for holistic action.

Additionally, the design of Catalonia’s transport system, like many others across OECD territories, favours the use of private motorised vehicles over sustainable modes in most areas, leading to an attractiveness gap between emission-intensive and sustainable modes, in favour of the former. A legacy of long-lasting investment in infrastructure for private motorised vehicles has led to the accumulation of road infrastructure and space allocated to this mode. The stock of this infrastructure is several orders of magnitude greater than the stock of infrastructure and space for active and shared transport, increasing the attractiveness of private motorised vehicles, widening the attractiveness gap between private, active, and shared modes in favour of the former, and pushing people to choose emission-intensive modes.

Despite sustained and important efforts to decarbonise the sector over recent decades, these efforts may not yet be sufficient to reverse the attractiveness gap across modes and trigger modal shifts towards sustainable modes at scale. To reverse the attractiveness gap between sustainable modes and private motorised vehicles, policy packages need to – simultaneously – improve services (add), subtract space allocated to private vehicles, in favour of sustainable modes, and connect sustainable modes. The precise combination of policies that add, subtract and connect will vary according to territories’ characteristics and needs.

To achieve the systemic change envisioned in Catalonia's 2003 law, a policy package is needed that simultaneously improves sustainable transport options while reducing the attractiveness of private vehicles. Policy packages acting on “both sides” of the attractiveness gap require the co-ordination of a wide range of stakeholders.

Catalonia could launch a process for the co-creation of a roadmap to translate the 2003 Mobility Law vision into action. A roadmap process could provide an opportunity for government officials to take a step back from managing current and predicted mobility demand to reflect on what needs to be transformed in the mobility system so that better results emerge by design. It could help to co-ordinate multiple actors by creating spaces to

• Align views and engage key stakeholders. Catalonia could generate spaces for visioning exercises towards sustainable mobility systems at the regional and local levels, and foster questions and reflection on current and future approaches to system transformation. These spaces for discussion can enlarge the scope of “what could be”, trigger mindset shifts towards a transformative approach, provide inputs into on-going processes (e.g. the development of the regional Integrated Plan for Energy and Climate and the interurban buses concession renewal process) and trigger discussion opportunities with key actors in the system (e.g. the automobile industry).

• Set shared targets and performance indicators to guide and monitor action. Catalonia could set the inversion of the relative attractiveness of modes as the “compass” for policy prioritization across administrations. Such a goal could foster collaboration across institutions and geographical levels and orient efforts to the physical transformation of the system necessary to trigger the modal shifts towards sustainable modes at scale.

• Identify transformative policy packages. To reverse the attractiveness gap between sustainable modes and private motorised vehicles, policy packages need to – simultaneously – improve services (add), subtract space allocated to private vehicles, in favour of sustainable modes, and connect sustainable modes. Reallocating funding from emissions-intensive to sustainable modes could further increase their attractiveness. While accounting for territories’ specificities and needs, Catalonia could:

  • increase the ambition for reallocating public space for active and shared modes;

  • scale up investments in high-quality cycling/micromobility infrastructure and in parking and storage for bikes at major rail and bus stations to increase the uptake of cycling and micromobility and allow the practice of bike-and-ride;

  • increase the availability of (public and/or private) micromobility services by partnering with the private sector;

  • expand the T-mobilitat project to integrate private micromobility services and allow users to pay for multiple transport modes with a single account/card; and

  • complement the policies above with continued efforts to support vehicles’ electrification, the creation of low-emission zones, public transport fare integration and quality improvement of public transport services.

• Strengthen governance and data management for holistic action. Catalonia could consider expanding the functions of the Mobility Territorial Authorities (ATMs) in line with those mandated by the 2003 Mobility Law and further suggested in this report. ATMs could play a pivotal role in the transformation of the passenger transport system in the region. Due to the geographical level in which they operate, they could facilitate planning and the development of multimodal transport networks, while taking into consideration local needs. Catalonia could also build on international experience in data collection and management by leveraging comprehensive data collection, advanced analytics, and open data initiatives to enhance multimodal transport networks.

The roadmap process would require the co-ordination of the transport and territorial planning expertise of the Department of Territory, the Catalan Traffic Service, ATMs and local authorities. Co-ordination with the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility and other Autonomous Communities would help ensure the roadmap is aligned with national targets, for example, in the context of the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) and the Sustainable Mobility Bill. In addition to this technical expertise, the process would benefit from the engagement of a variety of stakeholders from outside the transport sector (e.g. housing, energy, safety, economic, and health), and from outside the public sector (e.g. private sector, academia, civil society). Training sessions on systems thinking and transformative approaches could also be helpful for staff and selected stakeholders to facilitate policy prioritisation and co-ordination throughout the process.

Catalonia’s Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3CAT) could support the roadmap co-creation process via its shared agendas. The RIS3CAT’s shared agendas bring together stakeholders from multiple backgrounds to tackle challenges related to a green and just transition. The regional and multidisciplinary nature of the RIS3CAT can help bridge administrative and disciplinary boundaries by promoting cross-departmental discussions that may otherwise not take place. The RIS3CAT structure could also help to align regional and local goals, support discussions on resource needs for implementing transformative policies, and co-ordinate efforts across an ecosystem of actors including the public sector, academia, civil society and the private sector.