News

From 31.08 to 02.09.2020 a SUMP Self Assessment Tool Workshop was conducted. This workshop focused on the usage of the SSAT online tool. It was conducted by the external consultant Michał Wolański http://michalwolanski.pl in cooperation with ZTP Kraków (PP Kraków), Municipality of Skawina (PP Skawina) and Kraków Metropolis Association (Low-Carb follower).

The main objective of the training was to familiarise participants with the concept of sustainable mobility planning,  the SSAT tool and lay the foundation for the development of the Kraków FUA’s SUMP. The participants were representatives of the Association member municipalities and the organisation itself. The whole event was carried out as an on-line training. Because of that the total number of participants varied and can be estimated at around 20 unique attendees in total.

SSAT workshop consisted of three parts:

a.  introductory lecture about the sustainable mobility planning
b.  individual workshops with the participating bodies with the SSAT online tool
c.  final conference summarizing the results of the individual workshops and outlining the road to the FUA’s SUMP

Due to the pandemic situation all of those events were carried out as an on-line meetings using google meet, and SSAT web tool. SSAT workshop – the overall satisfaction value was 4.64 out of 5 and that makes 93% participants’ satisfaction rate, gathered from 6 responses.

The main take-away for the participants was undoubtedly the evaluation of their individual sustainable mobility situation carried out with the novel SSAT on-line tool under the experienced external consultants supervision. Connected to this is the knowledge of the tool as well as extended knowledge on the sustainable mobility planning process. On a bigger scale the biggest take-away is a foundation for the creation of the SUMP for Kraków FUA. The participants will also receive a printed copy of the SUMP 2.0 manual translated to Polish.

For more information, click here.

EfficienCE is a cooperation project funded by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme that aims at reducing the carbon footprint in the region. Most Central European cities have extensive public transport systems, which can form the basis of low-carbon mobility services. More than 63% of commuters in the region are using public transport. Measures to increase the energy efficiency and share of renewables in public transport infrastructure can thus have a particularly high impact on reducing CO2.

On 4th of December 2020, 10:00 – 13:00 (CET) there will be a transnational webinar held online. This online workshop will explore the innovations in energy-efficiency and local integration of renewables into public transport grids and depots in different European cities. We will discuss the latest advances for both trolley bus and “conventional” electric systems.

Join and register HERE.

For the preliminary agenda, click HERE.

LOW-CARB is a transnational project in Central Europe increasing the planning capacities of organizations and city governments to transition to low-carbon mobility and transportation. It is tackling burning issues of Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning such as integrating low-carbon mobility measures for users, creating institutional cooperation and fostering joint financing, as well as facilitating Functional Urban Areas with creating action plans that make low-carbon transit and travel a reality. 

On 25th of November, LOW-CARB will present its major outputs and public resources including: tools, lessons learned, and pilot implemented over the past 3 years as an Interreg Central European project.

Registration is now open at: 
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/9172436471433042703

You can download the most recent agenda here.

On 19 June 2019, the European Commission published details as to how it intends to put its Strategic Action Plan on Road Safety into practice. The published ‘Framework’ sets out how the Commission intends to reach the target of a 50% reduction in fatalities and serious injuries by 2030.

Amongst the measures were a list of key safety performance indicators (KPIs), which have been developed in close cooperation with Member States, that will be used to monitor progress towards meeting the target across the EU. It is intended that the list, which includes indicators on vehicle safety, seat belt wearing rate, speed compliance and post-crash care, will be a living document that will be developed further over time. The initial data will be gathered from next year.

The Strategic Action Plan was published, alongside an outline of a road safety policy framework 2021-2030, in May 2018, as part of the Commission’s “third Mobility Package”. The recently published ‘Framework’ joins these elements together, connects them with the relevant KPIs and maps out the way forward. In do so, it also employs the Safe System approach – a comprehensive, system-wide approach to road safety – for the first time systematically at the EU level.

Urgent action on road safety is needed: More than 25,000 people die on European roads every year – a figure that has hardly decreased in recent years. Significant reductions in this figure are needed by 2030 in order to meet the EU’s long-term strategic goal of delivering “Vision Zero”, i.e. no deaths or serious injuries on European roads by 2050.

Source of information – here.

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.

The guidance directs users to existing EC-funded projects, best practice examples and guidelines, from across Europe. In addition, case study examples are provided, to highlight successful examples of cycling measure design and implementation

This guidance brings together the abundance of existing advice across the EU into a single, cohesive resource. This enhances convenience for users, enabling them to find the information they are looking for in a single piece of guidance.

The guidance acknowledges that a one-size-fits-all approach is not applicable in the case of cycling, attempting to address this by providing a wide range of cycling measure examples from a number of case study cities.

Access the guidance by clicking here.

In March 2019, the EASAC published a report ‘Decarbonisation of Transport: options and challenges’, which includes numerous recommendations for policy-makers.

EASAC – the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council – has as its members the national science academies of the EU Member States, Norway and Switzerland to enable them to collaborate in providing independent scientific advice to European policy-makers. The new report focusses mainly on road transport, as it contributes 72% of transport’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU.

EASAC recommends a combination of transitional measures for the next 10-15 years and sustainable measures for the long term, based on a 3-level policy framework:

1. Avoid and contain demand for transport services;
2. Shift passengers and freight to transport modes with lower emissions (trains, buses and ships);
3. Improve performance through vehicle design, more efficient powertrains and replacing fossil fuels with sustainable energy carriers, including low-carbon electricity, hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

For more information, click here.