A study by the University of Southampton, funded by courier firm Citysprint, has found that cargo bikes complete urban delivery jobs up to 50% faster than small vans during peak weekday times.
In addition to this, smartphone data from cyclists delivering meals via courier service, Deliveroo, found that cycling was a faster mode than motorised transport (i.e. cars and motorbikes) when operating in cities. Deliveroo stated that 'in some areas over a given period, the average travel time can be far shorter for cyclists than for scooters'.
In 2013, the European Commission put forward the Urban Mobility Package which supports the mission of enhancing urban mobility while reducing congestion, accidents and pollution. To achieve these goals, proposals for relevant action at local, Member State and EU level were outlined.
The Mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea, has announced a project which plans to severely restrict access to central Bucharest for polluting cars. The project plans to introduce a tax on cars registered outside of Bucharest and Ilfov county when entering the capital.
The Maltese Government has put forward a law which aims to regulate the use of electric scooters.
The number of electric scooters on Maltese roads has been steadily increasing in recent months, however, their use was not specifically covered by any specific regulation. The proposal comes after a surge of reports of accidents linked with e-scooters resulted in calls for tighter regulations.
CIVITAS PORTIS is getting ready to share the results and knowledge gained throughout the project. The project delivered innovation briefs to inspire other cities and ports.
Electric mobility is clearly on the rise. In the second week of September, 2019, vehicle manufacturers presented their latest electric vehicle models at the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA). Prices for the vehicles start below €30,000. However, new affordable vehicles are only one side of the coin. The other side is ensuring a complete and interoperable network of recharging infrastructure.
The German city of Hamburg is launching a platform for the comprehensive digital documentation, analysis and planning of new mobility services in urban areas.
The platform, which is being developed and operated in cooperation with the Hamburg-based Wunder Mobility, will help the city understand how to best use new mobility services such as e-scooters, shared taxis and rental bicycles.
Traffic congestion and air pollution are two of the most critical urban mobility issues that modern cities must tackle. The Finnish town of Kerava has been trialling a new e-car sharing experiment - which demonstrated some positive secondary outcomes as residents become more open to community-led activities as a result.
A new Cycling Infrastructure Database, which is the 'world's largest', has been made available by Transport for London (TfL) with the aim of making cycling in the city more straightforward and to better enable individuals to find information that fits their needs.
In order to develop the database, all streets across every London borough were surveyed by TfL. The 240,000 pieces of cycling infrastructure on which data were collated includes:
Strasbourg is promoting the implementation of company travel plans as part of the policies defined in its Urban Mobility Plan. There is a free, online initiative for employers within the Strasbourg Eurometropolis which has been designed specifically to help them implement their mobility plans. The online platform, known as Optimix launched in 2015 and has since been implemented by over 40 companies.
A Spanish supermarket chain, Alcampo, has teamed up with a local startup company, Revoolt, to offer its customers a low emission home delivery service in the northern Spanish city of Logroño.
Could a fleet of autonomous boats bridge the waterway between Marineterrein Amsterdam and the Amsterdam City Center? Researchers at MIT, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), have developed the concept of roundAround, the world’s first ‘bridge’ made of autonomous boats, or “Roboats”. It could offer a dynamic infrastructure solution to connect the two areas, seamlessly transporting hundreds of people per hour across the water.
Elected politicians from member cities of the CIVITAS Forum Network are invited to apply to join the CIVITAS Political Advisory Committee (PAC). Five spaces are available for new members to join this small group of leading and highly motivated politicians whose cities are leading the way in advancing sustainable mobility in Europe.
In order to address the increasing threat from climate change, the Dutch government has presented its Climate Agreement, which includes cycling as an integral element.
Temperatures in the Netherlands reached record highs this June (40.7°C – two degrees higher than the past record from 1944). Climate scientists are in agreement that such weather extremes will increase as a result of climate change and will be more severe than previously.
Forward-looking, integrated mobility planning is a key tool to address urban challenges and ensure a more sustainable urban future in a strategic and meaningful way. On 20 June 2019, the city of Zhytomyr in the Ukraine adopted their Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) to become the first Ukrainian city with an officially approved Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP).
The Zhytomyr SUMP defines six priorities for mobility development within the city:
The European Commission will finance the municipality of Lisbon, providing €4.5 million for the development of a digital data sharing system that will make it possible for the information left by users to be converted into concrete measures to improve the network and the transport system. It is anticipated that the project will mobilise various players in the local innovation ecosystem through the creation of an Alliance of Innovators, to allow the sharing of public and private data, with a view to creating solutions for mobility that meet the needs of those who live, work and visit Lisbon.
The Transport and Research and Innovation Monitoring and Information System (TRIMIS) have published their latest status report on Transport Research and Innovation in the EU.
Take a look at the latest video case study of the Civitas Park4SUMP project highlighting the efforts of Krakow to turn its transport system from a car-oriented one towards sustainable urban mobility!
