Szeged won the CIVITAS Legacy Award in 2018
City
Szeged
Region
Central Europe
Audience
Medium-sized City
Topic
Mobility management
Aspect
Step 11: Monitor, adapt and communicate
Activity description
The 2018 CIVITAS Legacy Award has provided Szeged with international recognition for its strategic approach to sustainable urban mobility planning. The city was praised for the political commitment, the participatory approach that was adopted for its Mobility Plan and the innovative actions defined in the plan. Szeged’s Mobility Plan provides a strategic planning framework, which supports the development of a coherent set of measures aligned with the overall objectives for mobility and urban development. New and innovative measures for Szeged have been introduced. For example, free wi-fi and contactless payments have been introduced onboard all mass transit vehicles, making Szeged the first city in Hungary to offer these services. In addition, a new fare strategy has been developed for public transport that provides new types of travel cards and promotional fares for access to all modes of public transport on a single ticket during special events. While these measures were only introduced in 2018 and their long-term impact remains uncertain for now, the immediate impact has been positive – passenger numbers rose in the first 9 months of 2018.
Lessons learned
Despite large investments in public transport and cycling infrastructure over the past decade, private car use has been growing in Szeged. However, it is important to acknowledge that without these investments car use would have been much higher. The modal split in the town is healthy and while car use has increased it is still below the average in Hungary.