Rete Ferroviaria Italiana is the main partner for the IV National Conference on Shared Mobility, promoted by the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and the Foundation for Sustainable Development. This 100-day long event, spanning June to October, will take place in predominantly digital mode.
“The stations are natural hubs for integrated mobility, especially in large urban areas,” underlined Sara Venturoni, RFI Stations' Director, at the opening of the event, "and the expansion of the multimodal offering for improving accessibility is one of the pillars in the Italian Rail Network and FS Group strategy in support of the modal shift. Indeed, the station is a nerve centre for the controlling the means of shared mobility, as well as an optimal space for electric vehicle charging points, accentuating the environmental advantages of communal means of transport.”
The conference is also an opportunity for presenting the analyses conducted by the National Sharing Mobility Observatory on Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna, Cagliari and Palermo, focused on citizens’ use of shared mobility services. 71% of survey participants said they have started smart working or have activated distance-learning solutions with repercussions on mobility as a whole that will also continue in the post-emergency period. Already during lockdown, 61% of respondents who routinely used car sharing had declared their willingness to return to this means of shared mobility in Phase 2. The percentages is even higher for scootersharing (66%) and bikesharing (69%), both services that can be a valuable ally in limiting city congestion.
Sustainable mobility is a keystone for a smart, interconnected and human-friendly city model. The FS Italiane Group’s challenge is to reduce the number of journeys effectuated via individual polluting vehicles, giving priority to clean alternatives and systems capable of managing door-to-door journeys effectively and efficiently. “In addition to the services,” concluded Sara Venturoni, "space-sharing is also to be developed around the stations, as an intelligent sharing of urban areas that now prioritises people over cars. This active, collective and shared mobility is rendered possible through the reinterpretation of both the spaces around the station as well as the means of handling and controlling the time these spaces are being used. It is a demanding challenge that was given a decisive push by the emergency, imposing a leap in responsibility and even closer collaboration between RFI, the local authorities and operators regarding the chosen system, actions and resources.”