Merry Christmas and happy new year

I wish everyone Merry Christmas and a happy new year. I hope everyone stays healthy and happy.

Consider buying a bicycle for present. It is one of the top presents of all time, especially for children. 

Shared Bikes – Way to go Brisbane

Brisbane is the one of two Australian cities with a bike sharing scheme. It is the newest in Australia and the biggest regarding the total number of bikes with 1000 operating and 1000 more soon to be offered. The bicycles in CityCycle look a lot like those of Velib in Paris where the bike sharing scheme is a huge success with more than 20000 bikes on Parisian roads. CityCycle bikes can be found in 104 (soon to become 150) stations in the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In order to use CityCycle you need to subscribe and then you can ride for free for a period of 30 minutes. As long as the bikes are returned to a station within half-hour intervals the user can ride all day for free. If there is a need for longer usage then there are usage fees.

Bike sharing is a great idea for the cities aiming at providing an alternative to private car use in the city centre, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution. It is a great practice for cities with parking supply problems. It also aims at supporting the use of public transportation and especially for commuters as it provides the means to the last part of the home to work trip.  Besides the obvious advantages of moving by bike like benefits in health and cleaner urban environment, bike sharing schemes are great for tourists as they provide an easy way to visit more city attractions and reach more city businesses.

There is some criticism about CityCycle especially regarding that is not so successful in attracting users. Major reasons for this are the initially high daily subscription which was 11 $ and the mandatory helmet use. The first issue was recently addressed by setting the daily subscription to 2$ which had an instant effect on rising casual hires. But the mandatory use of helmet is not. Australian bike sharing schemes are the only known bicycle share schemes that operate under a mandatory helmet requirement. But who would carry with him a helmet at all times just to use it on his last part of the daily trip to work? Also who will carry a helmet on the chance that he/she might want to borrow a bike for a quick trip to run an errand? Netherlands and Denmark are the countries with the highest percentage of bicycle use and very low percentage of accidents and no mandatory helmet use. Maybe we can learn from the best.

Smart Parking

The other day  I took a trip to Robina Town Centre and while parking there, I had the chance to view the quite advanced parking management system they have installed. As they say in their website it is “arguably the best parking on the Gold Coast with approximately 6,000 free of charge car parking spaces”. The basic advantage of this car parking site is a system that helps you quickly find available parking spot and closer to where you really want it. That system addresses the foremost needs of a driver in a car parking. With a series of detection sensors, overhead led lights and variable message signs the system directs drivers to the vacant spaces. 

 

Parking management is another sector of mobility management aiming in a more efficient and fair use of mobility resources, in this case parking space. Even though on street parking management is more crucial to cities, in the case of cities like Gold Coast where shopping is separated from residential areas, off street parking management is also critical. There are a lot of ideas and approaches for parking management. From shared parking to park and ride and from parking & charging to parking metermaids innovative solutions make parking and thus mobility easier for everyone.

Shared Space – Streets for everyone

By the term “Shared space” we define the design approach that seeks to change the way streets operate by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles, primarily through lower speeds and encouraging drivers to behave more accommodatingly towards pedestrians. In addition the use of level surface tends to remove a physical and psychological barrier to pedestrian movement. It can also indicate to drivers that pedestrians are not confined to the footway and that they can expect to encounter them in the whole of the street.
The other basic measure in shared space is reducing demarcation. Removing almost every road sign like speed limits and traffic lights increases the amount of interaction taking place between pedestrians and car drivers. Reducing demarcation indicates that the street is meant to be shared equally by all users of the street. Implied priority for vehicles is reduced, as are physical and psychological barriers to pedestrians using the street.

Shared space is not a solution for every city street. But is a great solution for streets with high leisure activity, historical importance and small commercial shops. Shared space enhances a street’s sense of place. As it is an idea based on sustainability all the basic principles of sustainable mobility must be considered. Successful shared space streets do not have to use costly materials, and their maintenance requirements are low.

Such proposals can benefit especially tourist destination cities. All that is needed some open minds and some political support.

European Mobility Week

The European Mobility Week participation report came out a few days ago with interesting facts about this top European action on promoting sustainable mobility. European Mobility Week and the Car-Free Day are major awareness raising campaigns aiming at sensibilising citizens to the use of public transport, cycling, walking and at encouraging European cities to promote these modes of transport and to invest in the new necessary infrastructures.

 This year 2.268 cities participated with an estimated population of more than 156 million people. The tenth anniversary edition of the European Mobility Week set a new record again in terms of participation – the sixth consecutive one!

As in the previous year, the cities mainly focussed on:

•       Mobility management, such as launching awareness-raising campaigns, elaborating educational materials, or developing urban mobility plans.
•       Accessibility, such as lowering and enlarging pavements, removing architectonic barriers, or creating wheelchair ramps.
•       New or improved bicycle facilities, with enhancements to both bicycle networks and facilities such as bicycle stands in public areas.

Even though it is a European event, a lot of cities from countries outside Europe participated: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, USA where amongst them. Unfortunately no city from Australia participated in this promotional event. Let’s hope next year Gold Coast will be the first Australia city to support Mobility Week.

Principles of Sustainable Mobility

Sustainable mobility or sustainable transport is the basic theory behind mobility management.
But what is sustainable mobility?  There are many definitions available in bibliography. My personal favourite is the one from World Business Council for Sustainable Development that in 2001 defined sustainable mobility “as the ability to meet the needs of society to move freely, gain access, communicate, trade, establish relationships without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values, today or in the future”.

So the basic principles behind sustainable mobility and mobility management are:

EQUITY Inter and Intra generation

Mobility that

•       fulfill the rights of every person regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, social and economic status.
•       meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

HEALTH for people and environment

Mobility that

•      supports complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
•       provides options for people while remaining within the carrying capacity of the local, regional and global environments.

PROGRESS Satisfy people needs, provisioning, prosperity, joy

Mobility that

•       aims in satisfying people needs for transportation, reducing transportation cost, preparing and equipping infrastructure networks.
•       reduces people tension, anxiety and anger while enhances their prosperity and joy.

EMPOWERMENT participation, options

Mobility that

•       increases the spiritual, political, social, or economic strength of individuals and communities.
•       encourages people active participation and aims at providing people with more options.

CULTURE diversity, individuality, joy

Mobility that

•       respects cultural diversity and encourages cultural production.
•       enhances individuality and works towards happier local communities.

What is mobility management?

Mobility management is the act of organizing people and resources efficiently and effectively so as to accomplish desired goals and objectives in the field of urban traffic and transportation.

The European Platform in Mobility Management (EPOMM.eu) defines:
Mobility Management (MM) is a concept to promote sustainable transport and manage the demand for car use by changing travellers’ attitudes and behaviour.
At the core of Mobility Management are "soft" measures like information and communication, organising services and coordinating activities of different partners. “Soft” measures most often enhance the effectiveness of "hard" measures within urban transport (e.g., new tram lines, new roads and new bike lanes).
Mobility Management measures (in comparison to "hard" measures) do not necessarily require large financial investments and may have a high benefit-cost ratio.

Mobility management can help cities and people living in cities, regardless of city size to improve everyday traffic conditions in an easy and most of all inexpensive way. 

Car2Go anyone?

Three years ago a new concept in city transport started in Ulm Germany. Daimler introduced a fleet of  300 Smart fortwo's cars in a car sharing scheme. The idea is pretty simple : Whenever you need a car, one of the car2go vehicles will be waiting for you. Get in, use it for as long as you want to, then simply leave it at any parking space within the operating area. The car2go operating area currently covers Ulm and Neu-Ulm. Various car2go parkspots which are near to department stores and other popular areas are available.
Cost is  24 cents per minute including  fuel, service, taxes, insurance, maintenance etc. Moreover, for one hour a maximum price of 12,90 euros applies. All of that without security deposit and monthly fee. Only a one-time registration fee of 19,00 euros becomes due and will be charged to your banking account.
In Ulm and Neu Ulm they instantly loved it. Daimler realised they had something that can make a difference.  Many European and American cities inquired about the project. So now the same car2go car sharing scheme works in Vancouver, Austin and San Diego in America and Hambourg, Amsterdam, Wien and Lyon in Europe. In San Diego Daimler is trying emission-free electric vehicles.
I dont know if this advanced car sharing scheme is "The first personal public transport" as Car2Go website  claims but surely is a thing that we will be viewing more and more in the years to come.
Any Australian cities interested?

Welcome to mobility management Australia

I want to welcome you all to Mobility Management Australia blog.

In this blog I will try to inform you on issues of mobility management and the way they can provide solutions to traffic and transportation problems in Australian cities. This is a blog for everyone and not just traffic and transportation engineers and planners. So I will try to make it as simple as possible and avoid using "heavy" scientific terms.

There will be information on what is Mobility Management and what is sustainable mobility. There will be also information on practical solutions adopted by Australian and European cities that helped them tackle traffic problems. There will  be also interesting mobility and urban practices and article links.
The rest you will see them in time.

Hope you enjoy
Kyriakos Tyrologos
Traffic, Transportation and Urban Planner
Gold Coast
QLD