FACTUAL

An exposed London pavement reached 55°C this summer 🥵 This week's Thursday Mobility Briefing tracked four signals of how fast, and how unevenly, Europe's streets are changing. 🚄 Night train from Brussels to Milan — three nights a week, tracing the old Simplon route past Bern, Brig and Lake Maggiore. They'll fall asleep in Belgium and wake up in northern Italy. No flight, no gate, no 4 am alarm to get to the airport. 🚸 In London, half a million people are about to get a one-kilometre stretch of Oxford Street back. From the end of October, cars, buses, taxis and bikes are banned entirely. Construction runs into 2027, but the street starts belonging to people first. 🌳 Also in London, in Paris, and in Madrid: a new mapping study of 5.5 million buildings found that over 90% don't have enough nearby tree cover to beat the heat. The fix isn't more trees anywhere — it's trees within 60 metres of where people actually live. 🚨 And across the EU: road deaths fell 3% in 2025, to roughly 19,400. Progress, but still short of the pace needed to halve deaths by 2030. Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Poland and Romania are already there. Most of the bloc isn't. The rebuild is real, but the pace isn't there yet. Which of these four should move faster? Swipe through for the full picture 👇 and follow FACTUAL for more mobility news like this every Thursday 🚀

🤔 Wouldn't it be nice to automate the work you repeat weekly? Consultants, analysts, planners and project managers across mobility-related businesses already use AI casually. Created by xval.ai and FACTUAL, with the support of EIT Urban Mobility, MobiLLity for Companies is a six-module online course that turns that casual use into a client-ready workflow. What the course focuses on: 1️⃣ LLM foundations for business — failure modes, calibrating professional trust 2️⃣ Fleet data & service analysis — from raw operations data to recommendations 3️⃣ Tenders & benchmarking — Eurostat KPIs and client-facing deliverables 4️⃣ Prompting for productivity — patterns for CSV, Excel and report generation 5️⃣ Evaluating AI outputs — the quality gate before anything ships to a client ❌ No programming or statistics background needed; we’ll use free-tier, browser-based tools only. Finish with a capstone built around a real company challenge, plus the option to go further in a workshop in Lisbon (30 September 2026) or Las Rozas (12 November 2026). The workshop is optional, and seats are limited. Attendance is not guaranteed. 💶 Early bird is 25€ while it lasts, and fully funded scholarships are available. The course opens in September 2026, and enrolment is already open. Enrol now 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_dj6DwJ

🚕 Today, for the first time, you can hail a driverless Uber in London 🤖 Uber and WAYVE just went live with self-driving rides across the city (a human supervisor still rides along, for now). 🇩🇪 Munich isn't far behind: Waymo is bringing its first EU robotaxi service there, aiming to go fully driverless by 2027. Europe's robotaxi race has officially started. 🇪🇺 Meanwhile, from 7 July 2026, every new car sold in the EU has to watch you back: distraction-detecting cameras and automatic braking for pedestrians and cyclists become mandatory. Brussels reckons it could prevent 25,000 deaths by 2038, against roughly 19,400 lives lost last year. A real dent, if it delivers. 🇪🇸 In rural Spain, getting to work, school or a hospital appointment shouldn't depend on a bus that never comes. A €4.376bn transport fund is setting aside €702m for on-demand transport — apps and minibuses reaching the 1.3–1.8 million people the government counts as transport-vulnerable. 🇸🇪 And in Lund, Sweden, commuters just got a reason to leave the car at home: a new 10km cycling superhighway, wide lanes, priority crossings, no fighting for road space. Two more stretches, to Malmö and Kävlinge, are due by 2027. Four different ways Europe is testing how to get people where they need to go safely. Swipe through for the full picture and let us know if you'll head to London soon to test out the robotaxi 👀 🔔 Follow FACTUAL for more of this every Thursday

✅ Most academics and researchers, master's and PhD students in transport, engineering, data science and urban studies, can already code. ❌ Almost none of them have used that skill on real mobility data: GTFS feeds, SUMPs, EU directives. That's the gap MobiLLity for Academia was built to close 👇 🎓Created by xval.ai, FACTUAL and with the support of EIT Urban Mobility MobiLLITY is a six-module online course where an LLM becomes your coding partner to write, explain and debug analysis code alongside you on real datasets instead of toy examples. 1️⃣ Context engineering foundations — token limits, data formats, strategic sampling 2️⃣ Advanced data context — data dictionaries, multi-table relationships 3️⃣ Exploration, cleaning & iterative visualisation — the LLM as your pair programmer in Colab 4️⃣ Critical evaluation — catching hallucinated trends and statistical errors before they reach your thesis 💶 Early bird is 25€ while it lasts, and fully funded scholarships are available. Enrolment for MobiLLity for Academia is open. The course opens in September 2026. Enrol now 👉 https://lnkd.in/encjhTTF

📍 Barcelona’s Superblocks have reclaimed up to 75% of street space for pedestrians and cyclists. It’s time to extend this impact to the entire metropolitan region. To reverse car-centric mobility and accelerate the transition to active mobility, we present PACE (Promoting Active Cities in Europe): a professional training programme that aims to accelerate safe walking, cycling, and micromobility infrastructure in European cities. 🤝 With the support of EIT Urban Mobility, PACE is developed by FACTUAL, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH), Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) and Major Development Agency Thessaloniki S.A. The training consists of two independent courses focusing on technical aspects and regulation. It is possible to take one or both courses. 🔸PACE 1: Designing and Evaluating (Starting: 23 September 2026): Master the Safe System approach, the CROW standard, and risk-monitoring tools such as #CycleRAP and Lane Patrol. 🔸PACE 2: Policy, Engagement and Funding (Starting: 5 November 2026): Implement co-creation processes and learn to secure funding, such as the EU's Social Climate Fund. 🔸Hybrid Format: Combines 2 hours of flexible online self-study, live interactive webinars, and an optional 8-hour hands-on practical workshop in Barcelona 🇪🇦 or Thessaloniki 🇬🇷 🤚 Who is this course for? Municipal officers, urban planners, engineers, mobility consultants, NGOs, and students in the sector. Lead the change towards safer active mobility. Learn more about PACE and enrol here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eAscNzz3

🚡 What if your daily commute just... halved? Picture living in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, a Paris suburb with no fast way into the city. Every morning commute to the city is time wasted stuck in traffic. That's until a cable car opens overhead and the 40-minute slog becomes an 18-minute ride. 👀 This week we look at four European bets turning policy into something people can actually feel: less time lost, more money kept and cooler streets to walk down. 1️⃣ 🇫🇷 Paris — the new aerial cable car, Câble C1, links three underserved suburbs straight to the metro. Commute time: 40 minutes down to 18. 2️⃣ 🇪🇺 European Union — the Social Climate Fund puts €87 billion behind cycling for the first time, funding e-bikes, cargo bikes and new cycle lanes across all 27 member states through 2032. 3️⃣ 🇩🇰🇩🇪 Denmark-Germany — engineers just immersed the first 217-metre segment of the Fehmarn Belt tunnel under the Baltic. Once it opens, Hamburg to Copenhagen by rail drops from 4.5 to 2.5 hours. 4️⃣ 🇪🇸 Barcelona — 25 disused plots across all ten districts are becoming shaded gardens and plazas, part of a €150 million plan for 20 hectares of green space by 2027, because Mediterranean summers keep getting hotter. None of these are small fixes. They're multi-year, multi-million-euro bets, and each already has a number attached to what it delivers for the people who'll use it. 🤔 Which of the four would you want built in your city first? 🔔 Follow FACTUAL for more of what's actually moving in European mobility.

💡 Los espacios de datos no son sólo una cuestión técnica. Son una cuestión de gobernanza, de estrategia y de negocio. La formación profesional Espacios de Datos para la Movilidad, desarrollada por FACTUAL, con el apoyo del EIT Urban Mobility, está estructurada en cuatro módulos que cubren todas esas dimensiones: 1️⃣ Del concepto a la práctica: qué es un espacio de datos, cómo funciona y cómo interactuar con él. 2️⃣ ¿Por qué importan para la movilidad? El papel de los espacios de datos en el futuro del transporte urbano en Europa. 3️⃣ Cómo están construidos: arquitectura técnica, marcos jurídicos, gobernanza y modelos de negocio. 4️⃣ Cómo aplicarlos: planificación de un caso de uso real, con presentación ante expertos del sector. Al terminar, los participantes serán capaces de liderar estructuras de gobernanza de datos, implementar conexiones técnicas, diseñar modelos de negocio sostenibles e identificar fuentes de financiación para proyectos de este tipo. 🚀 🗣️ Español 📅 Septiembre a noviembre de 2026 — Sesiones por la tarde de 15h-17.30h 🪙 200€ (Disponibilidad de becas financiadas al 100%) Inscríbete a través de este enlace 👉 https://lnkd.in/dsyb7KFe

🤓 Most mobility professionals have tried AI tools, but few have a systematic way to use them in their actual work. MobiLLITY, a training created by xval.ai, FACTUAL, with the support of EIT Urban Mobility closes this gap with four courses, each one tailored to a different role in the mobility ecosystem. 1️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗮 — for students, researchers and postgraduates who 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗮𝗻 𝗟𝗟𝗠 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮. Context engineering, data cleaning and critical evaluation on real GTFS feeds and SUMPs. 2️⃣ 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 — for planners, digital officers and comms teams who live in municipal documents. 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀, 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗳𝘀. GDPR and compliance built in, no coding required. 3️⃣ 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗲𝘀 — for 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 who've tried AI casually but have no method for professional deliverables. Fleet data, tenders, Eurostat KPIs and client-ready reports. 4️⃣ 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 — open to everyone, and the only course that teaches programming: eight modules from "why script?" to a 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱. Every course follows the same two-part journey: a self-paced online course (4–6h, no live attendance), plus the option to go further with a full-day, in-person workshop in Lisbon (30 September 2026) or Las Rozas (12 November 2026). Workshops are optional, and seats are limited. 💶 Early bird is 25€ while it lasts, and fully funded scholarships are available. 📅 Courses open in September 2026 Enrolment is open 👉 https://lnkd.in/ee7NmB-W

❌ A missed bus can mean a missed shift. A missed shift can mean a missed rent payment. We rarely call that a transport problem. But it is one, and it has a name 👉 Transport Poverty. 💡 For decades, transport planning has optimised for flow, speed and cost per journey, while quietly ignoring who those journeys actually serve. The result is systems that work beautifully for people who already have options, and fail the people who have none. ☝️ We’ve created a new course to close that gap ➡️ Tackling Transport Poverty: Strategies for Equitable Mobility 🧠 Created by experts from UCL, FACTUAL and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center with the support of EIT Urban Mobility. 🤓 +30h on how to define, measure and act on transport poverty 💻 Option to take it fully online or through a one-day workshop in Barcelona (November 2nd) 💰 270€ early-bird discount (scholarships available) If your work shapes how people move, this is the missing lens. More information and enrolment 👉 https://lnkd.in/dMFcAYhi

🏊 What if the best way to commute home after work isn't a car, a bike or a train, but a river? Imagine leaving the office in Basel, zipping your clothes into a waterproof bag, and floating home down the Rhine. Forty years ago, that same river was an industrial sewer after a 1986 chemical spill. Today it's clean enough that office workers commute in it, and this summer's record heatwave made it busier than ever. ✈️ Now scale that up. Nearly 40 flights connect Madrid and Lisbon every single day. The EU's new high-speed rail plan wants to replace many of them with a single train: five hours by 2030, three hours by 2034. 🚲 Over in Utrecht, a brand-new 12,000-person district called Merwede is rising right now with room for 1,800 cars and 25,000 bicycles. Car ownership isn't banned here; it's just no longer the default. 🗺️ And in Barcelona, the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB) is testing a tool that plots two routes for any walk: the quickest way, and the shadiest, coolest way. It also points you to the nearest of 300+ registered climate refuges, if you'd rather escape the heat altogether. Four different answers to the same goal, sustainable mobility, and they come in every size: a free swim, a parking cap, a routing app, and a multi-billion-euro rail line. Which is your favourite? 👇 Swipe through for the full picture 👉 and follow FACTUAL for more of this every Thursday!