On 12 November, 2013 the Transport Ministerial Conference in Trieste was organised within the framework of the EU-funded project ATTAC (Attractive Urban Public Transport for Accessible Cities) by the Central European Initiative in cooperation with Miskolc Holding, the project lead partner.
Under the title “Sustainable Urban Transport Perspectives in South East Europe: Building upon Common Solutions and Best Practices”, the event aimed at raising awareness among decision-makers on potentials of innovative Public Transport solutions as drivers for change with special focus on disseminating project results and outputs gained over a three-year cooperation.
Particular attention was also paid to Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), as a basis for making public transport more attractive, reliable and comfortable. These represent a bottom-up process involving Public Transport stakeholders striving to meet end users’ needs. As Ms. Lindenau from Rupprecht Consult underlined, “SUMP is a strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles”.
Although many participants stressed the lack of funding, often necessary for public transport reorganization, partners were able to demonstrate - through their seven pilot projects - how cost-efficient planning could actually make a change.
Mr. Papadopoulos, Greek Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks illustrated how high-level political support was of extreme importance for an efficient implementation of SUMPs and pilot projects. The strong involvement of the ministry of transport and regional and local authorities is a guarantee for prioritization of public transport as well as for the development and implementation of policies, reforms and measures, which are crucial for exploiting sustainable solutions ensuring a better lifestyle for and a safer and cleaner environment.
The conference is part of the dissemination and promotional campaign in order to ensure a follow-up of the results reached and tested pilot projects. Financial resources, crucial for offering reliable and adequate services to all end users are rather scarce and single municipalities and regions cannot easily apply for EU funding. For this reason, it is important to promote regional mobility by using the existing capacity of sustainable Public Transport nodes, by building networks and joining forces for future joint projects and applications for funds. Ms. Roberta Calcina, South East Europe Programme Manager at the Joint Technical Secretariat illustrated future funding possibilities within the new programming period.
The strong interest in the topic of the Conference was demonstrated by the fact that more than eighty representatives from SEE Transport Ministries, Regional and Local Transport Agency, Transport operators and associations, Universities and Research Organizations participated in the event.
The ATTAC project is funded under the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme, with the general aim of improving coordination in promoting, planning and operating urban public transport networks. It aims at better integrating ATTAC cities and regions into the SEE transport backbone as effective main or intermediate nodes of transnational accessibility and at reducing bottlenecks in European transport corridors.
For more information: www.attac-project.eu
Under the title “Sustainable Urban Transport Perspectives in South East Europe: Building upon Common Solutions and Best Practices”, the event aimed at raising awareness among decision-makers on potentials of innovative Public Transport solutions as drivers for change with special focus on disseminating project results and outputs gained over a three-year cooperation.
Particular attention was also paid to Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs), as a basis for making public transport more attractive, reliable and comfortable. These represent a bottom-up process involving Public Transport stakeholders striving to meet end users’ needs. As Ms. Lindenau from Rupprecht Consult underlined, “SUMP is a strategic plan designed to satisfy the mobility needs of people and businesses in cities and their surroundings for a better quality of life. It builds on existing planning practices and takes due consideration of integration, participation, and evaluation principles”.
Although many participants stressed the lack of funding, often necessary for public transport reorganization, partners were able to demonstrate - through their seven pilot projects - how cost-efficient planning could actually make a change.
Mr. Papadopoulos, Greek Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks illustrated how high-level political support was of extreme importance for an efficient implementation of SUMPs and pilot projects. The strong involvement of the ministry of transport and regional and local authorities is a guarantee for prioritization of public transport as well as for the development and implementation of policies, reforms and measures, which are crucial for exploiting sustainable solutions ensuring a better lifestyle for and a safer and cleaner environment.
The conference is part of the dissemination and promotional campaign in order to ensure a follow-up of the results reached and tested pilot projects. Financial resources, crucial for offering reliable and adequate services to all end users are rather scarce and single municipalities and regions cannot easily apply for EU funding. For this reason, it is important to promote regional mobility by using the existing capacity of sustainable Public Transport nodes, by building networks and joining forces for future joint projects and applications for funds. Ms. Roberta Calcina, South East Europe Programme Manager at the Joint Technical Secretariat illustrated future funding possibilities within the new programming period.
The strong interest in the topic of the Conference was demonstrated by the fact that more than eighty representatives from SEE Transport Ministries, Regional and Local Transport Agency, Transport operators and associations, Universities and Research Organizations participated in the event.
The ATTAC project is funded under the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme, with the general aim of improving coordination in promoting, planning and operating urban public transport networks. It aims at better integrating ATTAC cities and regions into the SEE transport backbone as effective main or intermediate nodes of transnational accessibility and at reducing bottlenecks in European transport corridors.
For more information: www.attac-project.eu