Rome, 13 December 2011 – The issue of traffic flows in mountain areas and, in particular, in the Alps, goes beyond national borders and needs to be thought again with a view to sustainable development and international cooperation. The Kyoto Protocol and the recent developments occurred in Durban, the policies of the European Union (EU) and the existing agreements between EU and Switzerland in the field of transport give a boost to States looking for new solutions, including a renewed attention to the railway sector and to the integration of different transport modes.

These themes have been analyzed during the Seventh Scientific Workshop on Mountain Mobility and Transport (SWOMM), which was held on 13 December 2011 at the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructures of Italy in Rome, to mark the celebrations for the International Mountain Day. The workshop SWOMM 2011 was promoted by the Italian Ministries for the Environment and for Transports, organized in cooperation with the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and the European Academy of Bolzano (EURAC) with the support of Transalpine Transport Architects (TRANSITECTS), the project on freight rail traffic in the Alps, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the “Alpine Space” Programme.

The panellist included a number of experts and the discussion was held under the auspices of the new Minister for the Environment of Italy Corrado Clini, who has sustained the SWOMM related initiatives since the very beginning in 2005. The speakers illustrated viable solutions aimed at addressing common problems such as the poor economic return on several rail lines and the lack of connections with other localities and regions: more effective planning of transport systems in national policies (Frey, Vescovi), increase in the use of innovative technologies (Senesi), improvements of the logistics in particular for freight transport (Ciochetta, Di Patrizi, Piccoli). In the afternoon important representatives of the secondary railways of the Alpine arch, gathered together in Rome for the first time, presented to the public a series of initiatives adopted by their companies to attract tourists and commuters, from all inclusive packages coupled with sport activities (ski pass, jumping, biking, canyoning, ect.) to trips made at the rhythm of blues and swing or inside carriages recognized as part of the world’s heritage by UNESCO.

The publication SWOMM 2010 – Transport and Environment in Mountain Areas was also launched during the workshop. Find it at this link: SWOMM 2010 or please send a request for hard copies to: info@swomm.info.

To find out more please see at this link the SUMMARY:

• SWOMM 2011_summary&agenda_EN
• SWOMM 2011_resoconto&programma_IT

and please find the PRESENTATIONS of the speakers here below.

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After having substantially neglected urban mobility issues for a long time when urban sprawl extended, a massive construction of new light railway and underground systems happened in more than 30 Chinese cities, with a growth of 50 percent in the number of subway carriages in China in the last year. In almost all the cases, the works are financed by government subsidies. Fares are generally cheap (starting from 2 yuan, corresponding to 0,31 dollars) and the services are clean and efficient. Nevertheless, from the economic point of view, none of the Chinese metro networks is profitable, highlighting losses of several millions of yuan.

Shezhen is experimenting a new way: the new Metro line 4 (costed some 6 billion yuan) is the first Chinese rail route fully funded by a private company, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation, under the build-operate-transfer model. MTR tries to reply what it did in 1975 in Hong Kong, by proposing a financial model that blends railway operation with property development.

The rail operator is understood to be in talks with the authorities for the right to develop its 30-hectare depot at the Longhua station. According to MTR documents, 8 ha of the depot are reserved for property development: property prices in Longhua would have the potential to rise 60-70 percent in the next 5 years, to 40 thousands yuan per sqm, owing to the area’s improved accessibility. Moreover, the MTR will collect lease and advertising income from the 100 shops and 900 advertising boxes at the 15 stations on the route.

MTR has been granted a 30-year franchise for Line 4. This line, occupies the network’s most central location and provides interchanges for all lines and it will also link up with the future high-speed railway to Guangzhou and Hong Kong’s East Rail at Futian.

In any case, “government subsidies are expected to remain a major mode of financing public transport services on the mainland, but if the rail-plus-property model proves to be sustainable, the government will consider adopting it for other rail projects,” said one rail expert.

Next years to come will show whether this model may offer a more market-oriented alternative to general government subsidies and public investments in the building of new urban metro lines, creating opportunities for private investors to join this business and a more profitable future for the community.

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A workshop on safe and healthy walking and cycling in urban areas will be held on 30 September – 1 October 2010 in Batumi, Georgia, organized under the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP) Staffete in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure of Georgia and the city of Batumi.

The event will include roundtable discussions aiming at identifying challenges and needs, in order to promote innovative policies for planning, financing, infrastructure development and regulations to support walking and cycling as increasingly viable and attractive modes of urban mobility.

It will be also possible to join a cycling and walking rally together with other governmental officials, sportsmen and activists as well as the launch of the first Walking school Bus in the ciry, which is running thanks to a very sustainable fuel…The Workshop will be conducted in English and Russian with simultaneous translation. More information is available in the website.

THE PEP, established in 2002, and serviced by the joint secretariat of the UNECE and WHO/Europe, offers a platform for countries to share information and know-how and benefit from each other’s experience with regard to transport, health and environment policies. THE PEP contributes to a greener economy, by addressing the following goals: contributing to sustainable economic development and stimulating job creation through investment in environment and health-friendly transport, managing sustainable mobility and promoting a more efficient transport system, reducing emissions of transport-related greenhouse gases, air pollutants and noise, promoting policies and actions conducive to healthy and safe modes of transport.

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Urban transport planning in developing cities is nowadays a key political and technical issue, requiring alternative approaches and solutions aimed to effectively face the phenomena of rapid and often unplanned growth of urban areas with high concentration of motor vehicles. Congestion, energy consumption, air pollution, and traffic crashes strongly affect society and environment in such settings, thus lowering quality of life and urban productivity.

The course addresses in particular urban and transportation planners, decision-makers from local governments as well as representatives of service providers (national governments, private sector, NGOs) and international organizations involved in the transport sector worldwide.

It aims to enhance the capacity to formulate and implement appropriate policies that contribute to sustainability in urban transport in developing countries, dealing with issues such as transport demand management, improved public and non-motorized transport, environmental protection, road safety, and gender in transport. It also provides information on economic and financial instruments, institutional improvements, capacity building, regulation of markets and environmental standards.

The course is web-based and it consists of 6 modules. Learning materials will be distributed and all learning activities will be moderated by a high level transportation expert. Participation in collaborative activities for about 2 hours/week as well as a study time of about 3 hours/week are required. A certificate of successful completion will be issued to participants to the course that will achieve a minimum total score of 70% in the assessment activities. The others will receive a certificate of participation.

UNITAR offers reduced fees (US$ 400) for participants from least developed countries/low income economies, lower-middle-income economies, and upper-middle income economies. Full fees (US$ 800) apply to participants from high-income countries.

Further information is available in the web site.

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Google has launched Open Spot, a new app aimed at helping “driving users” to find and share parking spots.

How does it work? It is very easy: users update a map when they are leaving their parking spots, thus enabling other drivers who are looking for a parking spot in the same area to quickly find one.

You just need to use your phone. The app pulls up a Google map close to the user’s location and displays open parking spots within an area of 1.5km/0.9 mile radius. You could signal as available your parking spot when you are leaving… And when you are hopelessly looking for a spot to get to the shopping mall before the closing or to be on time with your dentist… you can hope that available spots have been signaled in the map by other users!

Spots are differently colored according to how much time has passed since they have been signaled…  You could thereby choose the “fresher” one. However, after twenty minutes they disappear off the map. Indeed, it was already suggested that the system would be even more helpful if there was a way for users to confirm that they have “taken” a spot.

Open Spot is a great idea: a system relying on cooperation to save time and avoiding stress of driving users. It also has a great environmental value as it could help in saving gas and thus reducing pollution.

The only problem is that the contribution of this app to improve the parking process within an area would be really effective only whether the system will gain widespread adoption. Otherwise, if you’re one of the only person in the area who uses the app, it will likely be useless.

Let’s start to download the app and try it.. Then we could convince others to join it!

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The Joint Session was organized to coincide with the partners’ meetings of the two projects related to the European Programme Alpine Space. Main organizers were the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (FAO), which also benefitted of the support from other relevant institutions and organizations. The audience included participants in the projects coming from several countries of the Alpine arch such as Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Slovenia, as well as further institutional representatives from the Italian Ministry of Transport and UNEP.

Most of them came to take part in the two day working meeting of the TRANSITECTS Project, held on the 12 and 13 July 2010. The 6th Transnational Working Meeting of the TRANSITECTS Project’s Partners focused mainly on activities currently on schedule under the Project Work Packages, achieving the expected results. The project, promoted by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), focuses on the sustainability of transport in the Alps, addressing in particular the issue of freight and passengers’ displacements by railway.

On 13 July, also a Technical Meeting of the European Project AlpCheck 2 was held in FAO. AlpCheck 2 Project aims at improving sustainable mobility within the Alpine area and it is being co-financed as TRANSITECTS in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme. Partners responsible of some Working Packages met on 13 July in FAO to discuss further developments, and they continued working on 14 July in the EURAC Representing Office in Rome.

The Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, Mr. Douglas McGuire introduced the Joint Session with a speech regarding “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”. Mr. McGuire stressed the importance of multilateral projects focusing on mountain areas through different perspectives, such as TRANSITECTS and AlpCheck 2 are doing in the Alps. Projects or experiences focusing on transportation related to the mountain environment are welcomed by the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, which may facilitate exchanges and contribute to widening it from a European to a global scope.

Mr. McGuire also spoke about the SWOMM Side Event at the CSD18 (Commission on Sustainable Development) at the UN Headquarters in New York last May, describing it a successful experience of dissemination of the outcomes of research and activities carried out within the Alpine Space. The Side Event arose within the framework of the existing cooperation between the Italian Ministry for the Environment and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat.

After Mr. McGuire’s presentation, the partners from the two projects and other experts carried on working jointly in the Ethiopia Room, discussing common synergies and they engaging in the preparation of the upcoming WP7 cross-fertilization workshop.

Agenda of the Joint Session of the TRANSITECTS & AlpCheck 2 Projects

List of involved institutions and organizations
A Technical Study and Engineering Centre: CETE Méditerranée – France
A.L.O.T. s.c.a r.l. – Agency of East Lombardy for Transports and Logistics – Italy
Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Department I/K7 Combined Transport - Austria
Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – Central Directorate for mobility, energy and transport infrastructure – Italy
Board of Building and Public Works within the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior - Germany
Carinthian Regional Government – Department 7 – Economic Law and Infrastructure – Austria
European Academy of Bolzano Bozen – Institute for Regional Development and Location Management – Italy
German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development – Germany
Government of Carinthia – Department of economic law and infrastructure – Austria
Governmental Office of Land Salzburg, Dept.of traffic engineering and public transportation – Austria
Governmental Office of the Land of Tyrol, Dept. of traffic engineering – Austria
Joint State Planning Department of Berlin and Brandenburg – Germany
Logistic Kompetenz Zentrum – Germany
Lombardy Region, Directorate General Handicraft and Services – Italy
Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea – Italy
Ministry of Transport – Italy
Ministry of Transport Slovenia – Slovenia
Mountain Partnership Secretariat (FAO) – UN
Regional Association Donau-Iller – Germany
Regional Union of Veneto Chambers of Commerce – Italy
Republic of Slovenia, Ministry of Transport, Slovene Roads Agency – Slovenia
Research Institute for Ecology and Economy Applied to Alpine Areas – Italy
Stuttgart Region Economic Development Corporation – Germany
TCI Röhling – Transport Consulting International – Germany
UNEP - UN
Valle d’Aosta Region – Italy
Veneto Region – Italy
Venice Port Authority – Italy

On 13 July 2010, the Coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Mr. Douglas McGuire will give a speech at 12:45 on “Sustainable Mobility in Mountain Areas”, at FAO Headquarters in Rome. The speech will introduce the Joint Session of the Partners Meetings of two European projects, TRANSITECTS and AlpCheck2.

Both the projects address transport issues and aim to improve sustainability within mountain areas. They have been co-financed with European funds in the framework of the Alpine Space Programme.

Agenda of the Joint Session of the TRANSITECTS & AlpCheck 2 Projects

Rome – Tuesday, 13 July 2010 – FAO Headquarters, Nigeria & Ethiopia Room

For further information on the meeting send an email to: sara.maulo@fao.org.

Founding NuRide, Rick Steele aimed to address the many-sided problem of traffic congestion by encouraging carpooling or greener trips. Face to a decreasing trend in sharing the car to get to work, NuRide has offered since the 2005 discounts and rewards to the members which have registered on line for free and traced their routes travelled by carpool, public transportation, walking or biking. NuRide, at present developing its market, has already achieved great results, counting more than 47,700 members and having reduced 4 million car trips saving 4,763,000 gallons of gas in the past six years.

Jodie Wu conceived the core business idea which is leading Global Cycle Solutions while a student at MIT’s D-Lab. The company aims at improving developing countries technological endowments, by creating small devices such as mobile phone charger or other more curios objetcs – for farmers powered in an inexpensive manner. The particular feature of these tools which are attached to the back of a bicycle is that only the pedalling power is exploited, without need to rely on electricity or fuel. The production was launched in Tanzania and now they intend to address the China or India markets, also creating further bike-powered attachments, including one to grind corn into flour.

The company Mobis Transport has born in 2008 from a long–term non profit company. As a consultancy, it helps clients in conceiving, developing and managing bike stations for favouring multimodal transportation systems. The bike Station are usually build near public transit hubs, offering services for bicycles such as secure parking, repairs, changing rooms, and storage lockers. Mobis by now has helped develop 14 Bikestations in the U.S., mostly located in California, and it intends to install from 15 to 20 this year.

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London Municipality – Major Boris Johnson and the transport commissioner Peter Handy – unveiled the project of renewing the “Routemaster” in order to meet the 21st century environmental challenges. Transports by now account for 20% of the overall London CO2 emissions and 5% of all transport emissions created by buses will be cut down through the new hybrid model of the “double-decker bus”.

The new “Routemaster”- co-designed by the Wright Group and Thomas Heatherwick – is powered by the latest technology in hybrid-diesel motors: they can capture the energy released while braking and store it in battery packs for a boost produced by its electric motors. Tests revealed hybrid red double-deckers have a 40% better fuel efficiency compared with the traditional diesel ones and a 15% when compared with other hybrid-diesel powered buses. Moreover, compared with diesel buses, hybrid models are expected to produce a 40% NOx emissions and a 33% reduction in PM10 levels. Hybrid models also provide for a 3 decibel reduction in perceived noise levels, therefore being at the same time more fuel efficient, cleaner and quieter.

Trials have been held since 2008 to test hybrid buses’ performances, and 300 new “Routemaster 2.0” are expected to join the fleet by 2011. All new buses in service after 2012 in London – the Olympic year – will be hybrid. The city wants to reduce its CO2 emission levels by 20% in 2020 and by 60% in 2050, and an entire fleet of hybrid buses is said it could cut 200.000 tons of carbon each year.

Red buses will continue to be the most famous public transport in the world and an iconic symbol of London, even in the 21st century. By innovating in the path of tradition London buses’ legacy may also change worldwide the social perception of “green” public transport. Starting from the red small scale model souvenir of a double-decker bus which every tourist brings home after a trip to London: it could be soon shaped as an hybrid model.

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The SEETAC (South East European Transport Axis Cooperation) project was officially approved in April 2009 and will last until March 2012. The project is funded under the South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme and it involves 17 partners – Ministries for Transport and Infrastructure of Austria, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Croatia, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Italian Ministry for the Environment, Sea and Land Protection, Serbian Office of the President, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, SEETO, Informest and EURAC, lead by the Central European Initiative (CEI) and 4 observers – Ministries for Transport of Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Ukraine.

The Project area is an important transit one within the European Transport Network and an essential region to link Europe with the Far East. Nevertheless, the level of services offered is below the EU standards and suffers from scarce investments and lack of transnational cooperation.

SEETAC aims at solving the cross-border bottlenecks and the lack of harmonization, becoming an instrument to solve both the administrative problems, such as missing institutional and legal transnational framework at border crossings, and the operational ones, such as lack of common safety, security and environmental standards, lack of harmonization of transport modes.

The overall project objective is the establishment and implementation of an effective and coordinated SETA framework, promoting and fostering the institutional cooperation between PEC structures and Member States in order to reach the EU’s objectives of transparency and information reliability, harmonized and efficient institutional framework and rapid implementation of the transport priority projects.

The project aims to offer significant advantages to all the partners in terms of spatial planning and regional cooperation and integration, contributing to solve the existing problems in the traffic sector. A close cooperation among the main actors will facilitate to match investments, plan cross-border projects and agree on measures for the elimination of non-physical barriers (for freight and passengers/tourists) thus raising awareness of political decision makers and public opinion on the aims and priorities along the regional axes.

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