Sustainable Mobility, transportation and new services of low-carbon urban mobility

Following the Transport White Paper of the European Commission, conventionally-fuelled cars will be banned from circulation in cities by 2050 and replaced by electric vehicles. Until 2030, greenhouse gases emissions originated in the transport sector shall be reduced by 20% in comparison to the levels registered in 2008. This long-term vision is aligned with the European objectives for transitioning to a low-carbon and competitive economy in a "global race” for sustainable mobility.

As such, cities are expected to develop integrated mobility solutions, merging innovation with the participation of "stakeholders”, aiming to create new mobility services without discontinuities and that are social responsible, responding to actual and future needs.

This research line aims to study of cost-effectiveness of urban transport solutions, with its possible application in Portuguese cities. It includes the analysis of the technical viability of solutions, transport demand and market studies, tests and demonstrations in-situ, cost-benefit analysis and business models. One of the practical objectives is to optimize the requirements for engineering transport systems at the urban scale considering the evolution of demand and needs along with the financial and economic viability of each transport option. These options include, namely public transport (combined with walking and cycling and new mobility services), electric bicycles, electric cars and services (example: electric car-sharing), ICT and multimodal transport and sustainable urban mobility plans.