Transport poverty - grounding an EU concept locally

First EU-level concept in the Policy Hub's capacity-building track (top-down branch), feeding into the RURBANIVE capacity-building session planned for December 2026 (date and details TBC).

What the EU evidence says: the European Commission's 2024 report on transport poverty shows it is not exclusively a rural phenomenon - challenges of availability and affordability are more pronounced in rural areas, with low-income households disproportionately affected, while significant transport-related challenges also appear in urban peripheries and certain dense urban centres. The revised TEN-T policy places growing emphasis on rural connectivity, and the Social Climate Fund supports measures against energy and transport poverty.

Questions for the community:

• How does transport poverty show up in your territory (availability, affordability, accessibility)?

• What local evidence could your co-creation lab bring to the December session?

• Which interventions - shared mobility, demand-responsive transport, multimodal integration - would work in your context?

Related proto-recommendations can be supported in the 'Policy Recommendations - Vote & Validate' space.

Sources: the project's analysis of relevant EU policies (Enhanced mobility chapter); RURBANIVE submission to the EC consultation on the MFF 2028-2034 (October 2025).