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Rural – and semi-rural areas are often excluded from new or green mobility initiatives like car and bike sharing, Uber and large scale zero-emissions transport. Long distances and too few users make these too costly or simply not feasible, so many people use cars. Those who cannot afford/use cars are less likely to get a job or will leave to go to cities. This results in a vicious cycle making these areas less attractive for business, or partnerships with big companies from the transport sector. Local authorities in turn often struggle in finding enough staff and financing for green and flexible solutions, which remain heavily subsidised and are not always efficient: an empty electric bus does not reduce overall emissions, and the users’ needs are still not answered.

To solve these issues MOVE will take on a new approach in developing innovative and sustainable mobility initiatives through co-creation, bringing together local authorities, knowledge centres, local economic players and inhabitants – permanent and temporary. MOVE will use local specificities to create practical solutions in 4 pilots based on unlikely combinations, with tangible business plans, to be implemented, tested and evaluated. This aims at increasing accessibility, reducing individual cars use, emissions and costs. MOVE will share its best practices in sustainable mobility and governance to increase take-up in other regions and support the greening of the transport sector and stimulate rural areas in the NSR as a whole.