What is the Matchmaking Forum?
The platform allows electric public transport operators, authorities, municipalities, and suppliers to either offer used assets for sale or donation, or to search for such items. Previously, this type of exchange relied on informal and coincidental contacts between operators, which significantly limited reuse opportunities. The Matchmaking Forum provides a structured, transparent, and accessible solution to overcome this gap.
How it works
The Forum is open to the public for viewing, with a search engine and filters (e.g. by country, offer/request type, or product category). However, only verified and authorized entities can publish advertisements or contact listing owners. The verification and access-granting process is coordinated by trolley:motion, one of CE4CE partners and Matchmaking Forum developer, ensuring data security and trust among participants. Publicly visible listings show only the content and country of origin, while contact details remain hidden for security reasons.
Registered users can manage their advertisements through a personal dashboard, where listings can be created, edited, or removed. To keep content up to date, advertisements are automatically archived after nine months, though they can be retrieved by their owners if they are still valid. The Forum does not handle any payments or transactions; all exchanges are followed up bilaterally outside the platform, and CE4CE and trolley:motion assume no financial or legal liability for the transaction process itself.
Who can participate
Currently, a fully developed and functional Matchmaking Forum is now available on the Circular Economy for Public Transport Knowledge Platform. It currently contains sample listings and is awaiting real submissions from verified entities. Initial interest has already been expressed by public transport operators from Vilnius and Lviv.
Current status & future outlook
The platform is being promoted as a practical tool to foster reuse, resource efficiency, and circularity in public transport across Europe and beyond. Explore the Matchmaking Forum here: https://circularity4publictransport.eu/matchmaking-forum/