Photo: Ruter As / Redink, Hampus Lundgren
Together with our customers, owners, operators and other partners, Ruter is working to reduce private car ownership and make green forms of mobility the customers' preferred form of travel. We call it Sustainable Mobility.
Ruter’s definition of Sustainable Mobility is to facilitate a good life, social justice, good cities, regional development and enjoying life within the limits of what the Earth can tolerate.
The Municipality of Oslo and the County Municipality of Viken have formulated a joint Ownership Strategy. Along with Ruter’s articles of association, sustainability strategy and objectives for sustainable mobility, these documents form the basis for the sustainability work being done at the company.
The annual supply agreements between the owners and Ruter are based on the company’s management documents, which provide the details of the owners’ expectations for the year to which the agreement applies. The Owners Report and the Annual Report present the results for a larger set of indicators. The results on the most important sustainability indicators are reported monthly to the board and owners.
Ruter’s sustainability strategy was launched in 2018. In 2019, Ruter established a goal management hierarchy that included both Ruter’s sustainability goals and business goals, which were implemented in January 2020. Ruter’s long-term Strategy for Sustainable Mobility was adopted in 2020.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals are about climate and the environment, social conditions and economic development – and form the basis for Ruter’s sustainability strategy.
As a public transport company, Ruter can contribute to sustainable development in several ways:
After an extensive internal process, Ruter defined eight of the UN’s 17 sustainability goals as particularly relevant to the company. These are goals that Ruter can influence, and areas where expectations from the outside world are particularly high.
Goal 17 Partnership for the Goals is essential here, because it is the prerequisite for achieving results. We cooperate with many operators such as the authorities, customers, owners, businesses, operators, special interest organizations and other mobility enterprises.
The work on prioritising the SDGs and developing Ruter’s sustainability strategy consisted of three pathways:
Road traffic is an important source of pollution and noise. Air quality is poor in many places in the Oslo region, and during the winter a large part of the population in Oslo and Akershus is exposed to high concentrations of air pollution. This increases the risk of respiratory infections, lung diseases, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Ruter can help reduce those risks. Firstly, by reducing traffic congestion by providing services that make more people choose public transport, cycling and walking rather than driving their own car. Moreover, Ruter’s Emission-Free 2028 Strategy states that all traffic operated by Ruter will be electrically powered by 2028.
Ruter wishes to contribute to public health by facilitating increased physical activity, by looking at how providing transport services can be seen in the context of cycling and walking. A third important area for Ruter is to contribute to increasingly safe traffic in the metropolitan area.
Ruter has an important task in offering citizens a safe and efficient journey to and from work and school. A good public transport service is crucial for the labour market to function.
Demanding and contributing to decent working conditions and respect for human rights throughout Ruter’s value chain is another important way for Ruter to contribute to this goal.
Strengthening and improving today’s public transport is important, but in order to achieve major improvements we must also work on innovation. This also applies to infrastructure projects and urban development. Digitalisation, technology and innovation can help solve societal challenges related to passenger transport.
Ruter’s services should be for everyone, including travellers with disabilities. We should also offer prices that allow everyone to afford to travel with us.
Traffic congestion is a significant challenge in most large cities. This reduces the quality of life of the inhabitants, puts a strain on the environment and climate, and has major economic consequences.
Better public transport, together with cycling and walking and restrictive measures on cars are the most important measures. Ruter will offer even better mobility solutions in the years to come, with higher frequency and lower emissions. Then it will be easier to use and live throughout the region; there will be more space for people and city life, less noise and better air.
Responsible consumption means consuming less. Responsible production means reduced energy and resource consumption, environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions associated with goods production. The requirements Ruter imposes on the market and its own operations shall contribute to reducing the environmental and climate footprint of passenger transport. Ruter’s most important contribution to this goal is also to offer an alternative to private cars.
Ruter’s most important contribution to climate work is to move travellers from private cars to buses, boats and rail traffic. We also need to cut greenhouse gas emissions at the same time from our own means of transport. Ruter’s Emission-Free 2028 Strategy will realise the goal that all traffic operated by Ruter shall be emission-free by 2028. Ruter will help the entire value chain cut its greenhouse gas emissions, such as reducing emissions from construction work when we develop infrastructure.
Ruter must also adapt to the operation of public transport services that has already occurred and is about to occur.
The Sustainable Development Goals are a collaborative project. Ruter will facilitate good cooperation with owners, authorities, businesses, operators, customers and others in order to succeed with the restructuring of passenger transport in the region. We want to share our experiences so that they benefit others and thus have a greater effect.
As of 2020, Ruter adopted a new goal management hierarchy where the eight prioritised sustainability goals take key positions. The goal management hierarchy is used for monthly reporting to the board and owners.
One clear expectation in the Ownership Strategy – that Ruter’s operations shall be conducted in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals – formed the basis for the work to develop the goal management hierarchy. Goals and key indicators were developed by broad involvement throughout the organization. Key questions were:
The indicators are assessed annually to ensure that the measures implemented contribute best to realising Ruter’s overall goal: to deliver sustainable mobility.
