The Action Plan for integration of low-carbon policies in the mobility planning of Žilina’s functional urban area has been elaborated following a common approach defined at consortium level during the first project phase. The document was developed as case study within SOLEZ project, while recommendations of the European Union ("The Joint Instrument (Manual) for the elaboration of the SOLEZ Action Plans") are processed within the document. The Action Plan represents the short and long term goals of introducing low carbon mobility in line with the SOLEZ project. The Action Plan outlines general recommendations for stakeholders and proposes specific solutions for problems that are related to the region of Zilina. The plan addresses not only quick - short (1-5 years) term measures to reduce the carbon trails of the city of Zilina but also describes solutions which are relevant in long (10 – 20 years) term horizon. This action plan aims at addressing the issue of urban emissions, which comes mainly from the transport. It supports the principle of reducing emissions through low-emission measures, in particular low-emission zones and restricted traffic zones. In addition, it focuses on parking, cycling, pedestrian and electromobility measures. The main processor of the action plan was the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Žilina, cooperating with local “stakeholders”, experts in the field of transport and e-mobility as well as with local authorities.

Expected impact and benefits of the strategy

The SOLEZ Action Plan of Zilina’s functional urban area will contribute to the reduction of congestion and polluting emissions and will improve the capacities of public administrators to implement integrated sustainable mobility strategies in their territories. The steps in the action plan are focused on the development of sustainable urban low carbon mobility. It defines a series of related concrete actions designed to meet the needs of mobility of individuals and businesses in the future. The main principles of design of the city's transport system are based on developments of conditions for sustainable mobility. These measures are time-consuming and cost-intensive and can be divided into 'fast-paced' solutions for short- to medium-term intervals. The action plan supports the principle of reducing emissions through low-emission measures, in particular low-emission zones and restricted traffic zones. Mobility strategies within functional urban areas focus on a long-term vision covering all modes of transport, passenger and freight transport, walking and cycling, parking, etc. In addition, capacity building activities, such as study visits and follow-up training workshops, have been carried on during the Action Plan elaboration process as complementary activities with the aim to increase local administrators and mobility operator’s knowledge on sustainable mobility best practices and inspire replication on their territories.

Lessons learned 

The combination of push and pull measures, innovative information and communication technologies and a focus on building personnel and expertise to implement measures to promote low-carbon mobility has led to the effective implementation and adoption of the proposed intervention. In addition, putting emphasis on communicating with the public, professionals and also exchanging experience and knowledge from the more developed regions of Central and Eastern Europe was very important and beneficial. All of this has led to improved low carbon mobility planning performance and increased partners' knowledge and experience in effective implementation and communication with key partners and stakeholders.

The participatory process adopted for the drafting of the Action Plan, with direct involvement and consultation of key stakeholders and delegates, played an important role in creating consensus and real commitment towards the developed plan. The transnational Study-visits and local peer-to-peer training activities implemented in the same period and addressed mainly to the same subjects, also contributed to the creation of trust and positive relations among the different involved actors. This way, they have been generally collaborative, supportive and really interested in the Action Planning process.

For this activity, transnational cooperation has been important on a twofold level. On the one hand, it provided value added in the development of a common methodology for the elaboration of SOLEZ Action Plans. On the other hand, the possibility to organize transnational study-visits and linked training activities, the opportunity to see how other cities addressed and solved similar problems, and the awareness of being “part of a bigger network” increased the interest and motivation of people involved in the planning process, thus significantly contributed to the success of the activity.

SMART PARKING PILOT ACTION

The design and introduction of a new parking regulation strategy

 Traffic flow detectors have been installed in front of limited traffic zone of Žilina to obtain data about traffic flow and design an accurate parking regulation strategy based on real data coming from smart systems. The long-term monitoring with the smart system allowed Žilina authorities to evaluate the positive/negative contribution to traffic flow at the considered local road network related to the execution of investment plans and developer projects at the given location.

The novel approach relays on the assessment of traffic flow in the pedestrian zone and low traffic zone as a basis for a new parking strategy. For collecting data have been used SW application developed within the project. 

Expected impacts and benefits

 The traffic flow data assessed have been crucial for defining an effective parking scheme for the area that this will lead to a reduction of traffic in the area and contribute to a change of mobility habits, encouraging the shift towards other transport means to reach critical city areas.

The experiences with ICT enhanced services for smart parking tested during the pilot action can help other municipalities from Zilina FUA to follow up installation in the future. 

The ICT smart parking tool developed during the project are described in the following deliverables available in the publication section (hyperlink) :

• D.T2.1.1 – Transnational review and user requirements of smart parking solutions
• D.T2.1.2 – Overall design and Regulation Schemes and related Data Management System
• D.T2.1.3 – Smart Parking tool developed

CITY BUS TRANSPORT ELECTRIFICATION PILOT ACTION 

The pilot activity in Žilina first considered characterisation of existing (conventional/Diesel) city bus transport based on continuous (i.e. one-year, 24 hour/day) GPS/GPRS telemetry tracking of representative bus fleet consisting of 15 buses. The main aim of the pilot activity was to apply the developed software tool to virtually simulate different electric bus fleets over the recorded driving cycles, in order to determine optimal bus fleet and charging infrastructure configurations and analyse cost competitiveness of electrified city bus transport systems. The pilot study has first involved the processing of raw driving cycle data using Data Post-Processing Module (DPPM), in order to extract the set of driving cycles for virtual simulation of the city bus fleet, as well as to provide comprehensive statistical analysis/characterisation of city bus transport behaviours. Next, the virtual simulation study of different types of city bus fleets over the recorded driving cycles has been conducted in E-Bus Simulation Module (EBSM), with the main aim to analyse the extent of fuel/electricity consumption and CO2 emissions reductions when using e-buses. The considered/simulated types of city buses include: conventional (diesel-engine) vehicle (CONV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and fully-electric or battery electric vehicle (BEV). The conventional bus model has been validated with respect to recorded fuel consumption data, and the fuel economy benefits of recently deployed HEV bus has been characterised. Furthermore, the Charging Optimisation Module (COM) along with the expert knowledge has been used to carry out repetitive fleet simulations to determine an optimal configuration of the charging system (i.e. charger locations, types, controls) for PHEV- and BEV-type city bus transport systems. Finally, the bus and charging infrastructure investment cost and energy (fuel and electricity) and other exploitation costs have been calculated in the Techno-Economic Analysis Module (TEAM), in order to calculate the total cost of ownership (TCO), compare its values for different types of buses and charging scenarios, and provide recommendations

Expected impacts and benefits

 The developed tool-supported pilot study on transport electrification has provided wide insights into the city bus transport behaviour and benefits of electrification and recommended suitable bus fleet and charging system configuration. The transport system analysis has pointed out that city buses are resting in the depot during a long period in night and relatively long interval around the noon, and they are dwelling at endstations for a relatively short time and rather rarely due to long routes (approximately every 1:05 h). Having in mind these results and the fact that Žilina does have a trolleybus electric grid in the city centre, the future electric city bus transport should be based on fully electric buses equipped with an on-board charger and pantograph and having a large battery capacity (e.g. 250 kWh). The virtual simulation results have shown that the use of HEV and PHEV city buses results in reduction of fuel consumption of up to 50% and 55%, respectively, when compared to CONV buses, while BEV buses do not consume fuel, at all. The CO2 emissions reduction equals up to 50% for HEV, 54% for PHEV, and 94% for BEV, provided that the electricity is produced from renewable energy sources in the PHEV and BEV cases. The charging system optimisation has shown that the optimal number of charging stations should include depot and at least four city centre stations with frequent and relatively long bus stops. The TCO analysis has pointed out that strictly-economically BEV (and also PHEV) fleet cannot be competitive to CONV fleet in any scenario, while HEV fleet is marginally competitive. The lack of competitiveness of e-buses is explained by low utilisation of city buses (predominantly in the peak morning and afternoon hours).

Lessons learned and added value of transnational cooperation

 The main lessons learned through the pilot action implementation were related to realising that fuel costs are dominant in the case of CONV fleet. Therefore, the more expensive e-buses including the associated charging infrastructure can only be competitive if the buses are solidly exploited (resulting in high savings in energy/fuel costs). In the case of low fleet exploitation considering long resting time of buses at the depot, long routes, short staying of buses at endstations, and available trolleybus electrical network in city centre, one should lean towards the fast charging stations at the depot and city bus stations that are aligned with the electric grid and have a large charging availability. PHEV is not a viable solution for the above described electrified city bus transport system, because it has a relatively small battery capacity while the fast charging availability in the city center stations is relatively low and the routes are relatively long. In the case of BEV fleet, there is generally a necessity for engaging reserve bus(es) to tackle the issue of battery depletion on some of regular BEV buses during peak-load days and irregular duties. This necessity can be minimized by using a reasonably high battery capacity (e.g. 250 kWh in ŽIL case) and off-line or on-line bus service rescheduling for boosting the charging availability.

The city bus transport electrification tool developed during the project are described in the following deliverables available in the publication section:

• D.T2.3.1 - Tool for post-processing and analysis of recorded driving cycles of city bus transport
• D.T2.3.2 - Computer simulation model of conventional and e-bus fleets
• D.T2.3.3 - Optimization tool for e-bus fleet charging management
• D.T2.3.4 - Computer model for techno-economic analysis of city bus electrification cost