PRESS RELEASE
Sevilla, Γ?rebro and Bremen, 19 september 2006
European INTERREG Projects MoCuBa - Baltic Sea Cycling - UrBike
Towards the Mobility Week...
Title: Bicycle must become a priority for urban mobility, evidences a meeting
of 40 European cities
Header:
Three European projects about promotion of bike mobility and sustainable
transport, gathering about 40 European cities and their partners, met
together in the Polish city of Augustow, so as to compare their efforts and
consider strategies for enhancement of urban bike mobility.
Text:
On 6-8 September 2006, in Augustow (North-East Poland), participants of 38
European municipalities, public actors and NGOs met in occasion of a meeting
between 3 European Cooperation Projects on the issue of promotion of bike
mobility.
Baltic Sea Cycling, UrBike and MoCuBa are 3 European projects of cooperation
between cities, cofinanced by the INTERREG European Program. They met in
occasion of a workshop organized in this city of the Podlasie Region by the
Baltic Sea Cycling project.
During the 3-days workshops, all participants constated a similar need to
make mobility by bike, by foot and by public transport, a real priority, and
concretely take the measures that will allow citizens to move by bike safely
and pleasantly.
Participants indeed felt to participate to an historical moment because of
the contact established between new EU members cities (from Poland, Hungary,
Lithuania, Latvia and Cyprus) with cities from former EU members that have
the same needs and the same will. β?We observe that cities from East and
South of Europe have similar reactions against mobility problems than us in
Swedenβ?, says Gunnar Persson, project leader of Baltic Sea Cycling in
Γ?rebro.
Indeed, these EU projects showed that bike mobility is not anymore an option,
but has become a prioritary step of good traffic planning, and more generally
a valid tool for urban sustainable development. β?Bike mobility has now become
a mainstream tendency in urban mobility, and it is probably a wise choice in
the current context of high oil pricesβ?, noted Raphael Calvelli, working with
City Factory for Municipality of Sevilla, lead partner of Urbike.
Bike is a particularly good complement to public transport networks, noted
participants: β?public transport companies should now provide bike integration
through setting protected bike parks near the train stations and allowing to
carry bikes on buses and trainsβ? explained Michael FrΓʼmming, coordinator for
the MoCuBa project (β?Mobility Culture for the Baltic Sea Areaβ??). This
expectancy is addressed in the European Strategy for Urban Environment
(COM/2005/718), that favors a non compulsory approach for cities towards
sustainable environment. Another related European policy is set by the
Directives on Air Quality, that make compulsory the provision of measures by
local authorities so as to keep air pollutants under determined levels.
Participants expressed their interest to continue to work together in the
future for bike and sustainable development. Indeed, the Structural Funds of
the European Union, that will allocate 308 billions of euros in the period
2007-2013 for regional development, include sustainable development and urban
issues as eligible priorities, and there are already projects being prepared
for bike urban mobility. β?Citizens want to go by bike, they know it will make
their cities more worth living, and they see that Europe could give an help
to get itβ?, reported Frankas Wurft, from partner NGO Lithuanian Cyclist
Community, from Vilnius.
They expressed the hope that cities, collegues, experts and interested
citizens will be present in the next meetings:
5-6 October 2006: Kielce, Poland, UrBike meeting
16-17 October 2006: Gdansk, Poland, MoCuBa meeting
23-24 November 2006: Sevilla, Spain, UrBike Final Conference
1st semester 2007: Kalmar, Sweden, Baltic Sea Cycling meeting
The 38 municipalities participating to these three projecs represent around 4
millions inhabitants from 13 countries of Europe. List of partners:
UrBike:
Sevilla (Spain)
IId District of Budapest (Hungary)
Dresden (Germany)
Kielce (Poland)
Florence (Italy)
Frederiksberg (Denmark)
Mesa Yitonia (Cyprus)
Xanthi (Greece)
Baltic Sea Cycling:
Γ?rebro (Sweden)
Bad Doberan (Germany)
Drammen (Norway)
Kalmar (Sweden)
Klaipeda (Lithuania)
KlΓΌtzer-Winkel (Germany)
SchΓʼnberg (Germany)
LinkΓʼping (Sweden)
Cesis (Latvia)
GrevesmΓΌhlen (Germany)
Livani (Latvia)
ADFC Rostock (Germany)
Rehna (Germany)
Swedish National Road Association
Swedish Cycle Promotion
Lithuanian Cyclist Community
Siauliai (Lithuania)
Jelgava (Latvia)
VΓ?sterΓ?s (Sweden)
Suwalki Chamber of Tourism (Poland)
Rostock (Germany)
Norwegian Cyclist Association
MoCuBa:
Bremen (Germany)
Vilnius (Lithuania)
Klaipeda (Lithuania)
Kaunas (Lithuania)
Helsinki (Finland)
Lund (Sweden)
Odense (Denmark)
Gdansk (Poland)
Contact:
Baltic Sea Cycling: www.balticseacycling.com, Patrick Leijon:
patrick.leijon@orebro.se, +46 19 21 12 72.
UrBike: www.urbike.net, info@urbike.net, Raphael Calvelli: +39 329 2903 967.
MoCuBa: www.mocuba.net, Michael FrΓʼmming: mocuba@umwelt.bremen.de
Diffusion list (un-)subscription: info@urbike.net