A multimodal future for travel: why accurate comparability is key

The European Commission published a new proposal to make it easier for travellers to find, compare, and book their journeys across transport modes and operators. The Passenger Package proposal aims to improve the availability of rail tickets across service providers by requiring railway operators to make their tickets available to online platforms, and for these platforms to display offers in a neutral and transparent manner.

A key part of our work at Travalyst is supporting the growth of lower-carbon transportation. As such, we endorse the Commission’s objective through the Passenger Package and believe it is a significant step in the right direction. As a result of this proposal, dominant rail incumbents will, for the first time, be required to share data with independent intermediaries on fair terms. This answers a market challenge that competing authorities across Europe have spent years documenting, and should translate into more choice and greater value for travellers.

However, one major challenge remains. To meet the objectives of the Commission to make it easier to compare multimodal travel options, all modes of transport should be compared as fairly and transparently as possible, including accurate display of cost which is a key decision making factor for travellers.

Ensuring accurate comparability must be a priority to enable travellers to assess more sustainable transport options.

Only when similar standards and obligations apply can comparability offered to travellers be accurate. If this is not the case, the unintended consequence would be no or reduced visibility of lower-carbon transport alternatives. Travellers should be able to rely on platforms to provide accurate information on e.g. time, cost, environmental impact, on an equal basis across different modes of transport. Perceived unfair comparisons between air and rail travel will lead to confusion amongst consumers and undermine the credibility of the platform.

How Travalyst makes multimodal travel easier to compare

Scaled through our coalition, the Travel Impact Model (TIM), developed by Google in collaboration with Travalyst, has led to aviation emissions estimates being shown in over 130 billion flight searches globally since its inception. CO2e emissions information is displayed on various platforms, offering consumers a chance to view this data across different flight options, as well as the chance to consider multimodal alternatives.

For rail, in collaboration with our coalition partner SQUAKE, we are working to scale reliable and transparent carbon emissions information by integrating their technological infrastructure into our Data Hub. Through this, we aim to enable better decision-making, actionable emissions reduction, and help the industry to move faster and more confidently toward its climate ambitions.

The Passenger Package presents a unique opportunity to improve transparency and comparability of sustainability information across transport modes. By leveraging the TIM for aviation emissions and the Rail Emissions Model (REM), platforms can provide passengers with consistent, route-specific environmental impact data alongside price and journey information. This enables consumers to make more informed travel choices based on comparable emissions estimates rather than fragmented or non-standardised sustainability claims.

To realise this potential, the Passenger Package should encourage the use of recognised and transparent methodologies that align with emerging EU standards, ensuring that air and rail operators are assessed on a fair and comparable basis while fostering consumer trust in sustainability information displayed at the point of sale.

Next steps

Following the European Commission’s proposal, the Passenger Package will enter the ordinary legislative procedure, where both the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will establish their respective positions through committee scrutiny, stakeholder engagement, and negotiations among Member States. Once each institution has adopted its position, interinstitutional “trilogue” negotiations will begin with the European Commission to reach a compromise text.

The Passenger Package consists of three proposals, with Q&As available here.

• Multimodal booking
• Rail ticketing
• Protection of passengers with single tickets

We’re looking forward to engaging with policy makers, industry stakeholders and other players in the ecosystem in the upcoming legislative process and beyond, to collectively work on promoting multimodal travel.