The strategic planning framework is designed for peripheral and rural regions with mountainous geography, where dispersed settlements and seasonal tourism create complex mobility needs. In the pilot area of East Tyrol where it was co-designed and tested, it addresses mobility along the main valley corridors, in peripheral settlements, and in side valleys that are not adequately served by conventional bus or rail lines. Its application covers both daily mobility and seasonal tourism demand. Beyond East Tyrol, the model provides transferable insights for other alpine regions and rural areas in Europe facing similar demographic and geographic challenges.

Main Features of the solution component are:

• Backbone represented by classic public transport (bus and rail services in valley/rural corridors with hub in main centres).
• Complementary DRTs for peripheral and underserved areas, integrated into the PTA’s/PTO’s ecosystem regarding booking and reservation, ticketing and informational matters.
• Stakeholder involvement through living labs including municipalities, operators, companies and the tourism sector to align transport with synergies of the most important user groups.
• Governance model centred on Public Transport Authority, supported by municipalities and regional actors, with operators delivering services.
• Mobility coordinator role as a bridging function to ensure communication, innovation, and continuous feedback loops.
• Participatory planning methods (living labs, bilateral discussions, GIS analyses) to build evidence-based, locally accepted solutions.
  Innovative Elements of the proposed strategic approach consist in:
• Integration of DRT and classic PT; positioning on-demand services not as competitors but as complements to fixed routes, ensuring system-wide efficiency.
• Mobility coordinator as a new governance actor; a dedicated role ensuring that mobility, often a secondary concern for stakeholders, becomes a continuous priority.
• Combination of participatory and technical planning tools: Using living labs for stakeholder engagement, bilateral discussions for local specificity, and GIS mapping for objective analysis.
• Scalability and transferability: Solutions are embedded in the PTA ecosystem, enabling replication in other rural and alpine regions.
• Exploring integration of business shuttles as small-scale, local and voluntary services to expand service coverage and efficiency.