6 mobility trends vital to the success of public transport across Central Europe

Across Europe, big public transport projects are taking place. As Hamburg constructs its new, fully automated U5 metro line, Paris implements 450km of cycle lanes, and so much more, cities in Central Europe are also busy improving, automating, and building on a history of public transport success.

Indeed, the region is no stranger to public transport success and innovation. Budapest boasts the second-oldest underground metro in the world behind only London. Equally, Prague’s trolleybus fleet is cutting-edge, entirely powered by new in motion charging (IMC) technology. At the same time, over the last decade Warsaw has expanded their metro at one of the fastest rates in Europe.

In fact, when it comes to ridership, UITP’s Global Urban Mobility Indicators found that Budapest, Prague, and Warsaw have especially high levels of annual ridership per capita. That is to say, how many times a year each citizen uses the network.

It should be noted that comparing ridership figures is not an exact science – each operator collects its own data and things like tourists or commuters can boost rides without increasing the local population considered. Having said that, the data paints a picture, and for these three Central European capitals, that’s one of high ridership!

Still, there is plenty to be done (as ever). Moving forward, to improve urban mobility in cities across the heart of Europe, public transport operators and authorities have shared challenges and opportunities.

Here are the top 6 key mobility trends in Central Europe.

Decarbonisation is a global effort, but the big changes can often be local, from cleaner air to more sustainable urban mobility.

By 2030, Prague aims to electrify 75% of the city’s bus fleet. Most of these are diesel buses, which in the 1970s largely replaced the city’s trolleybus lines that had operated since 1936. Now, with the sustainable transition, the trolleybus is coming back. DPP Prague’s new 59 trolleybus line – partially financed by the eBRT2030 project, coordinated by UITP – connects the city to airport, with the IMC trolleybuses saving 1.3T of CO₂ emissions every year.

Thanks to IMC technology, the trolleybus network is expanding fast and will help phase out diesel buses. Among surveyed members, the UITP Bus Fleet Survey 2023 shows an expected 120% increase in Europe’s trolleybus fleet by 2030 compared to 2022, figures which include cities like Prague and Debrecen.

Central European operators and manufacturers are also partnering in the use of alternative fuels. While UITP’s project Clean Bus Europe Platform helped Suceava in Romania electrify their entire bus fleet, it also brought together operators like MPK Poznań with industry leader Solaris, just as the ASSURED project brought together Solaris and PKM Jaworzno. For Poznań, that meant developing a fleet of over 25 hydrogen buses – with nine more on the way. For their part, PKM Jaworzno will soon operate a 85% zero-emission bus fleet – and that’s after being the first public transport operator in Poland to introduce an electric bus a decade ago.

However, decarbonisation goes far beyond fleets. In Poland, operator PKT Gdynia has implemented smart grid technologies in their trolleybus traction network. Essentially, that means:

• Better energy management,
• linked to renewable energy generation,
• on relatively low investment,
• allowing for bilateral energy supply,
• levelling voltage drops,
• and optimising usage of recuperated energy.

This technology can have a huge effect on operators and authorities in Central Europe. Predictable renewable energy is a particular sore spot for Central and Eastern Europe, with the availability of subsidies another barrier.

Speaking of funding, tendering and aligning with EU policy can be a key challenge. Public tendering processes can be complex and hard to navigate, but necessary. For instance, to finance their growing trolleybus fleet, DPP Prague plans to apply for EU funding to finance 180 new vehicles set to cost around €139 million.

Keeping up with or influencing EU regulations and funding programmes is a must. There are at least 12 major EU funding programmes currently ongoing, from loans to grants and financial instruments, such as those of the European Investment Bank. Not all funding streams are applicable for each project, though. While the €95 billion Horizon Europe fund is quite flexible, other funds such as the Connecting Europe Facility focus their €25.8 billion of grants only on alternative fuels and infrastructure.

For European members, this is where UITP can assist. UITP’s Europe office in Brussels has experience advocating for public transport, shaping funding frameworks, and bringing members together to collaborate in EU-funded projects.

Improving operational efficiency paves the way to improvements elsewhere.

As a part of the Prague Climate Plan 2030, Prague Metro is automating its oldest and most used metro line, Line C, which will increase capacity, cut headway times, reduce daily operational expenses, and allow other lines to use Line C’s current rolling stock, in turn modernising the rest of the fleet. This is all without mentioning the construction of the new Line D. All in all, the climate plan promises to boost Prague’s annual ridership by 150 million, generating more fare revenue along the way.

Making public transport more efficient means adopting a holistic view of urban mobility and working with other stakeholders to implement wide-ranging policy. For instance, UITP Bus Fleet Survey also showed Central & Eastern Europe’s interest in low emission zones (LEZs), with authorities planning to put eight more into action – more than any other region. The effects of LEZs and congestion charging can be significant; a feasibility study into the Prague Toll system found that 100,000 fewer private cars could enter the toll area every day.

Not only is that a source of revenue, it encourages a modal shift and takes cars off the road – growing ridership, making active and shared mobility more attractive, and clearing the roads for buses to have more efficient and predictable journeys. This can already be seen in other European cities; London’s vehicle scrappage scheme that accompanied its LEZ expansion resulted among participants in a 22% jump in walking journeys and a 16% rise in bus ridership.

Hearing from the success of other cities and operators is invaluable; and it’s why UITP brings together stakeholders worldwide to share insights and best practices.

High levels of ridership are one thing. But without staff to drive, maintain, and manage operations, services suffer. Today, Europe lacks some 10% of the bus drivers required to deliver expected service levels. The problem is widespread and affects all sorts of roles, though drivers are far and away the most difficult role to fill.

Decarbonisation and automation adds pressure to this need, since transitioning to zero-emission fleets means reskilling and upskilling staff.

Though solutions do exist. In London, Transport for London (TfL) has a relatively low turnover of staff at around 5.5% and it achieves this partly by collaborating with other organisations like the National Skills Academy for Railway to identify skills shortages and identify them ahead of time.

Or take Transdev, whose new digital scheduling system allows drivers to define their own working hours. On average, 80% of requests are met and the majority of drivers would not choose to return to the old system. This flexible system is especially liked by younger drivers, and is now being tested in the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Canada, and Germany.

Making public transport networks multimodal means sustainable mobility is more accessible, convenient, and efficient. Shared mobility is a big part of this effort. Already today, there are nearly 2,000 bike-sharing schemes worldwide, with 85% of those located in Europe and Asia. And multimodality is something that touches all sorts of infrastructure projects and strategies.

As a part of London’s ‘Healthy Streets’ Strategy, the city is improving over 40 urban spaces outside stations by planting trees, implementing more pedestrian crossings, and installing 1,335 new bike-parking spaces. Or take Bremen in Germany, which built 10 large mobility hubs with several carsharing vehicles by public transport stops. The scheme took 5,000 vehicles off the city’s streets, freeing up nearly 40km of street space!

The opportunity for cities in Central Europe is substantial, given already existing public transport networks. For instance, to install some 1000 micromobility hubs for its bike-sharing scheme MOL Bubi, BKK in Budapest performed extensive participative planning and received help from the EU-funded project ‘Cities-4-People’.

Indeed, working alongside a consortium of partners and experienced coordinators can make all the difference. In MOL Bubi’s first decade, people made 13.5 million journeys. And now, in 2026 Budapest plans to double the current fleet of bikes and introduce e-bikes. Multimodality works!

Digitalisation, especially in ticketing and payments, can be transformational. Back to Budapest’s MOL Bubi – while the system launched in 2014, digitalisation made the system far more attractive. In 2021, BKK added more stations, simplified ticketing, and digitalised the payments process. As a result, the number of riders increased by around 5-8 times compared to the system’s first years.

For people, digitalisation means quality information and easier payments. And these are important things to get right – done poorly, they can be significant barriers to using public transport. Many cities in Central Europe are making the most of it. For example, Ostrava in the Czech Republic was the second city in Europe to introduce ticketing through contactless bank cards – behind only London.

The future of public transport in Central Europe is bright, if the region can continue to face up to challenges and make the most of new opportunities. Coming together and sharing best practices is a way to ensure that we stay on top of innovations and the world’s most important mobility trends.