Wintertime usually arrives with a one-day delay from Vienna to Budapest. But what about the promotion of winter cycling? Compare this nice official approach of the city of Vienna vs. a different but still nice voluntary approach of a cycling advocate in Budapest! Although not considered to be official promotion, an important announcement was published by the BKK Centre for Budapest Transport today: Some 30 main roads, 60 crossings and 120 streets will be made cycling-friendly within the service area of Bubi until the scheme's introduction next spring. To be continued...
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The final event of the PIP program was held in Wroclaw, Poland as part of the Innovation Festival.
On the last day of the festival I had the chance to introduce myself along five other Pioneers representing the different regions of the program. This was an excellent opportunity to sum up my experiences, motivation and results of my placements. I set up a rather personal presentation in order to bring the “spirit” of the program as well as the field of transport/mobility closer to the audience consisting of experts from representing various professions. Why I applied for the program? Because working locally for an „international” company like TRENECON-COWI often provides me with opportunities in learning about innovative mobility planning and management methods (like bike-sharing or car sharing), but most of the time the applicability of these are quite limited in a CEE environment. Although my enthusiasm and commitment towards life-long learning, sharing and knowledge transfer remains sky-high, we are still facing the lack of integrated smart mobility approach in CEE. Being a father of two I am well aware of the future of the youth that we are practically stealing by building cities for cars instead for people. With PIP I could put myself into different environments professionally, corporately, culturally to “test and prove” my different mindset. The new tasks and the positive feedback I received from my hosts gave me a fundamental boost for keeping up the good work! My domestic placement at REC was hosted by Greg Spencer, a great expert and well-known opinion-leader on the field of sustainable transport. A concrete result of my four-week activity is the Hungarian version of a handbook that was published in seven languages as a tool of the Mobile 2020 project in order to:
My work included the proofreading of the handbook. I was inspired by the feeling that I can make a step further after my former activity in the editor’s board of the infamous UME (Hungarian Design Standard). This time I had the chance to sink deeply into the so-important technical language of cycling-friendly planning and fine tune the text of a detailed professional material with perfectionism. Beyond that I proposed some changes for the editors (Csaba Mezei and Péter Szuppinger) and provided them with a great batch of photos and illustrations. It is so good to finish a job with satisfaction! My international host, MOVUS has got a real integrated approach with a full portfolio including the operation of a public bike-sharing and electric car-sharing service, transport planning and R/D. Thus the company has an effective influence onto mobility innovations and not only in the Valencia region. With the kind assistance and mentorship of Mauro Fiore, Isabel Espinós and Juan Bueno I got a deep insight into the company’s business activity. My consultancy was highly appreciated in relation with various activities of MOVUS on the field of sustainable mobility:
On the other hand I learned a lot about company culture and communication technics. The onsite experiences gave me a better understanding of transport system(s) I am working with as a planner.
"Cycling in Central Eastern Europe" was the title of the conference where I held a presentation about the integration of cycling and public transport.
Slideshare Video Photodocumentation of an expert cycling tour around Ljubljana (with captions). Among many innovative solutions the first results from a pilot project in Budapest was also introduced to the international audience. The Budapest Transport Authority recently permitted the transport of bicycles on 4 designated lines. Hereby a short video with a test of this extraordinary public transport service. CM in Valencia reminds me to the Budapest CM's back in the "good old times". Some 500 people gathered to ride 2 hours through the city from the Plaza de la Virgen to Ayora. The mass contained a wide range of urban cyclist, young and old, beginner and pro. Local trendsetters like chic cyclists and other "girls on wheels" were quite visible but the majority (as usual) were lycra warriors. It was nice to see that several handicapped riders with wheelchairs were members of our group, too. Casual riders were using Valenbisi which is the local bike-sharing system effectively boosting the cycling culture in the city. Another bike-sharing scheme, City Bike Szeged was announced yesterday in Szeged, south Hungary, a city of 130.000. A private vendor company in the region received appr. 120.000 EUR EU-funds for the development of the system hardware which will be tested live in the city as a pilot project, Looking at the pictures it is obvious that the "good old" Hungarian engineers could not put the hammer down if we are talking about innovation which is on a conspicuously modest level in this case. The design of the rough bicycle comes from Neuzer. At least the docking mechanism is different this time: it looks like an innovative(?) mix of the technology used by Clear Channel and that of the cheapest low-end systems from Spain and Italy. Although a user test hasn't been yet possible, after a closer look to the photos about the equipment an inevitable question emerges: Does a country like Hungary really needs more than one company to start public funded R/D on a field where competition is sky-high and most of the competitors (even in the region) had started years earlier?
My approach is to celebrate any developments regarding bike-sharing in Hungary. But how can one remain proud when City Bike Szeged promotes itself as a service while - just like EBI, the other Hungarian bike-sharing system already in operation - it is obviously not more than a pilot project. A live experiment on the poor citizens of Szeged. I can state without any cynism that this is a worst practice. This approach (funded from public money) depreciates the prestige and the possible rising of bike-sharing systems in the region. But let's try to stay positive and enthusisatic! City Bike Szeged at least has a website (as EBI still doesn't)...featuring a primitively photo shopped picture stolen from the big brother Vélib on the opening page. May the public funds were not enough to finance a proper photo shooting? Fail. A promotion event was organized by MOVUS and the municipalities of Paterna, Torrent and Godella this Saturday. Some 300 cyclists showed up 10 AM in front of the university. MOVUS offered a season registration on a reduced price (5 EUR instead of 18 EUR). Local police leaded the crowd through a pretty hilly course of 4 kms consisting some highway-like sections and beautiful residential areas as well. I was wondering if a more central meeting point with a ride through the downtowns of the suburbs (used to be small towns) would probably attract more citizens. This time the "hard cyclists" dressed in lycra and visibility wests were the majority of the mass however some families with children showed up as well. The question is if they really are the primary target group for promoting the public bike-sharing service of the municipalities (operated by MOVUS)?On the other hand it is a very nice approach when a private company is taking its part in promoting urban cycling! Anyway, it was a pleasure to be part of the event both as an organizer as well as a member of the local Critical Mass! Juan Bueno is the spin doctor of MOVUS. He knows how to sell bike-sharing. He is aware of the fact that the only way forward is to make cycling trendy, fashionable and a common, daily activity. A discussion about the structure of the company, the different products and services prooved that MOVUS is doing a best practice integrating operation and consultancy on the field of sustainable transport.
Surprise task on the first day of the second part of my pioneership. A promotion of MOVUS is the bike rental service for PIPs. Julio (the staff peson in charge of logistics and operation) was vacant, so it was an ideal opportunity for me to test my practical skills on-site. A fleet of rental bikes were given out for an international group of pioneers.
Jan Gehl vs. the "Big Hungarian Reality". The famous Danish architect introduced his book in Budapest yesterday in a presentation for a group of experts (urban and transport planners). Presentations about recent and actual flagship projects in Budapest (held by Tamás Váradi, Főmterv Ltd. and László Molnár, Közlekedés Ltd.) showed that the understanding of the need for paradigm change towards sustainable planning methods and integrated approaches still remains on a moderate level in Hungary...This could be a proof of Gehl's theory: "First we shape the cities – then they shape us."
Further summaries about the event worth reading: HVG Építészfórum "Került kialakításra" Interview by "városépítési főosztály" |