Getting more people to opt for active mobility can mean confronting fears, whether it’s the perceived danger of cycling or more basic uncertainty about knowing how to get from A to B by bike or on foot. 

Scotland-based startup MARKED is tackling these challenges head-on. Its innovative walking and cycling navigation system is designed to empower residents with the knowledge and confidence to embrace sustainable mobility habits.  

Deployed recently in an EIT Urban Mobility-supported pilot project in Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, MARKED’s holistic solution combines both digital navigation and physical wayfinding to overcome barriers to behavioural change. 

“Vila Nova de Gaia has many trips made by car, whether as a passenger or as a driver, and we want to reverse this trend,” stressed Paula Ramos, Senior Civil Engineer with Gaiurb, the municipality’s urbanism and housing company. 

MARKED’s system optimises cities’ cycling infrastructure by highlighting protected bike lanes and quiet streets, while also improving efficiency by reducing conflicts between transportation modes. It communicates a clear vision of the city’s cycle network and makes route information more accessible – making active mobility safer, more appealing and more accessible. 

“With this project, we intend to increase the functionalities of our mobility platform to provide more information to citizens about alternatives like walking and cycling,” Ramos explained. 

Simplifying active mobility 

Home to more than 300,000 people, Vila Nova de Gaia is committed to cutting carbon dioxide emissions and hitting its decarbonisation targets. To do so, the city needed concrete ways to encourage residents to shift away from car travel.  

The challenge couldn’t be clearer: only 10% of residents in the city commute by bike or on foot, versus 70% who opt for car journeys. Across the United Kingdom, where MARKED is based, the startup cities troubling figures: 66% of adults feel it is too dangerous to cycle on roads, and 90% of women fear urban cycling. 

Despite these real concerns, MARKED Co-founder Garance Locatelli believes walking and cycling remains “a silver bullet” for cities. “It helps with mental and physical health, it helps with the economy, it helps with the environment. Only one person switching from a car to a bike once a day reduces their transport emissions by 67%,” Locatelli explains. 

To enable that modal shift, MARKED argues that people need to see that safe routes exist, and the experience of using them must be as simple and seamless as possible. 

The pilot project in Portugal aimed to do just that. MARKED gathered community insights and missing data, defined core networks, created a subway-style map of walking and cycling routes, introducing over 110 kilometres of new active travel routes connecting key educational, shopping and transport hubs across the city. 

Enriching partnerships for sustainable mobility networks 

“The impact of working with EIT Urban Mobility has been huge for us as an early-stage startup,” MARKED’s other Co-founder Mark Smith underscored.  

“The project has enabled us to not only secure funding but also to work directly with a city, understand its challenges in-depth, and benefit from excellent project support from EIT Urban Mobility,” Locatelli added. 

The successful city-startup partnership came about through the 2024 edition of EIT Urban Mobility’s RAPTOR Programme, which connects innovative startups with cities’ urban mobility challenges. RAPTOR accelerates the sustainable urban mobility transition by leveraging the unique strengths of both cities and startups alike.  

“Working with MARKED gave us the opportunity to innovate and consider new perspectives on mobility in our municipality. We were able to showcase our best walking routes and the community also got involved in these efforts,” Ramos highlighted. “EIT Urban Mobility’s RAPTOR programme also allowed us to exchange experiences with other cities and learn about the reality of other countries, which enriched our project.”  

Looking ahead, MARKED is determined to continue breaking down barriers to cycling, and challenge the dominance of cars in our cities. “It is not just an environmental issue,” Smit explained, “It’s about the economic sustainability of our cities, and how liveable they are.”