Sustainable Mobility Guarantee: Developing the concept from a transport planning perspective

In this paper, we develop the concept of a “Sustainable Mobility Guarantee”. We first review existing “Mobility Guarantees”, which are rather motivated by socioeconomic interests than environmental sustainability and classify them. Based on this assessment, we define a Sustainable Mobility Guarantee, which extends existing approaches with environmental interests. It is an emerging concept in policymaking to ensure a certain level of mobility without the need for private cars - particularly in rural areas - but it is still in its infancy and lacks clear definitions. The concept embraces the idea of Classical Mobility Guarantees while seeking to enable and promote the use of non-automobile modes for everyday travels for everyone, not only for specific trip purposes like commuting, nor for specific target groups like the elderly. We then discuss the practical implementation and financial feasibility. Implementation is possible through programmatic or regulatory approaches, which may serve as a potential transitional basis for legal regulation. At least in developed countries, implementing mobility services realizing a Sustainable Mobility Guarantee is deemed financeable, given that financial instruments now subsidizing automobile use are shifted towards implementation of the guarantee, without being detrimental to the economy.