Select your city's population bracket and its geographic setting. Terrain directly affects construction costs — mountains and coastal zones add tunnels, bridges and specialist engineering.
🗺 Geographic setting & terrain
Step 2 — Metropolitan area
EU cities are defined by their functional urban areas, not administrative borders. Add surrounding communes and suburban zones — each increases the metropolitan population and shifts which transit solution makes sense.
City proper
—
—
＋
Suburbs / communes
0
None selected
Functional Urban Area
—
People to serve
Step 3 — Which transit fits your city?
For a functional urban area of —, here is how each transit mode compares. Click any row to jump into the policy simulator for that mode.
Fit score by transit type
How well each mode matches your city's population
Cost vs Daily Capacity
Investment required versus passengers carried daily
Step 4 — Policy Simulator & Network Design
Adjust policy levers, choose EU funding instruments, and design your network — up to 2 simultaneous lines. All figures in Euros (€). The network scheme updates in real time.
💡 Try these policy questions
Policy Levers
All values recalculate instantly · Costs in €
🚇 Metro construction type
⬇️Underground +60% cost · all-weather
⬆️Elevated Standard cost · viaduct
🗺️ Network lines
Number of lines
How many routes in the network
1 line
Build strategy
━━
All lines simultaneously
All open together · higher upfront cost
━→━
Sequential (one at a time)
Each line opens before next starts
🎟️ Fare policy
Ticket price
Cost per single journey
€1.20
Nearly free€5.00
Fare structure
🏛️ Public funding & EU co-financing
Operating subsidy
National/local share of annual running costs
40%
None90%
Capital funding model
★★★
EU Fund
85%
🏗️ Network design
Line length (per line)
km of track per line
18 km
2 km60 km
Stops per line
Number of stations on each line
14
350
Service frequency
Peak hour interval
Every 6 min
2 min30 min
📊 Context assumptions
Population growth
Annual metropolitan growth rate
1.5%/yr
Shrinking5%/yr
Build speed
Faster = more expensive; slower = cheaper
Standard
CautiousAccelerated
📋 What does this mean in plain language?
⏳Run the simulator to see a plain-language summary here.
✅
Project looks viable
Adjust the levers to explore different policy choices.
⚠️
Capacity reached around Year 22. At current growth rates, a second line or expansion will be needed.
Key milestones
2025Approval
—Works start
—Opens
—Break-even
—Full ridership
🇪🇺 EU Co-funding Breakdown
Key figures
🏗️
Total build cost
€4.8B
€220M/km
🇪🇺
EU co-funding
€0
No EU funds
🚶
Daily passengers
—
at maturity
📅
Years to open
—
Opens ~—
💶
Fare income / yr
—
fare box revenue
🔧
Running costs / yr
—
staff, energy, maintenance
⚖️
Break-even
—
from opening day
🎯
Viability score
—
—
Cost per km
—
Cost per rider/yr
—
Subsidy per trip
—
Revenue ratio
—
Benefit-cost ratio
—
Network map & lines
⏱ Sequential build — click a phase to mark it complete:
The coloured area shows how many people will ride daily as the city grows. The dashed line is the maximum the system can carry. If they cross, you'll need to expand. 🖱 Hover for exact numbers.
💰 Money in vs money out (each year)
Green bars = fare revenue collected. Red bars = cost to run the system. When green exceeds red, the system pays for itself. 🖱 Hover for exact values.
📊 Is the total investment worth it?
Tracks whether the project has paid back its costs over time. Crossing zero = break-even point. Going above zero means the investment has been recovered. 🖱 Hover for yearly value.
🏗️ Construction timeline — what happens and when
How long does it take to build?
Each bar is a phase of construction. The wider the bar, the longer that phase takes.
🌍 Community & environmental benefits
🌿
CO₂ saved / year
—
Supports EU Green Deal targets
🚗
Cars off roads
—
Daily car journeys replaced
💼
Jobs created
—
Construction + permanent operations
🏘️
Property uplift
—
Near stations vs comparable areas
⏱️
Time saved / commuter
—
Vs current road travel
💶
Economic benefit / yr
—
Productivity + congestion savings
🏥
Health benefit / yr
—
Reduced air pollution & accidents
♿
Accessible trips / day
—
Mobility-impaired passengers served
🌍
Lifetime CO₂ saving
—
Over 30-year project life
🎚️ What matters most? — policy levers ranked by impact
Which decisions move the needle most?
Each bar shows the range of outcomes if you push that lever from its lowest to highest setting. Wider bar = bigger impact on the project's total value. The coloured dot shows where your current setting sits. 🖱 Hover any bar for a plain-language explanation.
⚠️ Risk analysis — what could go wrong?
Project risk register
Updated automatically as you change policy levers. Each risk shows its likelihood, severity, and what you can do about it.
Save & compare scenarios
💡 How to compare: Adjust levers → name scenario → Save. Repeat for other policy options. A comparison table and charts appear automatically.
Scenarios:
None saved yet.
🔀 Scenario comparison & decision analysis
🌳 Decision tree recommendation — updated each time you save a scenario
The system scores each scenario across 5 criteria, applies a decision tree to identify the most balanced choice, and explains its reasoning in plain language.
Daily passenger forecasts
How ridership grows over 30 years for each scenario
Key financial figures compared
Build cost, annual revenue, running costs and 30-year value
All figures in Euros (€), calibrated to EU construction costs (2024 price levels). EU co-funding rates subject to eligibility criteria and national co-financing requirements. Projections are illustrative — always commission a full feasibility study before any public commitment. Sources: ITDP, World Bank, UITP, EU Cohesion Fund guidelines.