Dear reader,

the EU-Commission aims to coordinate all European projects on SUMP. On 30 January all coordinators of the different SUMP projects including ENDURANCE were invited for a meeting in Brussels and we will report on further developments in the near future. For now, we invited the project ADVANCE to report, as it is in the final stage and offers tools and training. We also provide some brief info about the already finalised projects QUEST, ECO MOBILITY SHIFT that offer similar tools, and on the ongoing project CH4LLENGE, that addresses particular challenges when working on SUMP.

By the way, the ECOMM programme will be published in a few days. You have time until 15 February to win a free ticket to the ECOMM via the EPOMM award (see last chapter).

Improve SUMP trough ADVANCE

The ADVANCE Audit is a practical tool for improving Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) in cities and municipalities. It provides a systematic evaluation method and guidance, shows the potential for a (even more) successful SUMP and provides added value to cities.

The ADVANCE Audit compares the cities’ current mobility planning to an ideal sustainable urban mobility planning process. The main tool of the ADVANCE Audit is the self-assessment questionnaire. It is filled in by the members of a local ADVANCE working group (cities representatives and internal stakeholders) that needs to be established at the beginning of the process. The ADVANCE Audit is facilitated and moderated by the ADVANCE Auditor.

The 5 main steps of the ADVANCE Audit are:

Step 1: Analysing the status
The ADVANCE Auditor establishes the first contact with the city and introduces the ADVANCE Audit. The ADVANCE working group is constituted and invited for the first meeting (M1)

Step 2: Assessment
The members of the working group fill in the self-assessment questionnaire and forward it to the ADVANCE Auditor. During the second meeting of the ADVANCE working group (M2) the individual answers are discussed and agreed.

Step 3: Prioritisation
Based on the output of step 2, the ADVANCE working group, with the support of the ADVANCE Auditor, priorities actions and draft an action plan. This priorisation of the actions is discussed in the third meeting of the ADVANCE working group (M3).

Step 4: Final action plan
The final action plan is produced. It is presented to the decision makers of the city in the fourth meeting of the ADVANCE working group (M4).

Step 5: Audit Report and certification
The ADVANCE Auditor writes the final ADVANCE Audit report and the city receives the ADVANCE Certificate.

Output of the ADVANCE process in the city of Terrassa (ES)

Terrassa is a city of 210.000 inhabitants located 30 km from Barcelona. Terrassa is currently drafting its new SUMP for the period until 2020 to achieve a more sustainable and safer mobility system. In the final action plan of the ADVANCE process the following actions were agreed:

• establish synergies between the Mobility Department and other Municipality’ departments;
• define a protocol for monitoring and evaluation;
• extension of pedestrian network;
• establish parking policies and actions aimed at different target groups;
• extension of the 30 km/h zone network;
• improve the management of P&R facilities;

The action plan was approved by the Local Councilors and the Mobility Department is currently reviewing its content as it will become the guideline for the future SUMP.

Output of the ADVANCE process in the city of Ploiesti (RO)

The City of Ploiestiis located in a densely populated and urbanised county, just 60 km north from Bucharest. It is an administrative centre with 230.000 inhabitants.

The development of a SUMP is scheduled for the next year. In the ADVANCE process the following actions in the final action plan were agreed:

• set up of an own Mobility Department;
• make a survey to conduct the current modal split
• implementation of the 30 km/h zone and shared space zones;
• improvement of traffic lights timing and pedestrian crossing safety to support pedestrians;

How does the municipality of Judenburg (AT) see ADVANCE?

Helfried Kreiter works in the municipality of Judenburg and was a member of the ADVANCE Audit working group. We asked Mr. Kreiter three questions.

Mr. Kreiter, why did you participate in ADVANCE?
We were invited to test the audit scheme because Judenburg has a lot of experience with energy and mobility projects (member of European Energy Award/e5, Covenant of Mayors and Climate Alliance). For us it was a chance to have our already existing mobility concept evaluated by external experts.

What have you learned from the project for your city?
We have learned that we have accomplished a lot in recent years, above all in public transport. Despite topographic challenges Judenburg is well equipped for bicycle traffic but we have to do more to raise consciousness for biking. We also have to smooth internal procedures and make responsibilities clear.

Do you recommend the ADVANCE process to other cities as well?
We recommend going through this audit prior to make a mobility concept or SUMP. You are alerted to aspects like pedestrian and bicycle mobility which might be missing in a mainly technically oriented transport concept but are difficult to integrate afterwards. Smaller municipalities should join up and look at their mobility issues as a region.

Thank you for the interview.

Training to become an Auditor

ADVANCE is conducting a series of 10 national training events in local language between February and March 2014. The purpose of these national training events is to train future ADVANCE Auditors, who will apply the ADVANCE Audit in cities. The training events contain an introduction to SUMPs, a session explaining the methodology of the ADVANCE Audit Scheme and a participative, interactive workshop to learn how to conduct the ADVANCE Audit (case-studies, role-plays and performance of a pilot audit). The training events address mobility experts, transport consultants, researchers or any other professionals working in the field of sustainable urban mobility.

The registration for the national training events in Bucharest (RO) and Malmö (SE) is still possible. You can register via the online registration tool.

More information about possible training fees, registration deadlines and whom to contact for further information can be found here.

Interview with Mr. Gogola, who became a new ADVANCE Auditor

ADVANCE conducted a national training event in Zilina (SK) to train future ADVANCE Auditors. Mr. Marián Gogola is an expert for transport modelling and non-motorised transport and works for the University of Zilina. He also very active in the NGO Mulica. We asked Mr. Gogola two questions.

Mr. Gogola, why did you participate in the ADVANCE training in Zilina?
I decided to participate in the ADVANCE training because of my professional interest. I have worked with some of the Slovak cities in the field of urban mobility. And the city of Košice asked our department to prepare a mobility plan for their city.

Was your participation in the training useful?
I have been searching for some appropriate tools to evaluate the mobility situation in the city of Košice. Through the participation in the training event I got familiar with the Audit process and its instruments. Therefore, I was very happy to participate in the training and become a new ADVANCE auditor, especially for my future work in some Slovak cities.

More information about the ADVANCE Audit can be found on the ADVANCE web site or you can send an e-mail to: info@eu-advance.eu

QUEST

The QUEST tool has been designed to help small and medium-sized cities to set up and further develop their sustainable mobility policies and actions with the assistance of an external expert (QUEST Auditor).

The QUEST methodology was applied in 46 midsized cities in 15 EU-countries. These cities engage in an improvement program (= QUEST action plans). We are ready to offer our expertise and support to your city! If your city is interested in joining the QUEST family, please contact us and we will find the right auditor for you! An appropriate auditor will be assigned depending on the local language of the city and the urban transport areas in which the city seeks improvement.

More information is available here.

EcoMobility SHIFT

EcoMobility SHIFT designed a total quality management system for cities to measure and improve their transport performance.

The result of the project is a tool, called SHIFT Scheme. Cities can use this tool to measure their urban mobility performance against a set of 20 indicators. In addition to the assessment, cities can also get their results audited by a certified external auditor and receive a label (gold, silver or bronze) for their audited performance.

More information is available here.

CH4LLENGE addresses the four most pressing challenges in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning

In CH4LLENGE (2013–2016), nine European cities Amiens, Brno, Budapest, County of West Yorkshire, Dresden, Ghent, Krakow, Timisoara and Zagreb and eight supporting organisations have teamed up to tackle the four most pressing challenges in sustainable urban mobility planning: participation, cooperation, measure selection and monitoring & evaluation. In addition, CH4LLENGE supports up to 30 Follower Cities who receive tailor-made advice from the CH4LLENGE SUMP Expert Team.

Based on the lessons learned and results of the project four CH4LLENGE Kits aimed at local practitioners will be developed as the main output of the project. CH4LLENGE offers a great variety of training activities including SUMP Training Workshops, National Seminars, Summer Schools and e-learning courses open to everyone interested.

To learn more about the CH4LLENGE project, visit the CH4LLENGE website and follow CH4LLENGE on Twitter!

EPOMM Best International Policy Transfer Award 2014

Win a free visit to the ECOMM 2014!

It is one of the central goals of EPOMM to support exchange and learning on MM between European countries. For this reason, in 2012 EPOMM introduced the Best International Policy Transfer Award – that rewards the best policy or best practice transfer between different entities from different countries.

The award for 2014 is now open. Download the application here and find info on past award winners here. The deadline for submission is 15 February 2014. The winners of the award (exporter and importer) will be invited to the European Conference on Mobility Management in Florence, 7-9 May 2014. Travel, accommodation and ECOMM delegate fee will be paid for up to a maximum of €1000 per person.

The award will be handed over in a ceremony at the ECOMM.