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Moving beyond administrative boundaries to match mobility as it is lived
Our journeys for work, study or leisure do not stop at the boundaries of our municipalities or inter-municipal authorities. Yet the organisation of transport remains compartmentalised by those administrative perimeters.
At the Geonexio conference, Brigitte Bariol-Mathais stressed the urgent need to align transport governance with the reality of living areas, particularly in peri-urban local areas.
Mobility: an issue at every scale? - Brigitte Bariol-Mathais
In this interview filmed at the event organized in April 2026 by Geonexio, the think & do tank of Transdev in France, Brigitte Bariol-Mathais underlines the need to adapt mobility policies to the local areas citizens actually live in, which often extend beyond administrative boundaries. She highlights the importance of closer cooperation between stakeholders and of shared governance, in order to build more coherent, inclusive and sustainable mobility and spatial planning solutions.
The mobility areas experienced by residents within a territory, whether for work or other activities, are often much broader than the jurisdictions of the organizations responsible for managing mobility services, namely the Mobility Organising Authorities (MOAs). This creates a real challenge: overcoming these administrative boundaries to provide mobility services that truly meet people's needs, particularly outside urban centres and within peri-urban areas. Mobility and spatial planning are also shared responsibilities across several levels of government and administration, including regions and urban or peri-urban intermunicipal authorities. As a result, they require ongoing dialogue, open governance, and likely contractual arrangements to secure long-term financial commitments. These arrangements may also include commitments related to urban development around existing or future mobility hubs. Ultimately, this calls for a strong governance dialogue, driven through intermunicipal cooperation and extending beyond it to foster collaboration between communities on a broader scale.
A mismatch between lived and managed perimeters
The perimeters residents experience within a local area, for work or for other activities, are far wider than those of the bodies that manage mobility, the transport organizing authorities.
Going beyond these limits is a real challenge if we are to offer services suited to people, particularly outside urban areas, in peri-urban local areas.
“The perimeters residents experience through mobility within a local area, for work or for other activities, are far wider than the perimeters of the bodies that manage mobility.”
Governance that needs decompartmentalizing
Mobility and spatial planning are responsibilities shared across several levels: regions, urban and peri-urban inter-municipal authorities. This calls for dialogue and open governance.
It also calls for arrangements that are most likely contractual, in order to anchor long-term financial commitments as well as commitments on urban development around the hubs to be created. This is a governance dialogue to be driven at inter-municipal level and beyond, at inter-community level.
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