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Home | Matrix for change | Action Plan Active Mobility

Action Plan Active Mobility

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ACTIVE CITY
ACTIVE WORKPLACE
ACTIVE MOBILITY
ACTIVE SCHOOLS
ACTIVE SPORT CLUBS

See introduction
Knowledge and Awareness
Programmes and Events
Spaces and Places
Cooperation and Partnership
Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Quick wins

Case studies

Resources

Introduction

WHAT is Active Mobility?

Active Mobility is a mode of transportation for people (and goods) that only uses physical activity of the human being for locomotion; i.e. walking and cycling as modes of transport.

Active Mobility is about activating ourselves daily and strive for healthier, more connected and safer cities.

WHY is Active Mobility important in your municipality?

According to the European Commission, “[cycling] has enormous potential when we acknowledge that almost half of all car trips in cities are of less than five kilometres” (DG MOVE).
Cycling produces global benefits of 150 billion euros per year – more than 90 billion euros are positive externalities for the environment, public health and mobility as opposed to 800 billion euros in negative externalities generated by motorized transport[1].
Employees that cycle to work have an average 1.3 less days of sick leave, 5-billion-euro value – equivalent to direct and indirect cost of sickness absence to the Austrian economy.
Cycling saves emissions of more than 16 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year in the EU – this corresponds to the annual emissions of a country like Croatia, with savings of 600 million euros.
The value of congestion easing through cycling for the EU can be estimated at 6.8 bn EUR per year.
Cargo bikes have the potential to replace 25% commercial deliveries in cities, and 77% of private logistics trips
Cycling prevents 18 110 premature deaths per year in the EU – 52 billion euro in value – equivalent to the public health spending of Spain.
In the EU28, shoppers that travel by bike, account for consumption volume of 111 billion euros. Doubling the cycling share in the EU would generate an additional 27 billion euros for local retailers.[2]
Walking & Cycling increases accessibility, not only to employment, but also to places of social and cultural exchange. Walking is the most inexpensive mode of transport. Bicycle ownership only amounts to 5% of car ownership costs. By providing a cheap transport option, active mobility can help to make jobs and participation in social life better accessible to disadvantaged population groups.
The potential of walking and cycling to reduce congestion is enormous – One million daily journeys could be walked in less than 10 minutes (London, UK) -. 8.17 million daily journeys made by motorised modes could be cycled in less than 20 minutes (London, UK)
The bicycle is very space-efficient: For 1 hour, 7 times more bikes than cars can cross a 3.5m-wide space in an urban environment.
The place that is needed for a single car-parking spot can fit up to 15 bicycles.

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WHAT is Active Mobility?

Active Mobility is a mode of transportation for people (and goods) that only uses physical activity of the human being for locomotion; i.e. walking and cycling as modes of transport.

Active Mobility is about activating ourselves daily and strive for healthier, more connected and safer cities.

WHY is Active Mobility important in your municipality?

According to the European Commission, “[cycling] has enormous potential when we acknowledge that almost half of all car trips in cities are of less than five kilometres” (DG MOVE).
Cycling produces global benefits of 150 billion euros per year – more than 90 billion euros are positive externalities for the environment, public health and mobility as opposed to 800 billion euros in negative externalities generated by motorized transport[1].
Employees that cycle to work have an average 1.3 less days of sick leave, 5-billion-euro value – equivalent to direct and indirect cost of sickness absence to the Austrian economy.
Cycling saves emissions of more than 16 million tons of CO2 equivalent per year in the EU – this corresponds to the annual emissions of a country like Croatia, with savings of 600 million euros.
The value of congestion easing through cycling for the EU can be estimated at 6.8 bn EUR per year.
Cargo bikes have the potential to replace 25% commercial deliveries in cities, and 77% of private logistics trips
Cycling prevents 18 110 premature deaths per year in the EU – 52 billion euro in value – equivalent to the public health spending of Spain.
In the EU28, shoppers that travel by bike, account for consumption volume of 111 billion euros. Doubling the cycling share in the EU would generate an additional 27 billion euros for local retailers.[2]
Walking & Cycling increases accessibility, not only to employment, but also to places of social and cultural exchange. Walking is the most inexpensive mode of transport. Bicycle ownership only amounts to 5% of car ownership costs. By providing a cheap transport option, active mobility can help to make jobs and participation in social life better accessible to disadvantaged population groups.
The potential of walking and cycling to reduce congestion is enormous – One million daily journeys could be walked in less than 10 minutes (London, UK) -. 8.17 million daily journeys made by motorised modes could be cycled in less than 20 minutes (London, UK)
The bicycle is very space-efficient: For 1 hour, 7 times more bikes than cars can cross a 3.5m-wide space in an urban environment.
The place that is needed for a single car-parking spot can fit up to 15 bicycles.

Knowledge and Awareness

Advocate Active Mobility and its benefits to your citizens through awareness-raising campaigns designed for long-term results; effective campaigns coupled with incremental changes, and measures managing demand for motorised transport have maximal impact in the long-run

Develop a walking and/or cycling to school awareness scheme

Develop a walking and/or cycling to work awareness scheme

Build an "Active Mobility" brand for your municipality, which may focus on walking and/or cycling, and include:

See possibilities

Establishing a brand mission and vision statement – set out exactly what your municipality aims to achieve,
Creating an Active Mobility visual identity (e.g. logo, tagline, trademark, etc.)
Building a brand message including key points to convey

Engage with sport and health-friendly decision-makers to promote Active Mobility and approach appropriate politicians who share your ethos and use their support to succeed with your plans

Benchmark other municipalities' approaches – share good practices and learn from others

Include Active Mobility argumentation within the wider environmental, urban planning strategies of your municipality

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Programmes and Events

Participate in International and National campaigns and events, e.g. TAFISA World Walking Day, European Mobility Week (EMW), World car-free day. Use this opportunity to pilot Active Mobility measures, assess current transport challenges, and progress towards sustainable mobility

Create walk/cycle to school/work programmes or campaigns:

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Include Cycle training in school curricula. Education and mobility training at primary schools are essential in building a culture of Active Mobility, e.g. "School Trains" utilises the safety in numbers principles; parents and children walk or cycle to school together
Implement measures to encourage uptake among parents for their children to walk and cycle to school, e.g. "School Streets" are a concept of turning streets around schools into car-free zones at the beginning and end of the school day. This concept has successfully spread around Europe, and in 2018 it was included in the Belgian Highway code.
Launch a Bike2Work campaign which targets both employees and employers; employees are encouraged to cycle to work, e.g. through competitions or fiscal incentives and employers become more cycle-friendly through measures such as bike parking, changing rooms and showers.
Become a Cycle-Friendly Employer; The city itself should promote cycling amongst its own staff, and lead by example.

Implement Car-free days & measure their impact; Close off parts of your city to motorised traffic for a day and give your citizens the chance to envision their city without cars. Measures such as free public transport for the day, cycling training for adults and children, and bike repair workshops enhance the experience. Record your pollution levels before and after!

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Spaces and Places

Design & Implement quality walking & cycling infrastructure – designing for pedestrians and cyclists makes a city inclusive and livable

Re-think your public space allocation; reallocate space away from motorised transport towards Active Mobility modes, this can include:

See possibilities

Converting on-street car-parking into walking and cycling infrastructure (pavement, bike lanes, bike parking).
Regulating your public space. Public space should be properly managed and priced – parking fees, meters etc. Use these funds to invest in Active Mobility interventions.

Ensure low-stress connectivity. Provide walking and cycling networks so that routes between origin and destination do not inflict high traffic stress or require large detours.

Provide bike parking facilities which are accessible and sufficiently protected

Encourage Multi-/Inter-modality. Make the connections between Active Mobility and public transport, this can include:

See possibilities

Making sure connections and transitions among different modes are easy and affordable, e.g. prioritise walking and cycling infrastructure investments around public transportation hubs, bike parking facilities at train and metro stations, allowing bicycles on trains, integrated route planning, for commuters, public bike-share as an integral part of first and last mile connectivity.
Promoting cycle logistics; cargo bikes used for delivery purposes, especially in inner city centres, are gaining both popularity and support. They can improve levels of cycling, replace over 50 % of urban transport-related trips, as well as enhance air quality, safety levels, and liveability of urban areas.

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Cooperation and Partnership

Make walking & cycling promotion a shared vision, across departments, sectors and levels of governance

Ensure cross sectoral collaboration among local administration departments working on environment, health, sport, leisure, education and other topics.

Appoint a "Walking & Cycling officer" to coordinate Active Mobility policies across departments and be the contact person for the wider public. Creating such a position within local administration has proven successful in starter cities.

Partner with stakeholders from civil society and the private sector

See possibilities

Create an Active Mobility taskforce with relevant stakeholders to identify priorities and lead your policies and strategies
Use participative processes for redesigning neighborhoods and encourage ownership and uptake by locals to changes
Find the EuroVelo (long-distance cycle route network in Europe) coordinator in your country and explore connections between cycle tourism infrastructure and services with your mobility strategies . Cycle tourism in regions with significant touristic activity are usually an entry way to commuter cycling.
Investigate the possibility to establish shared Active Mobility solutions with private corporations, e.g. city bike stations.

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Monitoring and Continuous Improvement

Develop an Active Mobility strategy.

Embed your Active Mobility policy within a wider framework to improve your city’s mobility system.

Manage demand for individual motorised transport – congestion charges, parking fees, low-emission zones are all measures to level the playing field between the private car and different modes of transport, as well as improve environmental sustainability and performance in a city.

Collect data about Active Mobility modal share on a regular basis; necessary for planning, implementing and evaluating interventions

See possibilities

Data on preferred routes, number of cyclists, waiting times at crossroads etc. serves as proof of implementation, source of feedback on policies and enables calculation of impact. Various methods exist for cycling data collection and many cities develop apps to calculate bicycle use.
Data on air quality, pollution, prevalence of Non-Communicable Diseases, traffic, accidents, etc. to monitor the impact of your Active Mobility measures

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Help

This tool is build to offer the better experience for our users. Nevertheless, if you meet some difficulties to navigate into the matrix, don't worry et please read the informations above.

How to:
you can fill in the matrix alone or with colleagues. The Matrix provides a large number of ideas, solutions and quick wins. Make sure you have enough time ahead of you before starting the exercise.
Data are saved automatically as you use the tool on the same computer. You can pause and resume your action plan at any time.

4 items : Active city, workplace, mobility and schools
You can navigate between items from buttons in the top of the matrix.
In each item, you'll find 5 subtitles on the right of your screen : do not hesitate to discover every items.

Quick wins, case studies, resources
On the right of your screen, some buttons will appear if you just hover them. It will offer you some important informations, examples and advices.

Share your work
Always on the right, you'll find a link which give you the opportunity to share your work with us.

Access your action plan
Of course, it could be the most important. You'll find severals buttons to access your action plan : on the right of your screen, at the end of the form or the button just over the help button.

Quick wins

These easily implemented actions with fast results will help your municipality start its Active Mobility journey:

Implement awareness-raising campaigns – such as “School Trains”, Bike2Work, Cycle-Friendly Employer schemes.
Participate in international events and campaigns, such as TAFISA World Walking Day, European Mobility Week (EMW), etc. – use this opportunity to pilot Active Mobility measures, assess current transport challenges, and progress towards sustainable mobility.
Try a car-free day and give your citizens the chance to envision and experience their city without cars.
Re-think your public space allocation – convert on-street car-parking into walking and cycling infrastructure (pavement, bike lanes, bike parking).
Regulate your public space – charge for car parking to finance investments in Active Mobility infrastructure.
Bike parking facilities particularly around transport hubs (like train stations) are instrumental to modal share shift.
Encourage Multi-/Inter-modality – make the connections between Active Mobility and public transport, allow bikes on trains, public-bike share as first and last mile connectivity solution.
Promote cycle logistics – cargo bikes used for delivery purposes, especially in inner city centres, have the potential to reduce motorised transport deliveries in urban centres dramatically.
Level the playing field – deter car use e.g. through Parking regulations, restricting motorised traffic in inner cities or residential neighbourhoods, reducing speed limits etc.

Resources

The Benefits of Cycling: Unlocking their potential for Europe
The Role of Walking and Cycling in Reducing Congestion: A Portfolio of Measures
WALKING, CYCLING AND CONGESTION – 15 Quick Facts for Cities
Practitioner Briefings: Cycling. Supporting and encouraging cycling in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning
Supporting and Encouraging Walking in Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning
Cycling Delivers on the Global Goals: Shifting towards a better economy, society and planet for all
Fiscal incentives for commuting
Cycle-friendly Employers Certification
The Urban Mobility Observatory
Guidance for Cycling Projects in the EU
European Cyclists’ Federation resources
Walk 21 resources

Case Studies

Discover some successful examples:

San Dona di Piave, Italy See the case

Turku, Finland See the case

Guimaraes, Portugal See the case

Ljubljana, Slovenia See the case

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Disclaimer: Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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