FIMUS – Promoting sustainable urban mobility in the Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, mobility challenges have significant consequences for people’s daily lives, the economy, and the environment. Urban congestion is estimated to cost the country nearly USD 300 million per year, while people in Santo Domingo spend an average of one hour and fifteen minutes travelling each day. Road safety is another major challenge, and transport is one of the country’s main sources of greenhouse gas emissions.

In Greater Santo Domingo, private vehicles account for 42% of daily journeys, compared with 36% for public transport, 21% for walking, and less than 1% for cycling. Despite investments in the metro, cable car, and new public transport projects, mobility services remain divided among several institutions, public and private operators, and informal transport providers. Integrating networks, coordinating stakeholders, and developing sustainable alternatives to private vehicles therefore remain key priorities.

Established in 2017 under Law 63-17, INTRANT, a public institution attached to the Ministry of the Presidency, is responsible for coordinating, planning and regulating this rapidly changing sector. It notably led the preparation of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Greater Santo Domingo. The FIMUS project supports INTRANT in building its capacities and implementing its missions. 

The expansion of public transport in Greater Santo Domingo involves numerous stakeholders and systems, whose effective coordination is essential to facilitate journeys and make the network more attractive to users. To enable INTRANT to fully perform its coordinating role among the stakeholders concerned, the FIMUS project facilitates the consultations required to define an integrated fare policy and a common payment system. It also enhances the network’s legibility through the development of a map that brings together the different modes of public transport.

This integration also requires stronger links between existing services and informal transport, which continues to play an important role in daily travel. The project therefore supports the institution in modernising bus corredores (dedicated bus lanes) and regulating motoconchos, (motorcycle taxis). Drawing on existing studies and dialogue with operators, it helps define appropriate financial, contractual, and regulatory frameworks. The aim is to foster their gradual integration into a more coherent, accessible, and better-coordinated transport system.

Together with its partner CODATU, Expertise France supports discussions on network integration, public transport governance, intermodality and evolving operating models. Exchanges of experience with other mobility-organising authorities will subsequently help inform the technical and institutional decisions being made in the Dominican Republic.

At the local level, the management of parking, roads, and public spaces plays a decisive role in supporting walking, cycling, and public transport.

Although municipalities are responsible for urban mobility, they often lack the resources, tools and technical expertise needed to fully exercise these responsibilities. The technical assistance provided under the project aims to strengthen INTRANT’s capacity to address these needs. In particular, it supports the development of a public parking-management policy designed to improve the use of road space and provide municipalities with a framework, tools and management arrangements suited to their local circumstances.

The project also build on tactical urbanism initiatives already implemented in the Dominican Republic drawing lessons from supporting the implementation of pilot operations. These interventions will test practical improvements that promote intermodality, walking, and cycling. By making use of existing guides on cycling infrastructure and street design, the project helps equip INTRANT with methods and tools that enable it to better support municipalities in designing and implementing public spaces promoting safer, inclusive and sustainable mobility.

This work will also benefit from CODATU’s expertise network integration, public transport governance, intermodality, and the evolution of operating models. Knowledge exchanges with other mobility authorities will help inform the technical and institutional choices being pursued in the Dominican Republic.

Beyond its support for sector-specific policies, this assistance also seek to strengthen INTRANT’s technical and institutional capacities, particularly by strengthening its urban mobility monitoring and supporting the evolution of its internal organization, the implementation of its strategic plan as well as the development of implementing texts for Law 63-17.

In partnership with CODATU, the initiative also draws on the experience of other mobility-organising authorities to support the development of INTRANT’s expertise. Training sessions, workshops, peer-to-peer exchanges, and study visits will complement the technical assistance to promote the uptake of tools and best practices by INTRANT’s teams.

Finally, the project contributes to strengthening the production, sharing, and enhancement of knowledge on urban mobility. To this end, its support the development  of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Observatory and the consolidation of the use of available data, in order to inform public decision-making. This work will notably inform the update of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Greater Santo Domingo.

The project FIMUS is the institutional strengthening component of the “Sustainable Urban Mobility for the Dominican Republic” programme (PMUS-RD), financed by the European Union through the Latin America and Caribbean Investment Facility (LACIF) and led by the French Development Agency. It is implemented by Expertise France and CODATU as main partner.

The project is also forms part of a Team Europe approach and seeks complementarity with the activities of other European partners working in the sector, including GIZ, as well as those implemented by FIIAPP under the EUROCLIMA programme. This coordination aims to build on existing studies, tools, and partnerships and to better align the various forms of support with the priorities of Dominican stakeholders.

This articulation between technical expertise, institutional dialogue and coordination of European partners makes it possible to strengthen the coherence and impact of interventions in the urban mobility sector. 

By combining investments, technical assistance and capacity building, the PMUS-RD program contributes to the emergence of more integrated public policies and the implementation of sustainable mobility solutions adapted to the needs of the Dominican territory.