European Mobility Week 2026: Run a Temporary Mobility Experiment and Measure the Result

Why Mobility Week is the right window for a temporary experiment

European Mobility Week 2026 runs from 16 to 22 September under the continuing theme 'Mobility for Everyone,' with the spotlight this year on intergenerational fairness: transport that works for children, working-age adults and older people now and for generations to come. Cities, towns and local authorities register their participation on the campaign site, while organisations, schools, businesses and citizen groups can register a separate MOBILITYACTION, which is not limited to the campaign week and may happen at any point in the year. A registered experiment gains a formal, visible frame and becomes part of a continent-wide record.

The calendar works in your favour. Because people expect street changes during the week, the communication and political risk of temporarily closing a road is lower than on an ordinary Tuesday, and the week culminates on 22 September, which is traditionally marked as a car-free day. As with any campaign, schedules and local arrangements can change, so confirm final dates and your own registration on the organiser's official pages before publishing your plans.

• Registration lends the experiment a formal frame and a place in the pan-European count of actions.
• Many formats — school street, pedestrian zone, car-free block — map directly onto the 'Mobility for Everyone' theme.

One experiment, one hypothesis, one measurable goal

Match the format to the theme. The most natural fits for 'Mobility for Everyone' are a temporary school street around a primary or secondary school, a weekend pedestrian street, a car-free block for 22 September, or a few parking bays turned into a pop-up plaza or cycle lane. Riga, winner of the 2025 European Mobility Week Award for its work on reclaiming public space, has experimented with a pedestrian street on Alberta and parts of Antonijas streets, an example that combines a temporary closure with the area's cafés and shops.

Before the barriers go up, write one hypothesis and one primary indicator, and agree thresholds with the people who will approve a follow-up. A useful template comes from Fingal County Council in Ireland, which is running a trial 'school street' as part of the 2026 week: the roads near a school close each day from 08:40–09:10 and 14:20–14:50, a design that targets the morning and afternoon school peaks rather than the whole day.

• School street: fewer vehicles and safer drop-off at the school gate during pick-up and drop-off peaks.
• Weekend pedestrian street: higher dwell time and stable trading for local shops (Riga-style).
• Car-free block on 22 September: a measurable drop in traffic on the treated block itself.
• Parking-to-people: higher public-space use; watch where displaced cars actually park.

Build the before/during/after measurement plan

A single week proves little by itself; its value comes from comparison. Start baseline data as early as possible — ideally several days in the two weeks before 16 September, measured in the same weekday and time windows and from the same points you will use during the week. Record weather, school holidays and unusual events each day so that outliers can be explained later rather than silently distorting the averages.

During the week, measure the treated street and a control street with similar traffic that stays open. A similar rise or fall on both streets tells you whether the closure moved cars to neighbouring roads (displacement) or genuinely removed trips. After the barriers come down, take one or two further readings once normal traffic returns to see whether any effect lingers, and keep the control-street readings running for comparison.

What to measure, and with realistic methods

A city evaluating school and 'quiet' streets typically tracks several families of indicators, and they transfer well to a one-week experiment: traffic volume, speed and patterns; the modal split, meaning how many people walk, wheel or cycle; illegal or hazardous parking and driving behaviour; air quality and noise where sensors exist; and how people actually use the freed space, including dwell time.

None of this requires a research budget. Pneumatic tubes and automatic counters give volume and speed; short manual counts in 15-minute windows at peak give modal share; a single cheap camera mounted to overlook the site lets you review behaviour after the fact, an approach researchers already use to assess temporary street experiments. Add a few intercept questions for residents and shopkeepers and record parking occupancy twice a day.

• Automatic counters and tubes — traffic volume and speed.
• Manual 15-minute counts at peak — share of walking, cycling, scooting.
• One camera over the site — later review of behaviour and dwell time.
• Short surveys and interviews — residents' and traders' subjective view.
• Twice-daily parking occupancy — where displaced vehicles actually parked.

Read the numbers honestly and decide

Treat the week as a pilot, not as proof. If the treated street improves while the control street is stable, you have evidence to propose a longer trial — many school streets begin as a week-long test and are later repeated for a school term before becoming permanent. If traffic simply shifted to the control street or complaints rose, revise the design instead of shelving the idea.

Be explicit about uncertainty in the final note: novelty effects make early days look better, small samples limit confidence, and weather and local events colour the numbers. State clearly that a permanent scheme is decided by administrators and elected officials, and that the week's data is input to that decision, not the decision itself.