SUSTANCE is co-financed by the Interreg Central Europe Programme.  It aims at solving the lack of efficient and sustainable public transport solutions in peripheral and cross-border areas of Central Europe which have been registering for the last decade a relevant increase of mobility, especially at cross-border level.

The Central European Initiative  - Executive Secretariat, in its capacity as Lead Partner, is responsible for project coordination and management. It ensures the sustainability and transferability of the project achievements. The CEI will also contribute to the accessibility assessment of peripheral and cross-border areas and develop a roadmap on IT-SI-HR cross-border rail connectivity.

SUSTANCE activities will focus on cooperation between CE countries, regions and sector stakeholders, in order to ensure that the CE passenger transport and mobility system benefits from the advantages of new technological and innovative approaches and from the setting up of new cooperation schemes deriving from the transnational partnership. The project approach will be based on an innovative methodology with Public Transport accessibility in rural, peripheral, and cross-border areas. these will be assessed to identify existing gaps and to pose the ground for supporting the setting up of new innovative services.

Through an innovative bottom-up approach - involving the assessment and peer review methodology and the implementation of pilot activities leading to tangible joint solutions - SUSTANCE will deploy customised intervention roadmaps in cooperation with key stakeholders of the project area. To ensure the promotion of sustainability over time, SUSTANCE will set up a long-term strategy for better governance of public transport in Central Europe and a transnational cooperation network.