Amsterdam-Noord offers a practical test of how demand-responsive transport and digital orchestration could make public mobility work for more people without creating another separate service for every group.
As Dutch cities grow and public space becomes scarcer, the next public transport challenge is not only how to move more people along busy corridors. It is how to serve the journeys and travellers that do not fit neatly into the conventional network.
At OV Congress 2026, EIT Urban Mobility will bring that challenge into focus through the case of Amsterdam-Noord. Willem-Frederik Metzelaar, Regional Director of Innovation Hub West at EIT Urban Mobility, will explore what inclusive public mobility could look like when cities treat available capacity as a shared regional resource rather than a collection of disconnected services.
The journeys the network misses
Amsterdam-Noord is growing rapidly, while space for private cars and parking is under increasing pressure. High-capacity public transport provides an essential backbone, but it is not a suitable alternative for every journey. Older people, people with disabilities, shift workers and residents making cross-district trips may still encounter gaps in coverage, timing or accessibility.
The usual response has been to organise additional transport around specific target groups. These services are important, particularly where travellers require guaranteed assistance or priority. Yet when buses, taxis, social transport and other mobility services are planned in separate systems, available vehicles and seats cannot easily be used together. The result can be both costly and inflexible, even when capacity exists nearby.
One responsive layer around the backbone
Amsterdam-Noord creates an opportunity to test a different model: a broader layer of demand-responsive public transport built around the existing high-capacity network. Instead of adding another isolated solution, the aim would be to connect journeys more intelligently and fill the gaps between fixed routes.
This approach does not mean removing safeguards for travellers who need specialised support. It means designing one system that can protect those priorities while opening unused capacity to a wider group of passengers. Inclusivity then becomes part of the operating model rather than an add-on.
Digital orchestration as public infrastructure
The enabling idea is digital mobility orchestration: a regional control layer that looks beyond institutional categories and matches real-time demand with the seats, vehicles and drivers available across an area. In practical terms, it could help cities and operators coordinate services that are currently contracted, scheduled and monitored separately.
Technology alone will not deliver that change. Authorities will also need workable agreements on data sharing, governance, accessibility, procurement and responsibility for service quality. The essay Doelgroepenvervoer biedt kansen voor open doel, by Geert Kloppenburg, similarly argues for moving from fragmented target-group transport towards a more integrated and responsive model of public mobility.
A local case with European relevance
Although Amsterdam-Noord provides the immediate setting, the question extends far beyond Amsterdam: how can digitalisation and demand-responsive mobility help public transport serve more people without building separate systems for separate groups?
For EIT Urban Mobility, the case also demonstrates the role an innovation community can play: bringing cities, transport authorities, operators, technology providers and researchers together to test the model, learn from implementation and make successful approaches transferable. The ambition is simple to state but difficult to deliver: make better use of the wheels and seats already available, while making public mobility genuinely accessible to more people.