Task 1: Introduce yourself

Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Kristin Tovaas -
Number of replies: 20

Introduce yourself and your city by answering the following questions:

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
  • What is the population of your city?
  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?
  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.
  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?


Please post your responses in the Forum so your fellow participants know who you are.

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Gregory Matlesky -

Good evening all!

Not sure if this was the appropriate spot to post this but I'm having trouble finding any forums besides the announcements forum.  Please forgive me if this is posted in the wrong space.

Anyway, my name is Gregory Matlesky and I am a Master's student in Urban & Regional Planning at the University of Amsterdam.  I am originally from Washington, DC, USA where I worked for four years for the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, with the last two as Transportation Advisor, advising the Chairman on transportation issues in DC and regionally with the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board.  

The District of Columbia has 680,000 residents (though without voting representation in Congress, but I digress) and congestion is always a looming issue in the city.  As the employment center of the National Capital Region, our population swells to over twice its size as we welcome commuters from nearby Virginia and Maryland.  We have a Metrorail and Metrobus system, but decades of deferred maintenance has taken its toll on the system and has led to frequent delays and frustrations, plus several safety incidents that have put the integrity of the Metrorail system in doubt.  As a result, the Metro system is shedding riders, with many opting to take cars and overloading our already congested roadways.

Walking has been a serious form of transportation in the city for quite some time, but cycling didn't go on the transportation agenda until a decade or so ago when Mayor Adrian Fenty, dubbed "America's Cycling Mayor", installed several miles of bike lanes, including the first protected bicycle lane on 15th Street, NW.  The city has since expanded several bicycling facilities over the years (mostly painted lanes, but some protected facilities) but political will has been lacking in the most recent two mayoral administrations.  Still, advocates push hard for bicycling improvements, but the process takes several years and numerous vociferous public meetings before infrastructure is actually installed and when it is, it is often severely watered-down and not at all international best practice.  At last measurement, cycling had a 4.5% mode share in the city, but anecdotal evidence suggests this may have risen quite considerably in the nearly three years since last measured because of issues with the Metrorail system.  


Well, that's DC!  Please feel free to reach out with any questions regarding transportation in the District or our voting rights situation.  Really excited to hear about all your cities smile  


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Ksenia Semenova -

I'm Ksenia

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work for Kyiv Cyclists' Association and Kyiv City Council as Advisor to the Mayor on Cycling. Basically, I work to promote cycling for daily use. My strategic goal is to change the decision-making process on infrastructure development in the city
  • What is the population of your city?

3 millions

  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

Regularly congested streets in rush hours. The city administration worries about it a lot but sees the solution in the development of infrastructure for cars...

  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Modal split: pedestrian - 35%, 0,1% - cycling, 37% - public transport, 28% - cars. 

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

So far, cycling is announced by the mayor as one of priorities but engineers don't know how to work with cycling infrastructure and make it safe and useful. Other than that, they focus on public transport and individual motorized transport.  


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Jelena Nikolić -

Hello everyone,

my name is Jelena Nikolić. I'm Architect and I'm working in City administration of the City of Kruševac as independent expert associate for energy efficiency and sustainable urban mobility.

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
  • I'm working in the Department for urban planning and construction on development projects and strategies related to energy efficiency of public buildings and public lightning and on improvement living conditions in substandard settlements. Currently I'm working on development of first Sustainable urban mobility plan- SUMP of the City of Kruševac. We expect that SUMP will be addopted in June 2017.
  • What is the population of your city?
  • Kruševac has cca 130.000 inhabitants.
  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?
  • Every year number of registred vehicles increases. Because of that, lack of parking space and habits of citizens to use car even for short distances, congestion occurs almost every day. That is especially noticeably in the city center. In order to raise awareness about this isue, we organized European mobility week 2015 and close main street every evening for motor traffic. Because of positive reaction, in 2016 we closed the same street every evening during whole Summer. Congestion in main street Main street closed for motor traffic. Every evening during Summer 2016.
  • During EMW 2016 the traffic was counted in this street during peak hour , and result was: pedestrians 1480, cars 830, cyclists 93, light freight vehicles 76, bus 22. 
  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.
  • Because we are working on SUMP, we conduct survey among citizens about their travel habits. And we got following result: walking 44%, cycling 3%, public transport 19%, taxi 2%, car 32%.
  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?
  • Walking and cycling are still not considered as a modes of transport.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Cristina Villalón Robles -

Task 1.1

· Where do you work and what do you do there?

My name is Cristina Villalón, I am Doctor in Biological Sciences (Environment), and I work for the City Council of León (Spain) as a Sustainable Mobility Technician.

· What is the population of your city?

126.192 inhabitants (Source: INE, National Institute of Statistics - 2016).

· What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

The city of León does not suffer from important traffic congestion, since it is a medium-sized city, where more than 64% of the people make their daily trips on foot, although 28% state that they use motorised vehicles. In any case, only the core center and main accesses of the city have some high traffic levels during rush hours.

· How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Unfortunately we do not have updated data, but that provided by the SUMP (2009) showed that we just had 0.28% cyclists. We expect to make a new study this year. Nevertheless, the number of bike users has significantly increased through these last years, mainly because of the construction/implementation of new infrastructure such as bike lanes, bike racks, bike loan system, etc. As regards walking, the modal share is mentioned in previous answer.

· How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

Nowadays they are fully considered, reason why the Mobility Department of the City Council of León organises frequent specific meetings, discussion talks, and other initiatives with topic ‘bicycle’ since we want to apply measures taking into account experience, opinions and demands of bike users (Public Participation).


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Frederic Rudolph -

Hi everybody,

I am Frederic and work with Wuppertal Institute as a project coordinator. I will be moderating this course together with Kristin. I work in the beautiful city of Wuppertal, well known for its "Schwebebahn", a suspended monorail. You can see the Schwebebahn structure on the picture below. Wuppertal has 350.000 inhabitants. It is also known as Germany's San Francisco due to its steep slopes. It is located and densly populated along the river Wupper. Due to scarce space in the river valley, congestion is a big issue. Bicycle share is only 1.7 percent of all trips, not only due to the slopes but also because of the incredibly short bicycle network - also well demonstrated on the picture. But the city makes honest efforts to improve the situation for cyclists.Wuppertal

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Maksym Dorosh -

Hi!

My name is Maxym.

-          Where do you work and what do you do there?

I am a graduate student at Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, City development department and also work at A+S Consalt, specialist on transport planning and modelling.

Basically am developing static transport models of cities.

-          What is the population of your city?

According to official statistics - 2 908 088, but every day people come to Kyiv with the metropolitan area, according to preliminary estimates, about 550 000

-          What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

Regularly congestion during peak hours, so this is a serious problem, authorities make a minimum of effort to reduce the use of individual transport.

-          How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them

Approximately 2000-3000 cyclists in city

Modal split: pedestrian – 35,4%, 0,1% - cycling, 36,8% - public transport, 27,7% - cars. 

-          How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

In the city, the main attention is focused on the individual and public transport.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Daniel Pavleski -

Where do you work and what do you do there?

I am traffic engineer and work for the department for transport of City of Skopje since 2008. In this moment I am responsible for traffic management and analysis.

What is the population of your city?

The State statistical office has estimated that in 2015 Skopje has 544086 inhabitants.

What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

The congestion in Skopje is considered as the serious problem.  It is most prominent in the central business district (CBD) of the city. Congested traffic conditions are occurs in the morning peak hour (07.30h – 08.30h) when most of the people travel to their work places located in the central business district or in the rest parts of the city and in the afternoon peak hour (16.00h – 17:00h) when the people travel back to their homes. The rapid growth of car ownership and use and land use play leading role in producing congestion in the city.

How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

According the traffic study for traffic system of Skopje from 2011 the modal split in Skopje is as: 35% walking, 1.4% cycling, 30% public transport and 33.6% private cars.

How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

The cycling and walking in Skopje are not taken seriously as mode of transportation. Most of the trips are performed by car as result of good conditions and faster traveling with car despite the congestion in CBD, lack of public transport capacity and lack of bicycle friendly infrastructure.


In reply to Daniel Pavleski

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Hannah Dayan -
Where do you work and what do you do there?

I work for Transport for West Midlands which is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority as the Cycling Charter Coordinator. I am responsible for stakeholder management and managing the activities and members of the Cycling Charter Steering Group.

https://www.tfwm.org.uk/media/1067/cycle-charter.pdf


What is the population of your city?

about 5.6 million in the entire West Midlands

What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?Congestion is an issue in some areas and is a concern. How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them. Cycling is about 1% of total mode share. The aim of the Charter is to increase it to 5% by 2023.


How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

Cycling provisions are still considered as an afterthought, and it is challenging to give it the same priority as other major modes, especially in light of light rail and HS2 being developed in the region.

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Violeta Mihalache -

My name is Violeta Mihalache and I work at Cadariu and Partners that is a consultancy company in Timisoara, Romania. My major is in public relations and communication and I am involved in the projects of the company that deals with urban mobility and urban regeneration.

Timisoara is the third city in Romania in terms of population, having 320,000 inhabitants plus roughly 30,000 students that come from other cities to study in Timisoara.

Yes, congestion is an importnat issue in Timisoara, mainly to the rapid increase of the number of cars and the lack of new infrastructure combined with the lack of behavioural campaigns for changing the traffic habits.

According to the data that we collected for the first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of Timisoara, only 1% of the journeys in the Metropolitan Area of Timisoara is made by bike – that is almost nothing. Yet, in the last few years there is an increase of those who use bikes in Timisoara, due to some infrastrusture work and the bike-sharing centers, but there is not a constant use of bike as a means of transport. It is rather, `we use bike when it is sunshine for a nice ride`. There are no data about walking.

 


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Lia Ferreira -

Avenida Aliados

Hello everyone:

My name is Lia Ferreira, i'm an architect specialized in accessibility and mobility for all. I'm also a disable person because I only move myself  in a wheelchair.

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?

I work at Oporto City Hall where I am The Ombdswoman for Cities With Disabilities. As you can imagine, my job i is to promote inclusion policies for citizens with disabilities. For that II coordinate a smal team with technical collaborators and a social worker. In my office we design projects and policies that guarantee the improvement of the quality of life of all in our city. believe that by working to improve mobility difficulties for people with disabilities, I am helping to improve the movement of all citizens. That is why I try to present Projects for the requalification of the urban space, with a view to improving the conditions of accessibility and mobility for all.

Porto City Hall

  • What is the population of your city?

The city of Porto has about 250 thousand inhabitants

  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

 In Porto, traffic is very intense, especially at certain times of the day. So, we can say that our traffic congestion is a serious problem.Escarpa

  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

 In the city of Porto there is still little investment in transportation by bicycle. This lack of aptness for the use of the bicycle is a strong consequence of the rugged land of the city. The city is located on a escarpment next to the Douro's river. Mostly people travel by foot, metro and city-bus.

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

The modes of transportation, mobility problems as we call, are a high priority for the Porto CityHall.

Ponte Infante D. Luís.

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Deleted user -

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?

I work in Dublin City Council in the Traffic Department. I am currently involved in Traffic related issues with all modes of transport in an effort to improve the flow of traffic in the city, enhance economic activity and improve everyday life for the people of Dublin. I am starting a new role focused on providing and improving cycle infrastructure in the City.

  • What is the population of your city?

527,612 (according to google!)

  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

Congestion is high and it is a big challenge for DCC currently as well as looking into the future.

  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Cyclist numbers increased from 5000 in 1997 to 12000 in 2016.

Pedestrians numbers increased in the same period from 16000 to 21000

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

Cycling and walking are the priority for the Council and placed above that of the private car user in the heirarchy


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Timothé Bronkhorst -

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?

My name is Timothé Bronkhorst and I'm working as a mobility consultant in Lyon, France. I founded my company MobiSim in 2013 and am specialized in micro-simulation using VISSIM. I try to focus on simulation including cycles and public transport.

  • What is the population of your city?

The "Métropole de Lyon" had 1 354 476 inhabitants in 2014, and includes 59 cities.

  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

Congestion is substantial, like in many other big cities, but is not dramatic. It's considered a problem and is treated with a bit of schizophrenia : the city is reducing the traffic lanes and parking area in the center, but is still planning big road infrastructures outside the city center. The PT network is quite good in Lyon and improving each year, and cycling and walking are more and more considered as real transportation modes.

  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Cars : 42% - PT : 19% - walking : 35% - cycling : 2%

Those mode shares include all the cities in the Métropole, including those that are in suburb areas where cars are way stronger.

Car is decreasing year after year (46% in 2006) but remains quite high, PT is increasing too. Walking has increased a bit and is the second transportation mode. Cycling is stable and is fairly low, but the modal shares calculations are controversial, as cyclists countings show a 15-20% increase each year for the last years.

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?
They're more and more taken into consideration, and the Métropole is dedicating more money to them each year. Lyon was one of the first city to offer a wide bike sharing system (Vélo'V), but cycling infrastructures were quite bad for a long time. It's improving since a few years but it lacks a strong political support. Cycling is more and more popular though, and associations are fighting hard to improve cycling conditions.

Cyclist infrastructure is sadly more in conflict with PT infrastructure than with road infrastructures nowadays, PT operators see cycling as a competitor and not really as an ally...

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Deleted user -

Hi,

My name is Lisette Hoeke. I work for the NHTV Breda, University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. At our academy for Urban Development, Logistics and Mobility we work on different cycling and walking projects. Within these projects we develop innovative tools and products and gain knowledge about these sustainable transport modes.

Since I do not work for one specific city or region, but for national and international project, I can tell you a bit more about cycling and walking in the Netherlands. In the larger cities, congestion is a big problem. Especially during rush hour. Commuters go by car to their work everyday. Cities have different approaches to solve the congestion problem. We see that bicycle stimulation programs are become very popular the last years. These programs focus on commuters and a lot of people participate in the programs.

In the Netherlands cycling is a common transport mode and compare to other countries we cycle a lot. But we still see there is a potential grow possible. In the picture below the left diagram is the modal split for people in the Netherlands in moving distance. The right diagram is the modal split for amount of trips. Blue is car (light as a driver, dark as a passenger), dark green is cycling including electrical bicycle and purple is walking. Especially in the right picture a total of 46% of the trips is made by bicycle or walking.

 

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Amiram Rotem -

hi

My name is Amiram Rotem

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work in the Jerusalem Municipality
  • What is the population of your city?
870,000 peoples
  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?
heavy and it is serious
  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.
Only 0.5% is cycling. walking is much better
  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?
not so seriously because we put on effort on mass transit system



In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Günther Illek -

Hello everybody!

My apologies, but due to illness and corresponding shortages in my work I am quite late with my contributions.

My Name is Günther Illek and I am working for FGM-AMOR (Austrian mobility Research) in Graz. In my job I am nearly exclusively working on a variety of someteimes very different bicycle traffic projects, normally focussing on awareness raising, knowledge transfer (e.g. via publications for the Austrian Ministry of Traffic), sign posting projects and different studies on traffic safety or bicycle traffic related innovations.

Thanks to this various tasks, I am happy to be quite aware of the actual trends within Austria.

Facts about the City of Graz:

Population: ~280.000 inhabitants

Modal Split in %(2013):

  • ·         Public Transport: 19,8
  • ·         Car: 37,5
  • ·         Car Passenger:9,3
  • ·         Bicycle: 14,5
  • ·         Walking: 19,9

 

In general, the topography of the city of Graz is rather flat. Still, there are traffic narrows occurring on the main (motorized) traffic axes, often due to the fact that surrounding hills at the outskirts of the city minimise the possibilities for further infrastructure. So congestion is a problem in the city of Graz, but by far our main problem is particulate matter! The City of Graz regularly exceeds the European limits, endangering the health of its inhabitants and provoking fines from the European Parliament soon.  Sadly it seems that the second argument – the fines- is the most driving argument for actions.

One measure the City wants to take to reduce congestion and air pollution is the promotion of cycling. The City of Graz already was Austria’s Cycling Capital for many years, but even though we had a strong bicycle focus from 2007 to 2011 (maybe 2012, will check that later) the amount of car trips in the modal split was rising  1,8%, whereas cycling fell from 16,1 to 14,5, with walking and PT being more or less stagnant in overall.

This may be based on the new inhabitants coming from rural areas with a car oriented behaviour, but I think it is corresponding to a lack of Push & Pull –approach and hence a lack of measures making car driving unattractive.

Cycling is seen as a relevant means of transport, but normally the individual motorized traffic has a higher priority in the cities strategic plannings. Walking is more or less “that what remains”, apart from the city of Graz is very eager and competent on barrier-free constructions.

On the existing bicycle traffic networks, there are parts where you have a significant speed reduction due to too many cyclists on the bicycle path.

In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Francisco Faria -

Hello World! 

I'm Francisco, from Lisbon.


  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work in TIS, as a traffic engineer.

  • What is the population of your city?
Lisbon is home to 500 000 people.
  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?
It's heavy but in line with a capital city. It becomes a serious problem when external factors enhance the "normal" congestion.
  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.
54% automobile

28% public transport

16% walking

2% other (including cycling)

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?
In the last years alternative methods of transportation have been brought to the spotlight, with increased investments in them.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Predrag Živanović -

Hi to all, my name is Predrag. First of all I want to pardon myself for being late to this course. It looks like a very interesting and lively conversation have arisen here. Hope it not late for any contribution from my side.

  • Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, as teaching assistant. I am also a senior partner in PTC - Public transport consult. My field of expertise is primarily public transport, but I do have experience in cycling and walking modelling, as member of TRACE project.
  • What is the population of your city?

Belgrade has population of 1,6 million inhabitants.

  • What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

Congestion is still not as serious problem as in some other European capitals, although capacity fails to meet all the demand in rush hours.   

  • How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Average speed on road network is 26 km/h. Modal share in Belgrade shows that 26% of network users are Pedestrians & Cyclists, 25% Cars; 50% PT, with mobility rate 2.18 per person per day and car ownership with  210 cars per 1000 inhabitants. Cycling is at very low level, using PRESTO classification Belgrade is a starter city. Main reasons are the lack of cycling infrastructure (only 130km of cycling lanes and tracks, majority in only one part called Novi Beograd) and lack of "cycling culture" among inhabitants. Regarding walking, there is a project to make complete city centre a pedestrian area. It is due to be done in next couple of years.

  • How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

Belgrade SUTP puts focus on the attractiveness and competitiveness of the public transport system and with strategies aiming at containing the growth of private car and promoting soft modes (walking and cycling) which need to be defined and put in practice immediately. In recent years, Belgrade has initiated and implemented several significant projects related to this topic. Bicycle infrastructure is developing and cycling is promoted through different types of campaigns and events (Bike fest, European mobility week, Streets for Cyclist, Educational bicycle training program for schools, etc). However, until this moment only few projects were realized in last ten years: new infrastructure - construction of bicycle network in New Belgrade; new Sava river bicycle route (June, 2013); construction of bike lifts for network connection; Belgrade public e- bicycles (combination of car parks and free e-bicycles: 3 stations with 100 bicycles); Euro Velo route 6 through Serbia and Belgrade, etc.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Simonas Puzonas -

Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work in the municipal enterprise "Vilnius plan". Focus on transport planning.

What is the population of your city?

550.000

What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

City streets clogged during rush hours. Administration position to plan the infrastructure for cars, and so we have cars.

How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Modal split: pedestrian - 36%, 1% - cycling, 25% - public transport, 38% - cars. 

How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

Begins to pay attention. But not enough.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Daniel Álvarez Varela -

Where do you work and what do you do there?
I work in a Single - Parent Foundation and I manage the projects area.

What is the population of your city?

126.000

What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?

No, only in the urban area may be a problem bur in our municipality is not a serious problem.

How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.

Ciclyng is not a very popular way of transport, in our municipality the pedestrian mode leads all the modes.

How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?

The pedestrian mode is part of the priorities in the city, and in the cycling area they are taking measures, but with little steps.


In reply to Kristin Tovaas

Re: Task 1: Introduce yourself

by Shabir Ahmed -
Where do you work and what do you do there?
Green Line BRT Karachi, work as SLA Team Lead

What is the population of your city?
16.45 million

What is congestion like in your city? Is it considered a serious problem?
Congestion is severe during peak hours but becomes a serious problem during rain.


How much cycling is there in your city? What about walking? Please give the mode shares if you know them.
Cycling is to a negligible extent whereas walking constitutes around 3% I think

How seriously are they taken as modes of transportation?
Not serious at all