ORIGAMI is concerned with improvements in long-distance door-to-door passenger transport chains through improved co-modality and intermodality. The project addresses the potential for greater efficiency and reduced environmental impact of passenger transport by judicious encouragement of integration, cooperation and, where appropriate, competition in the provision of these local connections. Thus the project encompasses physical characteristics of the network, characteristics of the modes, the coordination of operators as well as integration, and the cohesiveness of multi-modal networks.

ORIGAMI will also focus on users of the transport system, their demand for travel, their expectations and their reaction to the transport supply that will be on offer. The profile of users varies across European countries and regions and so will their actual and future travel behaviour. A number of factors, such as demographics and social groups, will influence this behaviour and these factors need to be taken into account when trying to assess the potential effectiveness of any intervention.

The general focus of ORIGAMI is on all those long-distance journeys which might benefit from more effective cooperation and/or interconnection between different modes and services, and on those situations where this is currently hampered by institutional barriers, lack of investment, or failure to innovate and which could benefit from a more enlightened approach. One particular focus of the proposal is the technical solutions to improved co-modality and, in particular, intermodality, and the project will show how good solutions found in one mode can be transferred to other modes.