Urban Mobility Days 2025 - Recap

Urban Mobility Days 2025 came to a close on 2 October, and what a ride! From catching unexpected waves in Vilnius to important exchanges driving us closer toward sustainable, safe, innovative and inclusive urban mobility across Europe, here’s a recap of the past three days.

Each of the three days was dedicated to urban nodes, cycling and public transport, alongside the cross-cutting topics of competitiveness, innovation and tourism. 

Urban mobility remains at the forefront of the green and fair transition. To take advantage of this unique position, it’s clear that public transport and other urban mobility options must be more affordable, attractive and accessible to all travellers – hopefully for many it will become their preferred way to get from A to B.

How can Europe achieve this?

Around 800 urban mobility experts closely examined the possibilities, including the continued implementation of urban node provisions as part of the trans-European transport network – 9 European Corridor working groups met at #UMD25 –, improving first and last mile connections between urban nodes and long-distance journeys, and the development of multimodal passenger hubs.

Participants and panellists alike also emphasised the importance of innovation not only as a technological development, but as a part of new operational processes and business models. Innovation should support policy objectives; e.g. autonomous taxis should complement - or be a part of - public transport offers.

Cycling also plays a crucial role. As shown in the freshly minted report on the EU Declaration on Cycling, unveiled at Urban Mobility Days by #EUTransport Director-General Magda Kopczyńska, Member States have made good progress on cycling policies and infrastructure developments and investments – however, as Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas reminded participants via video message, the Declaration is not the end of the journey, just the beginning. There’s more to be done to make cycling inclusive, safe and accessible. 

Tourism and urban mobility are also deeply intertwined – this natural partnership wove itself into numerous conversations and presentations, with the conclusion that tourist mobility should be anchored in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and meaningfully consider residents' & tourists' unique needs. To no surprise, participants emphasised that SUMPs too can play a substantive role in making the case for public transport funding. 

And while there is much more we’d like to share about our time in Vilnius, we’ll end by underlining our desire for continued cooperation with local, regional and national authorities, urban mobility stakeholders, the private sector, and more to ensure urban mobility becomes more attractive, accessible, affordable for all.

Until next time – thank you to our hosts Vilnius City Municipality, JUDU (SĮ Susisiekimo paslaugos) and Susisiekimo ministerija / Ministry of Transport and Communications, and our partners for helping us deliver an unforgettable rendition of Urban Mobility Days!

Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect those of the European Commission.