Community project studies from SUMP

Summary

As a basis for updating and expanding Gdynia’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), Gdansk University of Technology prepared a range of community project studies for priority actions identified in Gdynia’s draft SUMP. Studies were conducted on Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), road traffic modifications, public transport lines distribution, development of pedestrian areas and promotion of cycling. All studies took considerations, proposals and comments from citizens into account, gathered via an internet platform and stakeholder meetings. The result was a more advanced SUMP for the City of Gdynia. Some of the community projects studies were also a basis for pilot projects implementation.

Implementing sustainable mobility

While elaborating the dynamic SUMP in CIVITAS-DYN@MO’s project Advancing towards dynamic SUMP some elements of the City’s SUMP were implemented. In addition the following pilot projects within CIVITAS-DYN@MO took place:

• Innovative Li-Ion hybrid trolleybuses on new line
• Automatic traffic incident detection
• Weigh-in-motion and Enforcement
• Mobility 2.0 communication

The Community project studies contributed to a more advanced SUMP for the City. It was expected that traffic management in the city would improve and consequently, less congestion and transport-related pollution would contribute to a better quality of life of the city’s inhabitants.

The main objectives of the Community project studies were to:

• prepare studies for priority actions identified in the SUMP, developed within the BUSTRIP project
• prepare community project studies which will serve as a basis for updating and expanding Gdynia’s SUMP
• decrease congestion and reduce pollutions after implementation of measures set up in the analyses and studies within community projects

Examples of elements of the SUMP that were analysed in this measure were the PRT study of the line connecting Gdynia’s main railway station with Molo Rybackie and the analysis of chosen variants of road traffic modifications and PT lines distribution. These lead to results and concepts that were implemented in the framework of the SUMP.

Progress

The existing version of the Sustainable Urban Transport Plan (SUTP) of the City of Gdynia needed to be updated and extended to include all modes of transport. Some of the SUTP measures were no longer up-to-date; others needed verification or further detail formulation. Various indicators were not precise enough and there has often been a lack of specific analyses. This made it difficult to gain political and public support for new ideas and for implementing recommended actions. So, the first priority was to analyse some of the elements to be implemented or extended of the existing SUTP.

In case of mobility management and transport planning related issues, at this point the public was seldom consulted and often it was hard to reach the right interest groups. There were no practical tools available, such as an internet platform or social media, which could have been used for consultations with the local community and local stakeholders in order to reach as many people as possible and to gain their support or collect their opinions on this issue.

Planning & preparation

• collect data for elaboration of studies
• consult stakeholders on the preparation of the studies
• prepare a concept for the PRT study
• prepare a concept for the study on road traffic modifications and PT lines distribution
• prepare a concept for the study on cycling promotion, walking and pedestrian areas

Implementation & demonstration

In the implementation phase the following activities were conducted:

• Cycling promotion walking and pedestrian areas: Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT) conducted a simulation of closure for traffic of the two main shopping streets in Gdynia, which was a part of the CIVITAS-DYN@MO measure Pedestrian areas and access management.
• Cycling promotion, walking and pedestrian areas: Based on the developed concept for the study on cycling promotion, walking and pedestrian areas, the City of Gdynia organised and run campaigns to promote cycling and walking, encouraging selected target groups of residents to walk or cycle, especially in their daily home-work or home-school trips. The campaigns were held yearly during 2014-2016. For the purpose of the campaigns the City of Gdynia prepared adequate tender documents and carried out all required organisational activities.
• PRT study of the line connecting Gdynia’s main railway station with Molo Rybackie was done by GUT. Based on the analyses and tools that were prepared as part of the Traffic model development to expand Gdynia’s SUMP, the impact of PRT elements on traffic conditions in the city centre has been determined. Based on the study, it was possible to determine whether implementation of such measures (i.e. of its inclusion in the SUMP) was justified. The results were presented on the internet platform that was developed as part of another CIVITAS-DYN@MO measure.
• GUT analyzed the different variants of road traffic modifications and PT line distribution that were proposed by Gdynia’s citizens. Based on this and with tools that were part of the Traffic model development to expand Gdynia’s SUMP, research was done on the impact of traffic re-organisation. The results were presented and discussed on the internet platform.
• The elaboration of the studies (except the study for the promotion of cycling and walking) were conducted by Gdansk University of Technology – each study was presented and discussed on the internet platform. The studies took into account the considerations, proposals and comments from citizens gathered via the internet platform. Stakeholder meetings were organised as well.

Outcomes

Tangible outputs:

• Set of transport studies and projects consulted and/ or approved by the public
• An updated and expanded SUMP for Gdynia
• Community projects as set of tools to disseminate among other towns and within The Baltic Competence Centre

Expected outcomes in the short to medium-term:

• Public debate on the solutions and results of studies
• Report on PRT systems in Europe and possibility of PRT implementation in Gdynia

Expected outcomes in the mid- to long-term:

• Improved planning for cycling development, including a wide social consultations process
• Involvement of passengers and other important stakeholders in the public transport planning process
• Higher awareness of public transportation matters among local society