UITP Global Public Transport Summit Opens Call For Abstracts

The call for abstracts for the 2023 UITP Global Public Transport Summit is open! Experiences, case studies, best practices and research should focus on the theme ‘Bright Light of the city’. Abstracts can be submitted until Friday 9 September.

Taking place in Barcelona from 4 to 7 June 2023, the UITP Global Public Transport Summit offers an unparalleled opportunity to present your knowledge and insights to over 2,700 congress attendees from over 80 countries

The summit is looking for papers related to the following topics:

• Public transport and urban life
• Renewing the public transport experience with a greater customer focus
• Digital Transformation
• Decarbonisation and low emissions
• Resilient urban and public transport
• New Normal

Head over to the UITP Summit website and submit your abstract now!

Barcelona is a city where light shines brightly through its rich Mediterranean culture, beautiful architecture, art, food and social activities.

One pivotal element which allows people to embrace the magic of this charming city is through its well-connected public transport system.

Public transport is the ‘Bright light of the city’. It gives passengers the freedom to discover the city, to commute, meet friends & family, or navigate wherever you need to go. Public transport brings light to any city and energises the lives of all those who use it.

It provides more than a necessary service; it brightens the urban landscape. It is simply the brightest decision you can make to move around the city.

Public transport and urban mobility are critical components of the urban environment, local economies and city’s life. Public transport can transform urban life and steer the social and economic dynamic of cities and territories. Transport investment has the ability to unlock change in cities.

To address future and ongoing challenges such as urbanisation and climate change, it is crucial for our sector to help optimise limited urban space with the goal of building more liveable cities. How do we do that? With inclusive urban planning, that prioritises mass public transport as the backbone of the city and complementing this with active modes, on demand and shared services.

Public and sustainable urban transport modes and planning can support and improve social inclusion.

Public transport is a service provided by people for people: the happiness of both the staff and customers are essential to the success of our business in the long run. It is a priority for public transport to accelerate its journey towards customer centricity in all aspects of its business and to provide a renewed public transport experience which will support the recovery of the ridership following the pandemic

The way forward must systematically consider passengers both current and potential, at the center of initiatives. Delivering people centred mobility will highlight how public transport can put people first and impact their wellbeing positively in all respects.

Hyperconnectivity, big data, artificial intelligence and the internet of things are accelerating the transformation of society and public transportation in particular. The digital transformation of the sector is ongoing and impacting all aspects of urban mobility and of the public transport business. It has an impact on services and the redefinition of public transport, operations, and the workforce for instance.

The programme is expected to highlight our sector’s commitment to deliver urban mobility transport systems which dramatically reduce local and global emissions.

This requires continued effort to decrease the emissions of public transport operations at the local and global level. Thus delivering on climate and health objectives.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to build a resilient transport system. This means building – by design whenever possible, the ability to react, manage and adapt to external events.

External events such as pandemics, extreme weather, and other behaviours and attacks can threaten the integrity of networks and services.

In a world where change and crisis must be continuously expected, mobility patterns are changing, and so is city life. Public transport has to adapt and create a framework for this so called New Normal situation.

How can we restructure business models, or improve financial sustainability to ensure the mobility services we offer are sustainable and for life? The sessions under this stream will explore how to tackle this challenge.