More puzzle pieces find their place on Danube region’s sustainable mobility board
One of the biggest environmental and societal challenges of today is managing the mobility of people and goods in a sustainable way. Five DTP projects - CHESTNUT, CityWalk, eGUTS, LinkingDanube and Transdanube.Pearls - have taken on the challenge, like others before them, of improving mobility in the Danube region by committing to seek and implement sustainable solutions for the benefit of all inhabitants in the Danube river basin.
Besides being linked together by the determination of shifting daily or occasional transport to more sustainable modes, the projects explore solutions that take into consideration different aspects such as promotion of e-mobility (eGUTS) and walking (CityWalk), creating a network of touristic “pearls” connected by sustainable transport options (Transdanube.Pearls), development of urban mobility plans and better integration of public transport (CHESTNUT), design of traveller information services (LinkingDanube).
At the end of the first year of project implementation, important steps have been made towards an improved mobility in the Danube region.
Thus, CHESTNUT, based on the collected data from 12 different regions, prepared mobility scenarios and defined overarching goals meant to enable policy makers and stakeholders to better understand the effects of their decisions. Further on, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans for targeted Functional Urban Areas will be developed and handed over to the responsible bodies for future implementation.
In its turn, CityWalk elaborated a Guidebook for the development of walkability plans which not only provides a description of the planning process with numerous useful hints and tips but also contains a number of ready-to-use methodological tools. A detailed script for a 2-day interactive training course on walkability planning and related training materials are also now available.
At the same time, eGUTS finalised not less than five feasibility studies for electric charging stations, pedelecs vs. e-cars, local and regional e-mobility policy support, use of electric buses in public transport fleet and DIY conversions.
LinkingDanube developed an overall concept for transnational/ cross-border journey planning and identified a solution that allows the linking and upgrading of existing systems. Focus is also put on the integration of rural areas via demand responsive transport services connecting peripheral areas to hubs.
Last but not least, Transdanube.Pearls elaborated Guidelines for different kinds of mobility and information services to support the implementation of bike rental and/or carriage services, flexible transport systems such as on-demand transport and integration of cycling in the conventional public transport system. Besides dealing with pure mobility issues, the project also proposes Guidelines for the establishment of mobility information centres and development of sustainable mobility tourism products as essential additions to a flourishing touristic Danube region.
In order to enable a finely-tuned integration of projects’ results in real life, the projects are offered the DTP capitalisation platform (see Thematic Pole 6 – Sustainable Transport Solutions and Mobility) which is meant to facilitate interaction among the projects and provide a framework for discussions and further joint and coordinated actions.
More information about the projects is to be found here:
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/chestnut
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/citywalk
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/eguts
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/linking-danube
http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/transdanube-pearls
