The European Commission has released guidance for cycling projects across the EU. The guidance aims to help practitioners in city authorities with responsibility for cycling and sustainable transport, as well as providing engaging content for other relevant stakeholders involved in cycling policy and infrastructure development.
As Theresa May signs into law a commitment to bring the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, one city in the UK is on its way to achieving this goal as early as 2028.
Several Romanian cities are currently renovating their public transport fleets, replacing older and dirtier vehicles with brand new eco-friendly ones, generally leaning toward electric-vehicles. These efforts are expected to provide concrete contributions to the improvement of air quality in Romania biggest cities and enhance the quality of life for local residents.
After several years of testing, Vienna will roll-out smart traffic lights from autumn 2019, when the first tranche of crossings will be equipped with a camera and the corresponding software. The new smart traffic lights will gradually replace approximately 200 existing push-button lights in Vienna. Using a small camera, smart traffic lights detect when a pedestrian is approaching and then observes pedestrians’ direction and behaviour to predict whether the person really wants to cross the road or is just walking past the traffic light.
In France, new regulations from September 2019 onwards in France are expected to allow riders as young as 12 to have an increased 25 km/h maximum speed limit. In addition, there will be no mandatory insurance requirement. In Lyon, the shared e-scooter operator Lime has newly introduced a GPS-based speed limiter where, within the city’s pedestrian zone, vehicles are restricted to 8 km/h.
Malta Public Transport has launched a new public transport on-demand service; TD Plus. It allows passengers to book a seat using a mobile app, choosing their own time and location of pick-up and drop-off from selected bus stops.
The new service currently runs as a pilot project and is designed to provide greater flexibility, more comfort and added value for passengers - while saving time.
Bratislava has announced plans to expand the cycling network and develop new pedestrian zones in 2019.
In a bid to promote active transport, the city council has earmarked €1.6 million for the construction, repair and maintenance of the cycle lanes in Bratislava. According to the municipality, creating separate bike lanes is a top priority. One-third of the total budget will fund the creation of new cycle lanes. In total, 29 kilometres of pathways are planned for construction.
There has been a recent surge in the popularity of electric scooters as a form of smart mobility in urban areas. For the first time, the Portuguese venture capital fund “Indico” announced its investment – €3.25 million - in TIER, a German electric scooter sharing company. Indico joins a range of investors including Northzone venture capital, Whitestar, Point Nine, Speedinvest, Kibo Ventures and even 2016 Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg. The company has raised more than €30 million by this stage.
A major challenge in the automotive industry is to produce a single, integrated drivetrain to work on different classes of hybrid and electric cars and thus meet the growing trend for greater sustainability.
The Finnish Government has announced the construction of a 103-kilometre tunnel that will connect Finland to Estonia, which will allow people to travel from Helsinki to Tallinn in only 20 minutes.
Currently, it takes two hours to travel between the two capital cities. At the moment, the journey can only be done via ferries across the Gulf of Finland. On some days, however, the ferries do not operate due to adverse weather conditions. Thanks to the rail connection, travel times will be significantly shorter, and journeys will become more reliable.
Through a newly announced 20-year Master Plan, Singapore hopes that expenditure in public transport can lessen commutes by developing a “45-minute city with 20-minute towns”. This plan is based on the Singapore Land Transport Authority’s (LTA) long-term ideas to develop a comprehensive, well-connected, convenient and fast-paced land transport system that fulfils the requirements and wishes of Singaporeans over the next 20 years and more.
To achieve the aspiration of a “45-minute city with 20-minute towns”, LTA will:
The H2020 financed SUMP project PROSPERITY that supports local and national governments to improve the quality and take-up of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans is in its final months.
On 24 May 2019, the European Commission adopted EU rules on operating drones. Among a list of measures, Member States will be able to establish "no-fly zones" over city centres and other areas, such as airports. The new rules also address registration of operators and identification of drones and are designed to ensure drone traffic across Europe is safe and secure for people on the ground and in the air.
Transport for London (TfL) has ordered the ‘world’s first’ 20 hydrogen double-decker buses to be introduced on three London bus routes in 2020. These vehicles will emit no pollution and are powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and a battery pack.
From the start of June 2019, Slovenia boasts an improved public transport offering. This follows the national government’s decision of April 2019 to introduce a new integrated system of public transport for passengers. This decree introduced significant improvements in terms of ticketing and public transport provision.
Bilbao tops the ranking of the main Spanish cities for its commitment to sustainable mobility thanks to an increase in the cities pedestrian zones, according to a study conducted by Greenpeace.
MobiliseYourCity has organised a cycling trip from Amsterdam to Groningen (The Netherlands), the host city of the 6th European SUMP conference (17-18 June).
From 15-16 June, the 2-day cycling trip will involve 10 hours of cycling across 192km from Amsterdam and Groningen, and is aimed at you, your colleagues and the MobiliseYourCity Secretariat Team (bikes, food and accommodation are not provided).
Why?
The Scottish government is about to introduce an amendment to the Scottish Transport Bill that will give local councils in the country the option of introducing a workplace parking levy. By doing this, it is taking up a pledge of the Scottish Greens and hopes to reduce congestion in Scottish municipalities. The respective amendments to the bill will be introduced before the summer.
