Cities across Europe are increasingly experimenting with multimodal hubs and how they can be augmented or reiterated to offer more complementary and enabling services to urban mobility beyond the basic trip offer. In this, local authorities often must seek new collaborations with private companies and associations, many times in adjacent or unrelated domains to the transport sector. Enhancing or reiterating the very meaning of multimodal hubs can offer several advantages. By integrating diverse services, such as sales, service, reloading, financing, pick-up points, storage, social support, or other non-traditional services hubs can become more accessible and convenient for a wider range of users. This can foster greater community engagement, reduces the need for separate facilities, and maximizes the use of available space. The hubs can also unlock traditional value chains and enable new roles and business models needed for the transition into a circular business ecosystem. Furthermore, such integration can improve the sustainability and efficiency of urban infrastructure, while also creating new economic opportunities and enhancing the overall quality of life in the area.
You will often find the term “Multimodal Hubs” referring to “recognizable places offering different and connected transport modes supplemented with enhanced facilities and information features to both attract and benefit the traveler”. Mobility Hub Guidance (CoMoUK, 2019).
In MOVE21 a broader approach has been applied that covers the different innovative hub concepts that were tested in the project. In MOVE21, more focus has been given to integration aspects between passenger transport and urban logistics, as well as enabling and support services.
A multimodal hub is a place where passengers and/or cargo are exchanged between transport services within one mode or between modes. (MOVE21 Deliverable D5.1).
- Public transport hubs include train stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips.
- Freight hubs include classification yards, airports, seaports, and truck terminals.
- For private transport by car, bicycle, etc., parking areas function as hubs.
A hub may also combine all of the above. Hubs may be permanent or flexible. The latter uses space in cities when it is not used for other activities or temporary locations under development, re-development or zoning.
For public transport, the concept of a transport network with multiple, connected mobility points is well known and applied. People using these types of networks typically have the possibility at each mobility point to decide onward transport from it – a person may stay on or change vehicle or mode of transport, if relevant, at a mobility point. Mobility points for passenger transport are normally part of the publicly established infrastructure (bus stops, train and tram stations, taxi stands, etc.).
In a context of ever-growing number of micro-mobility solutions and services, a key challenge is to integrate public and private mobility services at given mobility points. For freight, however, the situation is different. The infrastructure for freight transport in cities is normally established by private companies – typically logistics service providers (LSPs), and each LSP is catering only for their own cargo or supply chain. As a result, there is typically no coherent infrastructure for freight transport in cities. Specifically, there is little established infrastructure where there are convenient capabilities for using transport resources normally used for passenger transport to also transport goods or to support urban logistics beyond parcel delivery such as maintenance workers and facility managers.
To achieve the ambition of reducing traffic, a coherent infrastructure is needed. It should be established in such a way that there is easy access for people and freight to make use of all types of sustainable transport resources, scheduled or non-scheduled. It is important to remember that urban logistics is here understood as all transport activity that is not transporting people, thus looking at a bigger range of activities than for example parcel or goods delivery. In the framework of MOVE21 such hubs were tested as Mobility hotels in Gothenburg and Oslo.
Finally, hubs may not only provide trans-shipment options between transport services. Lack of space and the need to cater for a variety of socio-economic services, may lead to consider hubs beyond the transport aspect. When looking at the integration of transport and other services such as social services, the catering industry, etc. we talk about multifunctional hubs, such as the one established in Hamburg as part of the MOVE21 project.