Day: April 29, 2022

The abrupt changes to our societies and economies introduced by the COVID-19 crisis have clearly had an impact on public transport, its attractiveness and how it is delivered with swift reactions and measures put in place by operators and authorities.

In designing Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and attempting to secure resilient transport systems but also changing urban mobility patterns, public transport should be regarded as a critical challenge and made more attractive. Urban planners need to go beyond “business as usual” to achieve a tangible modal shift towards the most efficient and sustainable modes of transport and concretely tackle global warming.

In response to this, the second Policy Support Group of the CIVITAS ELEVATE Coordination and Support Action, with the involvement of 5 experts from selected organisations (International Association of Public Transport – UITP, European Passengers Federation – EPF, Technical University of Berlin – TUB, City of Gdynia, Gothenburg Transport Operator) the CIVITAS Policy Advisory Committee and the CIVITAS ELEVATE consortium members TRT and Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUAS),  has prepared a draft SUMP Topic Guide that provides guidance on public transport in the mobility planning and implementation process in order to achieve more attractive public transport.

The Topic Guide proposes best practice and key messages for planning for public transport, with the goal of supporting cities in achieving a shift towards more public transport and active modes through better planning.

With the launch of the draft Topic Guide, the public is invited to participate in a consultation process, which will allow stakeholders to contribute to the development of the Guide, as well as ensure that it is relevant to all urban mobility actors.

The draft document is available for download here

Feedback can be sent to Vanessa Holve at holve@trt.it until Friday 13 May 2022 at 17:00.

On 28 April 2022, the European Commission launched several calls for funding & tenders under Horizon Europe cluster 5, which is focused on climate, energy and mobility.

Two calls for funding have been made active under the destination “Safe, Resilient Transport and Smart Mobility services for passengers and goods”. Further information on the scope and expected outcomes of projects can be found below.

• Accelerating the deployment of new and shared mobility services for the next decade
• Urban logistics and planning: anticipating urban freight generation and demand including digitalisation of urban freight

A third call for funding has been launched under the Climate neutral and smart cities mission. The aims of this mission are to involve local authorities, residents, businesses, investors as well as regional and national authorities to deliver 100 climate neutral and smart cities by 2030, and ensure that these cities act as innovation hubs to lead the way for other cities to follow suit by 2050. Further information on the call for funding can be found below:

• Designing inclusive, safe, affordable and sustainable urban mobility

The deadline for submission for the three calls is 6 September 2022 17:00 Brussels time.

Brno is an active supporter of this year’s national ‘Bike to Work‘ competition in May.

The idea of Bike to Work is easy: to get people commuting to and from work by bicycle instead of using their cars. Anyone can take part, as an individual or as a team, competing to cycle as many kilometres as possible.

In line of this year’s competition, the City of Brno has opened its bicycle sharing service for free to support all who want to cycle but do not have an own bike. The free service can be used twice a day for a maximum duration of 30 minutes. Since research results suggest that a typical bike ride within the city takes about 15 minutes, the 30 minute free use time slot is chosen to offer enough time to residents to cycle to their workplace and find a suitable place to park.

Anyone can use the offer by downloading the bicycle sharing app, registering and starting to cycle. If a bicycle is used for more than 30 minutes, charges start with the first minute following the free use time only.

The City of Brno plans to use the information gained by the shared bicycle use to learn more about cyclists’ needs and to improve its cycling infrastructure.