Dear readers,

The last 6 months were packed with events. Spring and summer 2022 proved to be the ideal time to hold a number of meetings, conferences and other events previously postponed due to COVID-19 measures.

As part of the Danube Cycle Plans project, 2 National Cycling Conferences took place (in Austria and Czechia) as well as several Inspiration Events in Austria, Serbia, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic.

The largest World Cycling Summit Velo-city which took place on June 14-17 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was the main event of the season. During his keynote speech, Robert Thaler, Vice President of THE PEP (Transport Health Environment Pan European Program), recalled the importance of the Pan-European Masterplan for Cycling Promotion, the first ever approved strategic document to promote cycling at European level, and its implementation in the Danube Cycle Plans project.

To support the significance of the document, 25 riders from 5 countries set out on a journey from Vienna to Ljubljana by bike. Along the way, they met with many of mayors, representatives of municipalities, regional and non-governmental organizations, who have confirmed by signatures their commitment to take concrete steps to fulfil this important document. The joint event of the Danube Cycle Plans and SABRINA projects and the coordinators of the European EuroVelo network was successfully concluded on 12 June with a meeting with the hosts of the Velo-city 2022 international conference in Ljubljana.

Details about individual events can be found in this newsletter, which we cordially invite you to read.

We wish you a pleasant reading and peaceful summer, full of well-being and beautiful experiences!

Agnes KURZWEIL and Willy RAIMUND
Environment Agency Austria (Umweltbundesamt GmbH)

WORLD CYCLING SUMMIT VELO-CITY 2022 INCLUDED 6 SESSIONS WITH DCP SPEAKERS

The world's largest cycling conference, this time held in the beautiful city of Ljubljana, has just finished. The event serves as a global platform for knowledge exchange and policy transfer. Cycling the Change as the main theme covers a whole range of topics which the Danube Cycle Plans project deals with. Therefore, it is not surprising that the DCP project partners had six presentations at the conference. 

PAN-EUROPEAN MASTERPLAN FOR CYCLING PROMOTION WAS PRESENTED AT VELO-CITY 2022

"Let’s Bike Europe! Promotion of cycling brings win win win win win as its good for our climate for our health for our economy for our inclusive and liveable cities - cycling is good for all of us! " Said in the keynote speech Mr. Robert Thaler, Vice Chairman of THE PEP (Transport Health Environment Pan European Program) during his keynote speech at the plenary session.

CYCLING TO VELO-CITY 2022 ALONG THE EUROVELO 9 ROUTE 

6 days, 450 kilometres, 25 cyclists from 5 European countries, 1 EuroVelo route. Representatives of two European projects, Danube Cycle Plans and SABRINA, together with the EuroVelo coordinators, symbolically brought the goals of the Vienna Ministerial Declaration and the pan-European Masterplan for Cycling Promotion from Vienna, where it was adopted, to Ljubljana, where the world's largest conference on bicycle transport, Velo-city 2022 took place.

we have celebrated the world bicycle day

World Bicycle Day of the United Nations draws  attention to the benefits of using the bicycle — a simple, affordable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation. 

To recall the importance of coordinating cycling support at European, national and local levels, we have asked a number of questions to personalities representing important European institutions.

A campaign on social media was another example of collaboration between two projects - Danube Cycle Plans and SABRINA.

MUNICIPAL URBAN PLANNERS FROM SERBIA PARTICIPATED IN THE INSPIRATION EVENT

On June 6, 2022, the Danube Competence Center organised the stakeholder inspiration event targeting transport focused urban planners from the municipalities across Serbia. This online panel gathered more than 20 participants from the target audience, and it was organised in cooperation with the National Association of Local Authorities in Serbia.

HUNGARIAN MAYORS FOR BETTER CYCLING CONDITIONS

On May 12, 2022, a pilot stakeholder inspiration event was introduced in Hungary with a goal to raise awareness of cycling among mayors as at local level, their role is crucial in the promotion of cycling.

The event was called “Settlements in two wheels” and was the first conference in Hungary targeting mayors in this topic.

SERBIA HAS ITs FIRST NATIONAL CYCLING STRATEGY

After more than 8 months of work within the National Cycling Working Group (NCWG), the final document of the National Cycling Strategy of the Republic of Serbia was created.

This document should enable a wide range of activities of all organizations and institutions in the direction of creating a favourable climate for the development of cycling in the Republic of Serbia, and its official adoption is expected by the end of the year.

INSPIRATION EVENT IN ROMANIA: OPPORTUNITIES TO INVEST IN BICYCLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Two Romanian organizations, INCDT and Bike in Time organized the Stakeholders Inspiration Event as a workshop with the title: "Danube Cycle Plans project - opportunities to invest in bicycle infrastructure".

Romania is one of the countries with the budget for cycling infrastructure allocated from the National Recovery and Resiliency Plan.

czech national cycling summit: CITYCHANGERS 2030

More than a hundred experts from 6 countries came to the CityChangers 2030 conference, which took place in the Czech city of Jihlava on 17-18 May 2022, to try to find a recipe for dense traffic.

Read more >here<

105 MILLION EURO TO DEVELOP CYCLING IN SLOVAKIA

Slovakia uses many funds, including the Recovery and Resilience Plan, to develop a coherent cycling network in the Danube Region. 

"A new era of cycling has been starting up. We're not going to build cycle routes somewhere in a field, we want the newly built cycle routes to make sense and connect towns and villages and help people to get to work easily, or to school, to a train station. I believe that local governments will be very interested in the grants," said Transport Minister Andrej Doležal.

HUNGARIAN CYCLING AMBASSADORS

A professional cyclist, an actress, a ministry employee or a young family. All these people have one thing in common - they have discovered the beauty of a bicycle and incorporated it into their lives. Here are some stories of the Hungarian Cycling Ambassadors who can inspire others by changing their lifestyle.

CATALOGUE OF CYCLING-FRIENDLY INFRASTRUCTURE STANDARDS FOR THE DANUBE COUNTRIES

One of the key factors in supporting the development of cycling is an appropriate infrastructure. To motivate more people to cycle and those who already cycle to cycle more, there must be a free choice among different ways of transport. And the free choice is available only if different ways of transport have comparable quality.

Therefore, the Catalogue of Cycling-friendly Infrastructure Standards for the Danube Countries has been prepared as an output for T2.2.

The standards include specific infrastructure requirements for the different categories of the national cycle route network.

danube cycle plans at THE AUSTRIAN CYCLING SUMMIT

The 13th Austrian Cycling Summit took place in Vienna on April 3-5, 2022. Over 500 participants from Austria and other countries provided information and exchanged ideas at the expert conference on cycling. Among others, two European projects Danube Cycle Plans and SABRINA were presented at the conference.

ROMANIA HAS THE NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR CYCLE TOURISM

On March 30, 2022, the Romanian Government approved the Government Decision related to the creation, marking and homologation of the cycling tourism routes. It is a big step for the Romanian cycling community, which completes the national legal framework for building a proper national cycling tourism network. 

KLIMAAKTIV MOBIL INSPIRES EUROPE

klimaaktiv mobill is the climate protection initiative of the Austrian Austrian Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology (BMK).

Since its establishment, klimaaktiv mobil has initiated about 21,000 climate-friendly mobility projects. Representatives of the Czech state administration, cities and NGOs visited Austria in order to get a full picture of the unique long-term initiative in terms of the Danube Cycle Plans project.