A conference on sustainable urban mobility and a study tour for the members of the CIVINET network successfully held in Zagreb

PANEL DISCUSSION ON INTEGRATED TRAFFIC

The conference started with the panel discussion on integrated traffic that was organized in cooperation with the Association of Cities in Croatia (National Point of the URBACT Program). In the discussion devised and guided by ODRAZ Director Lidija Pavić-Rogošić participated Ante Klečina from Varaždin County, Vlado Babić from Ljubljana, Damir Kapuđija from Zagreb’s Integrated Traffic and a URBACT Urban Mobility expert Petra Grgasović.

Ante Klečina from the Varaždin County said that we are still in Croatia in the initial phase of the development of integrated passenger transport. Individual transport dominates in croatian traffic. Big problems are traffic jams and pollution and inadequate transport infrastructure. Integrated passenger transport implies the integration of all kinds of traffic (train, tram, bus, boat …) and issuing a common ticket for the whole system. There is a need for a bigger promotion of integrated traffic.

Damir Kapuđija from IPZP (Integrated Transport of the Zagreb Area) pointed out that a major problem is that some Croatian cities and municipalities do not provide subsidies for public transport, which is thus left to the market, and it is poorly used because it is too expensive.

Vlado Babić from the City of Ljubljana spoke about the system of URBAN that united the public traffic in Ljubljana. It’s a unique map worthy of lifts, museums and suburban traffic.

PRESENTATION OF EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE

After the panel discussion several examples of practice were presented.

Matija Vuger from the Zagreb City Office for the Strategic Planning and Development of the City presented the plans and projects of the City of Zagreb in the area of sustainable mobility. In the last 20 years there has been a widespread pedestrian zone, and it should continue to expand. New public transport users are attracted to services such as free wi-fi in vehicles. In order to decrease the number of car drivers, car parking prices have increased and carsharing and carpooling services are being promoted.

Marko Ercegović from the Association of Cities in the Republic of Croatia, performing the role of the National URBACT Point, presented URBACT III, a European exchange and learning program promoting sustainable urban development. Its main features are networking of cities (it is important that small / middle cities can learn from each other), a participatory approach (cooperation of various stakeholders), integrated solutions (linking all levels of government from local to state) and social innovation.

Predrag Brlek talked about the activities of the City of Koprivnica in the CIVITAS Prosperity project and presented a graduate study “Sustainable Mobility and Logistics”, which was conceived within the CIVITAS Dynamo project and has been pursued at the University of North since 2016. He presented some projects where students and professors work, for example, Low-carb, aimed at reducing carbon dioxide in cities and researching the impact of measures to introduce public bicycles to sustainable mobility in relation to the size of the city in the Republic of Croatia.

STUDY TOUR / Presentation of the activities of the City of Zagreb

In the afternoon we listened about the activities and projects implemented by the City of Zagreb in the field of sustainable urban mobility. The presentation and field part of the program is designed in cooperation with the City Office for the Strategic Planning and Development of the City and members of the CIVINET Network – Zagreb Pedicab and Nextbike.

Marko Slavulj from the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences presented new concepts in urban traffic such as Smart Mobility, Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) and Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

Petra Grgasovic spoke about mobility as a service in the cities of the future. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is a concept that offers travelers personal multimodal mobility services (cargo, public transport, taxi, bicycle). Different modes of transport are combined in a fully integrated way. This approach is based on the needs of the user and allows them to plan their journey from the comfort of their own armchair with a couple of clicks. An example of good practice is the WePark application – a kind of Airbnb for parking spaces, which gives the owner the option of renting a parking space when it is free.

Darinka Jug from the City of Zagreb presented the concept of sharing the traffic. In recent years, some of the streets in the center of Zagreb are open for shared traffic. This solution is ideal for roads where space is limited and where there is no room for building separate cycling trails. 80% of the bicycle routes in the Netherlands were solved by shared traffic. There are less serious accidents due to speed reduction and everyone has the same rights and responsibilities.

Emil Kirby presented Zagreb Pedicab, a fun tour of the city tour and the PediCargo subproject, a bicycle transport service. The meeting ended with the presentation of the urban project for the development of Urban Mobility, presented by Vladimir Sabo from Petrola. The project envisages 23 DC and 144 AC new electric filling stations for electric vehicles in the Zagreb area.

The next day, for participants of the study tour was organized a visit through Zagreb with Pedicab drivers and Nextbike bikes. They also learned about ELEN’s electric vehicle boilers located in the City Hall building presented by Drago Vasilj from the City Office for the economy, energy and environmental protection.