Section 5: Examples of good practices
...previos section 4: MEASURES...
In this section, we would like to share with you useful tips on how you can approach mobility planning and what can be learned from already existing projects. We hope you will find your inspiration!
*** Absenteeism of the employees due to health issues ***
Bike to work campaign - Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
Popular campaign for commuting by bike in Slovakia rose from 1 town to 74 in just 6 years from 2012 to 2017. It is very efficient tool of building of public awareness about cycling and non-motorized transportation which hits all – from ordinary people to the president, from employees to small companies to the largest corporations and public institutions.
The share of cycling on overall transportation in Slovakia is close to zero. The Citizens’ Cycling Initiative launched the Bike to Work (BTW) campaign in Banská Bystrica in 2012 to increase a cycling share in Banská Bystrica, a town it was located in. First two years of the campaign, which in fact is a competition, was organized on the local level in Banská Bystrica town only. However, thanks to very good media coverage and promotion by word of mouth it became a national wide competition in 2014, even under auspices of the national cycling coordinator. From that year the competition campaign raises in amount of towns and amount of participants.
The competition rules generally reflects ones used in other countries. Teams of co-workers commute all May by bike and team who makes the most kilometres wins. The distance criterion is used on local level, while on the national level the number of participants in individual towns is the criterion. Though the competition runs in May, the campaign begins in March. Media coverage is pretty high, social media help a lot too.
A popularity of the BTW competition campaign rises year by year, from 102 participants in 1 town in 2012 to 5635 in 60 towns in 2016. Number of participants is increasing as well as number of well-known persons, politicians, sportsmen etc. who support and participate. Even the president of Slovakia Mr. Kiska joined the campaign in 2016 coming to work by bike in front of numerous journalists. Phenomenal cycling pro-racer Peter Sagan is supporting the campaign in 2017.
However, the most important result of campaign doesn’t consist in number of participants and VIP persons involved but in increase of commuting by bike in general. Many participants keep cycling commuting whole cycling season, many employers create better conditions for commuting by bike (showers, locker-room, bike storage, etc.) and increase of positive political decisions in favour of cycling transportation is rent too (though still not enough).
Metrominuto: You can walk! - Modena, Italy
"Metrominuto Modena" is a sustainable mobility project that aims to promote walking for short-distance urban trips, by the use of a "transit-like" map indicating the walking distance between the most important nodes of the city center and its surroundings.
The intent of the map is to show that, with just a few minutes walking, you can reach many interesting location, while many people often think of car as the first and only travel option. The points indicated in the map are various, from some touristic landmarks to the main services (station, hospital, University, sport centers, parks, parking). This map is not made specifically for commuters but many of the points in the map could be the destination of business trips or be a good reference for people living near workplace.
The itineraries are differentiated by colours, for each link the length in meters is indicated, as well as the walking time of each link.
More info find here.
*** Environmental issues ***
Car fleet reorganization - Leipzig, Germany
The City of Leipzig is engaged in climate protection and energy efficiency. They have successfully received the European energy Award in 2011 which was successfully audited in 2014. Two aspect of the eea concept for Leipzig are the support of conscious mobility in the city administration and environmental-friendly city owned car fleet. Beside other aspects to use environmental friendly transport the aim is here to reorganize the city owned car fleet to get more environmental friendly. This includes fostering E-Mobility, replace non-environmental friendly cars and realization of car-sharing.
In a first step the city council decided in 2007 to replace old company cars through more environmental friendly cars. Additional all cars older than 10 years and drive less than 5.000 km in year 2006 and 2007 have to be removed. In the further progress the general decision was made that for new passenger cars just e-cars and hybrid will be procured.
According to the council decision in 2011 to minimize motorized induced emissions the following aims have been formulated. In a short time perspective CO2-emission should be reduced to 130 g/km, in a middle time perspective to 120 g/km and in long-term to reduce to 90 g/km depending on car class (passenger car, transporter). In the year 2016 about 141 Passenger cars are owned by the city including 21 e-cars, which is planned to further extend. Another approach is to reach this aim, is to foster and motivate the use of car-sharing. Around 475 employees of the city are registered at the car-sharing company ‘teilAuto’ to use the cars for business trips. In the year 2015 a distance of 66.645 km are used by car-sharing vehicles. It is envisaged to further subsidy owned car fleet through car sharing offers. At the moment the average CO2 emission of the car fleet is at 120 g/km. So the middle term aim could be successfully reached.
More info find here on link 1 and link 2.
The COyou2 programme of the Swiss Re company - Bratislava, Slovakia
The COyou2 is a global subsidy program of the company focused on reducing carbon footprint. Its principle consists of co-financing of employee’s purchase of environmentally friendly devices - home appliances, home infrastructure and means of mobility.
Employees are eligible to apply for 50% co-financing in total value of 3800 € in 7 years. In area of sustainable mobility following items are eligible: plug-in hybrid or electric car, home car charger, electric motorcycle/scooter, e-bicycle and bicycle (including helmet and child seat), trailer for bicycle and public transport annual ticket (50% of price). An employee is entitled to submit more requests in given 7-years period, however the minimal requested amount always must be 380 € (except annual public transport ticket which may be lower).
Though the most popular is co-financing of home appliances, mobility means are purchased too – mostly bicycles and annual public transportation tickets. In addition, the Bratislava branch office supports bike commuting by providing showers and safe bike parking - a cage in the parking garage with surveillance camera. The carpool tool is also launched on intranet, though not used a lot up to now.
In general, this approach is very uncommon in Slovakia. Though a number of companies which motivate employees to sustainable commuting increases (probably the most common instrument is providing showers and safe bicycle parking), the Swiss Re company is probably first who subsidizes purchase of low carbon footprint transportation means. In addition, it brings modern corporate responsibility approach to Slovakia thus it is good example for other Slovak companies.
*** Excessive dependence on individual car traffic ***
Graz (Austria): Graz Cityradeln - Styria, Austria
The roads include the cyclist and skaters on a route 24 km long on 22 September. On the European-wide car-free day, the convoy runs across Graz and even on the motorway. It is healthy, environmentally and climate friendly, efficient, fast - and most important, it is fun.
The CityRadeln in Graz starts in the eighth season. A total of 8930 participants were present their wheels at the CityRadeln's five seasons. From April to August, the City of Graz / Department of Transport Planning offers tours for Graz cyclists on motorways that drive in the direction of travel. It is a perfect way to explore Graz on the bike during your spare time while doing something for the fitness. 28 tours were carried out by 2015, the participants dropping 563 kilometres - a total of more than 6.4 million kilometres - and the bar for the best performances is high. Participants of Graz CityRadeln can win great prizes. The cyclists were accompanied by the police, tour guides, security service rescue, ARBÖ repair car, and the regional radio station as well as by top athletes.
Bicius: Travelling intermodally - Modena, Italy
Since September 2016 it will be possible to bring the bike for free into all public urban buses of the city of Modena, thanks to an initiative of the TPL (public transportation) local company, Seta Spa. Furthermore, a partnership was signed between Seta Spa and WeCity Spa, the company that designed the mobile application for recording sustainable trips and gain prizes based on the amount of CO2 saved. According to this partnership, the TPL company will provide 50% discount on the price of monthly pass for WeCity app users. Finally, for 60 of those who buy the annual TPL pass, Seta Spa will provide incentives for the purchase of a folding bike (up to 250€ per bike).
This set of initiative started by the local TPL company aim to the integration of bike and bus, a not-so-popular intermodal option that could become interesting for those commuters whose workplace is farther then 1-2 km from the home location, or those who find it hard to cycle for longer distances. Further, many commuters regularly use TPL but find that the arrival stop is too far from the workplace, or would need a bike for the following chain of trips during the day. The bike + bus solution could help giving TPL the flexibility end capillarity it misses.
More info find here.
*** Poor accessibility of the worksite ***
Mayor's Office of Budapest City Council Transportation Department - Budapest, Hungary
The first Hungarian workplace mobility plan was created by the Transportation Department of the Municipality of Budapest in 2008. The initial status of the Municipality was an administrative management structure with approximately 60 employees. The Municipality is situated in the downtown of Budapest (district 5) that provides a good accessibility of public transportation and short walking distances. The employees could use public transport free of charge, and the municipality had a courtyard with free parking places available for the employees, but only a small number of bicycle storage places. The main implemented measures before the workplace mobility plan were the free public transportation pass and a few available company bikes. Although the municipality had bikes, without proper advertisement it had a low rate of usage.
As a results of the workplace mobility plan the municipality has established more ergonomic bike storages, a locker room and a shower for cyclists was provided. The number of the company bikes was increased and a practical training of cycling was leaded among the employees. Unfortunately after a while some non-recommended measures were also implemented, like changes in parking rights and termination of free public transportation pass.
More info find here.
Mobility Stations: support of intermodal transport connections - Leipzig, Germany
One aim of the City of Leipzig is to increase modal share for environmental friendly modes of transport. One instrument is Mobility Stations to support the changing between modes of transport within one trip (intermodal) or for specific trip (multi modal).
The basic idea is that all modes of transport can be reached at one location. The Mobility Stations include elements for car sharing, bike sharing, car recharging, public transportation stops, Taxi and bike parking. This is visualized through panels give you information including a map of locations, available vehicles and public transport connections. It also includes booking system via display and card for all modes of transport as well as option for charging e-cars.
The basic idea was introduced by the City of Bremen through knowledge exchange in a project. In 2012 the Office for Traffic Planning and Road Construction develop a first model, includes first potential locations. The planning, coordination and realization was adopted by public transportation company from 2013 until 2016, with involvement of car sharing, bike sharing company and provider for e-car recharging.
Total costs of 750.000 € were partly financed with European fundings (ERDF). 25 stations were realized by public transport company. A 26th mobility station was initiated and financed by local newspaper company (Leipziger Volkszeitung). Further stations are planned and also Mobility Stations ‘light’ without display but with complete service coverage via app based booking are planned.
More info find here.
Workplace mobility plan works (Czech Technology park) - Brno, Czech Republic
First there was a need for more parking spaces. But Czech Technology Park in Brno with more than 4000 employees chose different approach than building new spaces. The answer to the problem was mobility plan introduced in 2013 with several measures such as company carpooling system, priority parking spaces for carpoolers, support of biking and PT or big awareness campaign.
Now in 2016 the number of cyclist has risen from 3,5 % to 5,5 % and the number of car commutes has lowered from 44,7 % to 41,4 %. Another success is that 25,5 % of employees uses carpooling at least twice a week.
MoveYou Days in IBM - One part of the campaign are events such as MoveYou days which are organized to introduce employees to the possibilities of using certain transport modes. They can consult the possibilities or get important contacts there. The showcase of electromobility, car-sharing, bike rentals and much more is part of the day. Propagation of walking is a necessity as well.
Car free day - This September event has the objective to motivate employees try another mode of transportation at least for one day and break the bond with their car. There is always a Car free day pre-campaign a week before so the employees are informed. Every year there is a fresh content. The employees can take a Polaroid picture to decorate their office with; they can calculate the costs of their cars etc. On the Car free day every employee who leaves their car at home receives a voucher for a free coffee. Positive motivation in form of small promotional object (as a reminder for them to keep car at home next year) is always pleasantly accepted.
*** Lack of vacant parking spaces ***
Parking policy: Charged parking becomes useful tool - Ljubljana, Slovenia
Charged parking for employees at 2 faculties in Ljubljana was implemented in spring 2016 as a complex permanent push measure for both participating faculties with three aims: to prepare and adopt a parking policy, to start charging for parking at the faculties and to put in place a core funding mechanism. The main target group were employees of both faculties (373 employees) and the secondary target group were students (almost 2.800).
The objective of this is that the mechanism (or the operating department) views the topic not only from the side of regulating and managing parking but more strategically, in terms of how to manage traffic in a sustainable way using both parking and mobility management. This would lead to operational synergies – parking could include bicycle parking; enforcement could prioritise public transport routes; and enforcement staff could also offer information about the city and alternative modes, giving this staff a more positive image.
How to get funded? The strategic objective of PUSH&PULL project was that the revenue earned from parking management should be used for the implementation and promotion of sustainable transport measures. If implemented, there is a permanent availability of money available and it isn't necessary to get an own budget for every year – this should be an automatism (which, once it is implemented once won't be taken back easily).
Core funding mechanism was implemented as an important part of new parking policies. The faculties stated in their documents that they will each year use 15 % or more (but never less) of yearly amount of revenues for improving conditions for sustainable travel modes.
A slightly different parking policy was prepared for each faculty and the documents were formally adopted in spring 2016. Since there is no shortage of parking spaces at the faculties’ grounds very low fees were introduced in order to minimize opposition of the employees. One faculty now charges 0,5 € daily for each day that the employee uses the parking but no more than 8,0 € per month while the other faculty charges a flat rate of 8,0 € per month regardless of the use.
With implementing charged parking for employees, adopting parking policy and core funding mechanism the faculties became one of the first public employers in the country with such scheme. The success is so much greater because there is no shortage of parking spaces at the site (currently 411 parking spaces for 373 employees).
More info find here.
*** Unwillingness of the employees to change their behavior ***
KLIMAFIT zum RADLHIT: Explore your country! - Lower Austria, Austria
In this competition, school classes with 10-14 year-old students are invited to take a route "through their region" as quickly as possible. In doing so, you will learn interesting facts about cycling as well as from the region. The routes to be travelled symbolically lead along the highlights of the respective region, such as nature parks or national parks with guided tours for school classes or historical and artistic interesting highlights of the region.
The competition is playfully structured: there are bonus points for school paths that are covered by bus, train, bike or on foot. These are registered by the teachers at www.radlhit.at. Furthermore, by answering questions about highlights of the region, mobility, fair trade, climate justice etc. additional points can be collected. This means that the pupils quickly reach their goal. The pupils can follow on the Internet, which class is leading. The winning classes will receive great prizes like excursions in the region.
In 2015, 135 school classes participated in the competition and 2,412 children collected a total of 27,076 kilometres of school-friendly school paths. The project won the prestigious mobility prize of the Verkehrsclub Österreich (VCÖ) and also the regional mobility award in the 2015 school category.
More info find here.
Bike to work day - Modena, Italy
In case you don’t want to organize the competition which last whole month, you can get inspired by Modena’s Bike to work day. The Italian Cyclist Union, together with the City Administration and the European Healthy Cities Network promoted the Bike to Work day last 16th September 2016. This initiative has been organized in the framework of the European Mobility Week, and other Italian cities have done similar activities.
Organizations and companies were invited to participate and many important stakeholders of the territory responded. The Municipality of Modena participated with the following actions: a promotional campaign in the previous weeks, made of flyers and posters located in the main building of the Municipality, and email notifications to all the employees; a stand in front of the three main buildings of the Municipality, where every employee arrived by bike could register himself and receive a prize (various accessories for cycling).
The event was quite successful. In that morning 118 employees came to work by bike and registered for the prize (approx. 7% of all the employees). Decatlhon Srl collaborated as the sponsor and provided the prizes.
More info find here.
Gekon: Competition for employees - Brno, Czech Republic
gEKOn is an intercompany competition developed by companies based in Technology Park Brno. The goal of the competition is to stimulate employees to commute using active modes of transportation - running, walking, cycling, roller-skating, kick-scooter riding, Nordic-walking.
During the competition, which usually last from April to September each year, every competition participant record her trips to work using online travel diary with combination of sport’s tracker application (e.g. Strava). For every trip made by active mode of transportation a participant gains 1 point, thus collecting points during the season. Employees are rewarded when they reach one of many milestones of collected points.
The gEKOn is an unique example of sustainable mobility campaign which was developed in cooperation of neighbouring companies. The number of engaged employees grows every year. Rewards for the competition are financed through sponsorship or companies’ donation. Currently the project runs exclusively in Technology Park Brno and only employees of organizing companies can participate. However, the competition is being expanded so everyone can take a part and beside web interface a mobile application is being developed for season 2017 and 2018.
More info find here.
