Inclusive & Accessible Public Transport for All (Part II)

What has to be written into plans, governance structures, funding decisions and KPIs so that inclusive public transport becomes deliverable rather than aspirational?

Public transport is often presented as a climate solution, but for many people it is first and foremost a condition for participation in daily life. The decisive question is whether the system gives people reliable and affordable access to work, education, healthcare, services, social life and public space. This means inclusion cannot be treated as an add-on to network planning; it has to be part of how cities define public transport quality, coverage, affordability, safety and accessibility from the start.

This part looks at the enabling layer behind inclusive public transport. It focuses on the tools that make inclusion operational: SUMPs, accessibility targets, affordability policies, user-centred planning, public authority coordination, data and monitoring, and cross-sector links with land use and social policy. The Thessaloniki setting makes this especially relevant, because the Forum host city is presented in the call as a city with an ambitious SUMP, multimodality agenda, ITS testbed role and MaaS direction.

The outcome of this part should be a short “delivery checklist” for participants: what to define, who must be responsible, what must be measured, and how to ensure that inclusion survives the move from strategy to contracts, operations and investment decisions.