EMR Connect

The EMR Connect project involves 15 institutional layers active in the greater Region: transport companies, public transport authorities, public bodies and universities with departments specialising in the field. The composition of this consortium is indicative of the interest these partners have in working together to overcome the technical, institutional and financial obstacles in their field. Within the Euroregion, these obstacles are many: cost of new transport equipment, multilingualism of the staff, different public transport management policies and cultures, different spatial planning policies and cultures, economic imbalance.

During the project, the members of these different partners are invited to put their heads together to devise innovative cross-border public transport solutions; Several events have been organised to this end: a cross-border summer school, the "Transport Think Tank" and a series of "Joint Project Studies".

The partners have identified a number priority areas to work on to set up this public transport network: fares & service offerings, digitalisation of ticketing operations and passenger information, networking in the field of education and knowledge, the use of electric buses for cross-border journeys and multi-modality in cross-border public transport. These different areas combine research and innovation in "e-mobility" and the most appropriate virtual instruments.

In terms of implementation, the project has already led to the creation of the "Vélocity" bike park in Kerkrade, the collection and making available of data in real time, access to a cross-border train ticket between Aachen and Maastricht for students. It is intended that these applications will be recognised as good practices and that they will then be rolled out systematically across the cross-border territory.