Sustainable Urban Transitions Lab
The Sustainable Urban Transitions (SUT) Lab is a partnership between ETH Zürich, and the Bolt Urban Fund. The SUT Lab was launched in 2025.
The purpose of the SUT Lab is to bring innovative, data-driven research to help city planning teams optimise and accelerate their urban mobility and infrastructure plans.
The vision of the SUT Lab is to bridge science and policy with hands-on recommendations (via reports), using Bolt proprietary data, city data, planning analysis, surveys via the Bolt App, and simulation models and analyses of existing plans, to help advance multimodal transport planning.
In the European Union, the SUT Lab supports cities to address critical urban transport projects linked to their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs). In cities with emerging transport networks, the SUT Lab analyses how to improve accessibility in underserved areas, empowering economic and social inclusion.
The SUT Lab collaborates directly with city planning teams on specific high-priority projects for the purpose of optimizing urban mobility and infrastructure plans, accelerating their shift towards better integrated multimodal mobility systems.
The SUT Lab delivers analytical reports with specific recommendations and planning workshops directly to city teams. The SUT Lab hands-on recommendations aim at supporting cities move from ambitious strategic urban mobility plans to specific evidence-based planning interventions, including where to prioritize improvements, how to maximize outcomes, and test policy effectiveness.
The first SUT Lab pilots were with the cities of Seville (Spain) and Hannover (Germany), with the first Reports released in June 2026. New collaborations have been announced with the city of Lisbon (Portugal) and with Asuncion (Paraguay).
Seville
In 2025, the SUT Lab partnered with the City of Seville to support local and regional SUMP-aligned plans, the PMUS 2030 (City of Seville) and the PITMA 2030 (Region of Andalucía). The SUT Lab worked on specific high-priority studies, using Bolt e-bike data, ride-hailing data, simulation models, and transport planning analysis to study how cycling, shared mobility, and public transport can work better together as part of a multimodal transport system. Seville already has strong strategic mobility plans, but shared-mobility data analysis and simulation models offer more targeted interventions: where to improve cycling infrastructure, where to investigate safety issues, where traffic bottlenecks occur, and how Metro expansion can be better integrated with walking, cycling, and shared mobility. The first 12-month report was released in June 2026, and the project continues with a final report expected in 2027.
Hannover
In 2025, the SUT Lab partnered with the city of Hannover in order to support sustainable urban mobility planning aligned with the VEP 2035+ (Region of Hannover) and the Master Plan Mobility (City of Hannover). The SUT Lab team worked on specific projects for 12 months using Bolt e-scooter GPS data, telemetry data, app surveys, public datasets, and simulation models, to analyse how e-scooters, cycling, and public transport can work better together as part of a multimodal transport system. The final Hannover Report was released in June 2026 and shows how shared-mobility data analysis and simulation models can help turn strategic mobility plans into more targeted interventions: where to improve cycling infrastructure, where e-scooter parking regulation is effective, where to investigate potential safety issues, where e-scooters already support public transport, and where mobility hubs can most improve access to sustainable transport.
Lisbon
In 2026, the SUT Lab launched one more pilot study with the city of Lisbon (Portugal). Lisbon is currently working on a number of integrated street space interventions to improve mobiltiy in the city. Space conversions range from simple adjustments in traffic flow and reallocation of underused public space, to more comprehensive transformations, such as enhancing pedestrian walkability and creating soft mobility corridors. The SUT Lab will collaborate with the city planning team to pilot specific one-way street conversions in order to support evidence-based decision-making. The first pilot area is Rua Almirante Barroso, a dense, mixed-use area where students, residents, and businesses share public space currently dominated by traffic. The SUT Lab team will collect mobility data, conduct user surveys via the Bolt App, and use spatial analysis to evaluate the impacts of one-way street conversions.
Ascuncion
In 2026, the SUT Lab also launched an Impact Study to analyse the city of Asuncion (Paraguay) evolving transport mix and identify ways to increase accessibility to underserved areas. The SUT Lab will is conducting a study to analyse the impact and potential of ride-hailing in the Asuncion Metropolitan Area transport mix. Asuncion has a limited transport system and high dependency on private cars. In recent years, ride-hailing apps were introduced into the transport mix, rapidly expanding transport options and improving accessibility. The SUT Lab will study current transport services and use (mobility patterns), identify areas with low public transport connectivity, and explore how public transport and ride-hailing can best work together to complement each other and increase accessibility.
04.2025-04.2027
The Bolt Urban Fund (BUF) funds the SUT Lab, provides current and historical proprietary Bolt data to support the SUT Lab research, and via the Bolt App supports data collection through user surveys and travel data analysis using post-trip questionnaires.
Deputy head of Inst. Transport Planning and Systems / Deputy head of Network City and Landscape ARCH and BAUG
Verkehrs- und Mobilitätsplanung
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
8093
Zürich
Switzerland
Deputy head of Dep. of Civil, Env. and Geomatic Eng.
Inst. Bau-&Infrastrukturmanagement
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5
8093
Zürich
Switzerland
- external page Bolt’s shared mobility Research Lab: Six-month findings in for Hannover (ZAG Daily)
- 6 Months of the SUT Lab – Understanding Shared Micromobility use and Improving its Integration with the Transport System (NSL Newsletter)
- external page How micromobility is changing European cities (SmartCitiesWorld)
- external page Bolt’s shared mobility Research Lab: Seville’s six-month results (ZAG Daily)
- external page Bolt–ETH Zurich study reveals how micromobility is reshaping European cities (bikebiz.com)
- external page Lisbon to test data-driven mobility interventions (Cities Today)
- external page Lisbon launches live street trials to reshape road space (ZAG Daily)
- external page Sustainable Urban Transitions Lab: One year of shared mobility results from Hannover (ZAG Daily)
