Public Transport - Beyond Borders: Joint Event of Magyar CIVINET and CIVINET Romania
Image by Mobilissimus Kft.
The event, jointly organised by CIVINET Hungary and CIVINET Romania on 18-19 November, focused on the development of public transport. The cross-border event took place across several venues of the two twin cities of Timisoara and Szeged, providing an opportunity for participants to learn directly about the practical solutions and experiences of both. On each day of the event, an interpreter helped to overcome the language barriers, so that both the Romanian-language programme on the day in Timisoara could be followed by Hungarian CIVINET members on their native language and vice versa for the Hungarian-language programme in Szeged.
Călin BADIU, General Director of Timișoara Metropolitan Transport Association (ADI SMTT), hosted the first day in Timisoara, with Violeta Mihalache, Head of the Secretariat of CIVINET Romania, and Antal Gertheis, Head of the Secretariat of CIVINET Hungary, welcoming the participants on behalf of the organisers. They used their welcome address to stress how important such events can be for cross-border knowledge sharing.
Ciprian Vlad, representing the ADI SMTT, gave a detailed presentation on Timișoara's efforts to green their public transport. The focus of the presentation was on the expansion of their electric vehicle fleet (tram, electric bus and trolleybus), tramline renovations and improvements. After presenting the infrastructure improvements, Laurențiu Pătrașcu, from the Timișoara Public Transport Company (STPT), gave a presentation on the implementation of mobility applications in Timișoara. He showed how smart solutions, such as digital ticketing systems and real-time journey information, help to increase the efficiency of transport services.
Cătălin Frângulea-Pastor of the Association for the Development of Sustainable Transport in the Brașov Metropolitan Area (AMDDTPBv) gave an inspiring presentation on the parallels between community transport development and art. In his presentation, he drew attention to the territorial differences that characterise transport development in Romania and highlighted the role of the event in spreading professional experience and inspiration. András Ekés, Managing Director of Mobilissimus, continued the series of technical presentations, discussing network optimisation and timetable harmonisation activities in these cities, improving both efficiency and service quality on urban public transport networks.
In the second half of the day, the participants were taken on a tour of some of the tramway developments mentioned above, and a site visit led by Laurențiu Pătrașcu to the vehicle depot of Timișoara Public Transport Company (STPT), which houses the trams and electric buses, to observe the latest vehicles used by the municipality.
Next morning, the participants went for a walk in the city centre of Szeged. Tibor Vincze, Deputy Project Director of Szeged Pólus, helped to present the city's sustainable transport developments. In addition to public transport and active mobility developments, he also drew the participants' attention to the monument of the Hungarian-Romanian reconciliation proposal on Klauzál Square.
After the morning walk, the transport experts and city decision-makers were introduced to the efforts in the field of electric transport of Szeged Transport Company (SZKT) by Dr. Ádám Zoltán Németh, Head of Public Transport and Railway Safety of the company. His responsibilities extend beyond tram, electric and trolleybus services, as SZKT also operates the shared e-scooter system in the city. In addition to the infrastructure and fleet improvements, the presentation also discussed the means of service quality and reliability that SZKT is using to strengthen the competitiveness of sustainable transport modes over private motorised transport. In the second presentation, Sándor Nagy, Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Szeged, took a broader view of sustainable urban mobility development, suggesting that every urban development project can be a sustainability project, and proposing the complex development of urban spaces, where progress can often be made in small steps, but always keeping the big picture in mind.
In the second block of the technical presentations, András Ekés, CEO of Mobilissimus, gave an overview of the current problems of public transport in Central and Eastern Europe, such as urban sprawl, lack of integration and digitalisation, ageing vehicles and infrastructure, or transport poverty. However, the presentation also presented good solutions from the region, such as local and international cooperation, well-functioning intermodality, fleet renewal and innovative technologies. The presentation continued with a review of the renewal of the local bus service in Nyíregyháza, where Mobilissimus has redesigned the network and timetable - introducing demand-driven services - and developed a new fare model. The work has also focused on communication with both large employers and the public, with awareness-raising campaigns and retro and festive services promoting public transport in the city. After the example of Nyíregyháza, Balázs Fejér, from the Transport Management Department of the Miskolc Municipality, reported on the development of public transport in the city of Miskolc. After presenting the trends in demand and supply of public transport, he outlined the main points of intervention in recent years, such as the creation of the Municipal Transport Management Department, the strengthening of the role of the city as client, and the restructuring of the network by creating new connections and optimising the timetable with harmonised services.
After the lunch break, the participants, led by Dr. Ádám Zoltán Németh, took a regular trolleybus ride from the city centre to the SZKT trolleybus and tram depot, where they were introduced to the details of the planned maintenance and accident repairs of the trams. After the site visit, Dr. Zoltán Ádám Németh presented the details of the tram-train development and operation at the tram-train stop in front of the Rókus railway station.
The joint event of Hungarian CIVINET and CIVINET Romania, in addition to professional programmes and inspiring presentations, provided an excellent platform for exchanging experiences and establishing new partnerships, emphasising the importance of cross-border knowledge sharing.
Author: Magyar CIVINET Titkárság
