Winner city: Ghent
Any of the 58 CIVITAS demonstration cities were eligible to apply for this award.
Bicycles are at the heart of Gent’s mobility policy, and the city has proven its dedication to this priority through the creation of a large pedestrian area in the city centre, the development of a primary cycle network, a student-friendly bicycle rental system, and plans to build a garage for more than 10,000 bicycles. These efforts are complemented by a host of public transportation services, namely extended tramlines, segregation of public transport lanes, longer operating hours, free night buses, and free public transport for children under the age of 15.
Winner city: London Borough of Sutton
Any of the 105 CIVITAS Forum Network members were eligible to apply for this award.
“Smarter Travel Sutton” is the name of this London Borough’s social marketing programme to convince citizens to change their transport habits, and reduce resident car trips. Since 2006, the Sutton Council has actively made contact with every household in the borough (population 185,000) in an attempt to encourage them to complete a “personal travel planning” project. All schools in
Sutton have a “School Travel Plan” and more than 100 Sutton businesses have a Workplace Travel Plan. The £5 million campaign is the largest and most ambitious campaign of its kind undertaken in Europe.
Winner city: Nantes
Any of the 58 CIVITAS demonstration cities were eligible to apply for this award.
Nantes’ winning entry focused on four action areas, which helped it earn the “City of the Year” award. The first two actions relate to the bus network: the development of a clean bus fleet (more than 80% of the city’s total bus fleet now runs on compressed natural gas; and the design of a new “Chronobus” quality and performance mark for bus lines within Nantes. Third, Nantes demonstrated aggressive improvement in bicycle use through the construction of secure bike parking spaces, extension of the rent-a-bike service, and experimentation with the use of foldable bicycles in combination with public transport. Finally, the city remodelled city centre roads to favour public transport (tram lines, for example) over private cars.
