Establishing financially-viable business models that ensure equitable opportunities for both operators and users is a key challenge for public transport systems in achieving a Just Transition (ensuring broad societal participation in moving toward greener economies). A sustainable and progressive business model is also crucial to el electrification of transport fleets as part of that transition.
The Sustainable Mobility Sector Project, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and with funding from GIZ, supported sustainable urban mobility, infrastructure financing, poverty reduction, and climate protection. The project played a key role in implementing the German funded Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) by raising awareness and building capacities in cities across developing and emerging economies.
In many fast-growing lower- and middle-income cities, Popular Transport systems (also known as Informal Transport or Paratransit) represent a majority of the transport supply — elevating the importance of mutual benefit among users and operators. Learnings from different contexts on how financial and business model structures have evolved could be key for other urban areas to rethink and reform their own systems. A Just Transition is essential for locations where Popular Transporte is the backbone of the mobility system. Through awareness-raising, policy advice, knowledge sharing, and capacity-building initiatives, this programme helped cities achieve sustainable transport goals.
The project goals were: