Promotion of the Mobility of Youth and Young Adults in rural areas through better access to European and national passenger transport networks
YOUMOBIL aims at enhancing the passenger transport system for young people living in rural areas and their access to the European and national transport networks. Poor mobility options other than the own car is among the most frequent reasons why young people choose to leave their native rural area and to migrate to larger cities or even beyond, intensifying the demographic change troubling most rural areas in Central Europe. A number of tools including shared mobility and demand-oriented flexible collective transport services have emerged across Europe but only few have been introduced in rural areas of Central Europe. This led to a lack of knowledge among the programme area&#39;s transport stakeholders. Moreover, public transport and related infrastructures suffer from a rather poor image among Central European youth. YOUMOBIL partners therefore network with rural areas&#39; local youth in piloting demand-driven novel service features, exploit the potentials of transport management through interfaces for mobile devices, and to explore how youth initiatives can revitalise disused rail infrastructure to enhance the attractiveness and image of public transport. Five technology-driven pilots will demonstrate the use of modern ICT solutions for a smart youth-orientied transport in rural areas while one investment showcases the role of young people to revitalise rail infrastructure. Further investments are prepared by YOUMOBIL.
 
Lessons learnt and knowledge from existing good practices will be shared among transport stakeholders in two summer schools and disseminated in the form of a tool-box that includes details about the financial feasibility of necessary investments complemented by policy recommendations. These outputs address public transport managers from rural areas of CE. Accompanying communication activities include three annual campaigns sending groups of local youth by Interrail to all partner territories and producing daily social media footage.