Throughout rural Europe, most people have little or no choice about how they travel. Their only choice is whether they can travel at all. Almost all travel is made by private car, other than what can be accessed nearby on foot, also with consequences on air quality and the emissions of greenhouse gases. Households own multiple cars, from sheer necessity. Those without cars are dependent on others for lifts, or they must forego travel and their lives become limited.

The solutions for urban areas do not always fit well with the rural environment, for many and evident reasons. Specific actions are needed that understand and respond to the rural mobility needs. In particular, this requires focussing not only on the needed conventional public transport services but also on the complementary “shared mobility solutions” and frameworks better suited to local implementation.