City Managers Community

How to finance safe, affordable, and sustainable metropolitan transport?

We are seeking the managers of our metropolises to answer this question, along with Ramon Torra, General Manager of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

People’s mobility is under pressure in major cities and metropolitan spaces.

The climate emergency warns us: car-centered infrastructures are no longer a viable solution. In turn, zones with good access to public transport and a low percentage of private vehicles are also the ones with lower CO2 emission rates and better air quality, as our metropolitan indicators point out.
The impact of transport costs on individual and household budgets is high: the increase in the price of public transport has been the trigger for protests in various metropolises around the world and, since the COVID-19 pandemic, people's mobility needs, as well as the perception of the safety of massive public transport, have been changing.

Dealing with these issues requires funding formulas that are not always exact.

Public revenues available for mobility, transport and sustainability are often not enough to cover their respective costs.
How much of public transport should general taxpayers subside?
Should and can models of payment by users be maintained?
Are 100% free public transport systems, or urban toll mechanisms viable?
How to negotiate win-win public-private partnerships?

Join us!

If you are a general manager in any of the administrations that are part of the Metropolis membership, with competencies in public transport management, and are facing similar challenges, join the activities of the Metropolis City Managers Community in 2022:

Tuesday 20 September, 14:00-15:30 CEST (click here for your local time): online preparatory meeting
[Click here for further information]
Monday 14 November: full-day workshop at the headquarters of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
[Cilck here for further information]

To sign-up, please contact Lia Brum, Research & Policy Officer at the Metropolis Secretariat General. Selected participants will have access to benefits ranging from the Smart City Expo World Congress full pass (15-17 November) to support to travel costs (depending on resource availability).

Background

The Metropolis City Managers Community is a project funded by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona that brings together every year a selected group of senior public officials who are in charge of the day-to-day management of pressing issues in major cities and metropolitan areas. Initiated in 2016 as a session of the Habitat III summit, since 2018 it has been organised with a specific annual thematic focus: