UEMI in Hamburg

Hamburg, officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, is one of Germany´s 16 federal states and, with a population of over 1.8 Mio, the second-largest city in Germany and 8th largest in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to more than five million people. Hamburg’s transport sector is responsible for 27% of the cities direct emissions (BUE n.d.), and although the share of private motor vehicle trips is decreasing, the overall number of travelled passenger kilometres is expected to increase. In terms of air pollution Hamburg is ranked as one of the of the worst performing cities of Germany (Urbanista 2017). One major source for air pollution is the port of Hamburg, being one of the biggest in Europe and located in the city centre; around one third of nitrogen oxide pollution can be attributed to it (SZ 2019). Apart from measures targeting vessel and port management, Hamburg implemented also measures to reduce noise and air pollution by enhancing the general (road) traffic situation, e.g. using emission free vehicles in public transport, improving the cycling infrastructure, or set-up of intermodal sharing systems. It has set a goal to reduce overall CO2-emissions by 40 per cent in 2020 and 55 per cent in 2030. ​

E-Mobility for last-mile connectivity
The public transport operator (Hochbahn) will develop an e-scooter sharing system with support of the project (50 e-scooter co-funded by the project and the city), which will aim to test an incentive and pricing scheme that complements the public transport system and coverage rather than competing with it. 

The introduction of charging solutions (T-Systems), smart last-mile services in the peri-urban (SOLUTIONSplus Maas App) will be part of demonstration activities. This will also analyse the complementarities of potential business models. 

The transformation of the mobility system  (“Verkehrswende”) is high on the political agenda of the governing coalition of Socialdemocrats (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschland, SPD) and the Greens (Die Grünen). Air quality issues and the corresponding EU regulations are certainly one of the main pressures for further action[1] (Amt für Immissionsschutz und Betriebe 2017). Another pressure comes from civil society: the so-called Fridays for Future movement is demanding further action on climate change. Hamburg´s mayor (SPD) has announced a new climate protection plan to be adopted in December 2019, outlining further concrete measures and called this an important signal to the youth of the climate movement (Meyer and Meyer-Wellmann 2019). Moreover, a draft climate protection law was passed in December 2019 by the Senat and has to be adopted by the City Parliament (in German: Bürgerschaft).
Although there is an election coming up in February 2020, this will most likely not change the operating environment for the demonstration action. For one think, it is likely that the coalition will continue afterwards[2](Guttmann 2019), but also because even the opposition candidate of the Conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) has recently argued for the need of decarbonizing mobility and improving public transport (Drieschner 2019).
Also of relevance might be the opening of the current process for participatory transport planning in September 2019 (BMVI n.d.).

[1] EU law requires, if values are exceeded, to draw up a clean air plan, setting out the necessary measures for the permanent reduction of air pollution.

[2] The Green party outlines in its election programme the goal of increasing the modal split from 60 to 80 per cent in 2029.

Between 2002 and 2017 the share of bicycle trips in Hamburg grew from just under 10 to 15 per cent. The share of public transport rose from just under 20 to 22 percent. Hamburg's hinterland also shows a slight increase in share of public transport (currently around 10 per cent). 27 per cent of all trips by Hamburg residents are on foot. In the surrounding area, it is only around 20 per cent in 2017 (infas 2019, 6). The public transport system receives high approval rates, with three out of four respondents grading it with good or very good (only walking scores better) (infas 2019, p. 20). 
Motorised private transport had a share of 26 per cent in 2017. This means that the citizens of Hamburg covered a good third of their journeys by car, motorbike or truck. In 2002 and 2008, this share was still over 30 per cent. However, in the surrounding area, the decline in the use of private vehicles is small: from over 60 per cent in 2008 now falling just below this mark (infas 2019, p. 7). In general, the average length of the distances travelled by car increases, while the proportion of these distances decreases (ibid). In Hamburg, more than half of all passenger kilometres are currently travelled by car every day (40,000,000 out of 70,000,000 km). 

Hamburg´s special situation as being a city-state gives the city more competences, planning capacities and a different budget than there is usually on the local level (e.g. in Hamburg there is no distinction between the federal state budget and the city´s budget). This might be one of the reasons why it has been quite successful in implementing activities to transform urban mobility towards a more sustainable one.

As to e-mobility, from 2020, the two public bus transport providers, HOCHBAHN and VHH, will only purchase emission-free buses (BMVI 2018). Hamburg Hochbahn, the main public transport provider (see also below in more detail), has set the goal to have integrated 60 electric buses into the fleet in 2020 and by 2030, the entire HOCHBAHN fleet of around 1,000 buses is to be converted to emission-free drives (HOCHBAHN 2018). In November 2018 the first e-bus started operating in the city, and as of November 2019 there are now 30 e-buses running. A call for tender for 500 e-buses was published in August 2019. According to its own statements, Hochbahn is aiming for pro-rata federal funding for procurement of those buses (ibid.).