BUILDING A SHARED MOBILITY STRATEGY

In most European regions, the mobility area of the population doesn’t match existing administrative areas. Indeed, in response to the extension of urban areas, people travel beyond administrative borders and between different cities.

In this context, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) partially respond to current mobility challenges. Besides, a reliable mobility strategy often requires coordinating the policies of different authorities, which manage different parts of the global mobility offer.

This situation is also true in the Sud Oise area. This area contains 6 inter-municipal structures, 86 municipalities and 6 mobility authorities, 2 of which are inter-municipal and 4 of which are municipal. Besides, two Regional networks serve this area (trains and inter-urban buses). Moreover, an association of transport authorities called SMTCO has been created, in order to coordinate the mobility offer in the Oise Departement.

In 2017, two inter-municipal structures, Creil Sud Oise and Liancourtois Vallée Dorée, have decided to assemble their mobility strategy into au unique SUMP. Following this decision, the four others inter-municipal structures of Sud Oise have decided to join this movement, by launching their own SUMP in a concurrent manner. These structures are : Aire Cantilienne, Senlis Sud Oise, Pays d’Oise et d’Halatte and Pays du Clermontois.

Therefore, five SUMP have been launched in this vast geographic area, which largely corresponds to the daily mobility area of its inhabitants. All 5 plans are part of a shared mobility strategy, called “Plans de Déplacements Mutualisés”, or “Shared Mobility Plans”. This shared strategy is coordinated by SMBCVB, which is also in charge of building the Land Use Plan of Creil Sud Oise and Liancourtois Vallée Dorée.

An area benefiting from a strategic location…

The Sud Oise area is located south of Oise Department, in Hauts-de-France Region (northern France). Sud Oise is adjacent to Ile-de-France Region, which contains several major economic centers, such as Paris and Roissy - Charles de Gaulle Airport. This situation gives a strategic position du Sud Oise, especially because a large part of the population works in the Ile-de-France Region. Sud Oise also benefits from a remarkable natural environment, thanks to the presence of a Regional Forest, which covers a large part of this area, and the Oise river, which goes through main cities. A future bike path called Trans’Oise will be created along the Oise River and will contribute to enhance its banks.

Sud Oise has one main urban center, Creil, and several complementary centers, such as Liancourt, Chantilly, Senlis, Pont-Sainte-Maxence and Clermont. The attraction of Creil, coming from its economic zones, commercial zones and other facilities, covers the whole Sud Oise area, while the attraction of complementary centers corresponds to their inter-municipal structures.

Two regional transport networks serve the Sud Oise area: a train network and an inter-urban bus network. The train network consists of 5 radial lines departing from Creil to main cities in the Hauts-de-France Region. This network also connects different parts of Sud Oise to Creil and other important cities (a connection is often needed at Creil station). The main train line of this network is Creil - Paris, also serving Chantilly and other cities. As a complement of this rail network, the inter-urban bus network allows trips to main urban centers which are not served by the train network, especially Senlis.

In addition to these regional transport networks, Sud Oise also has 6 urban networks. The main one is the STAC network, in the Creil Sud Oise area, which allows trips to the Creil train station and to other major economic zones in this area. Another network, called Le Bus, serves part of Pays du Clermontois area, and allows trips to Clermont train station and to main facilities in this area. The four other networks are organized at a local level by municipalities: Liancourt network, DUC (Chantilly), TUS (Senlis) and TUM (Pont-Sainte-Maxence). Their main role is to respond to trips to each city’s train station and to trips between different neighborhoods.

… but also facing several challenges

The location of Sud Oise also offers some challenges. Indeed, the residential attractiveness of Sud Oise has generated a process of urban expansion, which has translated into long daily trips, mainly done by car. This situation has an impact on Sud Oise’s natural environment (air quality, preservation of natural spaces, climate change…).

In addition, the importance of the Creil employment zone and the high frequency of trains at Creil train station attract a large number of users and create congestion in this city. Despite the excellent train service and the very good quality urban transport in the Creil Sud Oise area, the global transport system remains fragmented and only partially responds to daily trips within Sud Oise. This situation also contributes to the high use of cars for trips within Sud Oise. Moreover, the train network allows a connection to Paris, but no connection is possible to other major economic zones in Ile-de-France Region, such as Roissy - Charles de Gaulle Airport. Most trips to this zone are also made by car. However, a new train link will soon connect Creil to Roissy, which could transform modal split for these trips.

In summary, the mobility offer only responds to some types of trips, especially those within Creil Sud Oise area or to Creil train station. The fragmentation of the lack of transport services in other parts of Sud Oise constitute a barrier to the use on public transport in this area. Car use is very high for most trips in Sud Oise and will have to be managed in order to establish a sustainable mobility strategy in this area.

A next-generation SUMP

These challenges need a unified response, including all parts of Sud Oise and taking into account all aspects of mobility. This SUMP will establish a mobility strategy at a large geographic scale beyond administrative borders, corresponding to the real mobility area of the population. It will take into account all mobility modes, including shared modes, in order to create a mobility ecosystem, responding to the diverse needs of the population. This strategy will not only focus on mobility infrastructure, but also on mobility management, which should contribute to better use existing infrastructure and increase the use of active modes. This SUMP will also include a large participatory process with local stakeholders and inhabitants, consisting of workshops, public meetings, a large mobility conference and an online forum, among others. This process will allow to build a sustainable urban mobility plan in a collaborative manner, taking into account the actual needs of the diverse local actors, and preparing a shared implementation by all of them.