BITS in 2021: more ITS implementations, increasing visibility
After the Corona crisis in 2020 we had hoped that we would go back to ‘normal’ life soon. However, after another year with Corona numbers going up and down, we come to realise that we might have to rethink what is ‘normal’. For the BITS project normal now means no physical project meetings with the partners, no live excursions to partners’ bicycle ITS projects, no North Sea Region Conference in Bruges. Corona of course also had an impact on the BITS implementations, for example because bicycle and chip deliveries were delayed and some implementations requiring face to face instructions were not possible.
BITS being noted
However, we consider ourselves lucky that at least we have been able in the last few months to present our project achievements in live conferences, such as the Velo-City conference in Lisbon, the ITS World Congress in Hamburg, the POLIS conference in Gothenburg and the Cycling Research Board Annual Meeting in Copenhagen. Apart from these live conferences we were also present at numerous online events, such as the European Week of Regions and Cities, the Living and Walking in Cities (LWC) Conference and the Intertraffic ON AIR show. It is good to see that the BITS message doesn’t go unnoticed by the European Commission DG MOVE as was demonstrated by the keynote speech of Matthew Baldwin (Deputy Director General DG MOVE) at CIE 2021 Summit.
Matthew Baldwin at CIE 2021 Summit
Project extension with new partners
In June this year we got the confirmation that the BITS project was extended with an additional nine months until the end of 2022. With the extension we will be able to do an additional seven new ITS implementations. And we welcomed three new partners: Deelfiets Nederland, City of Oldenburg and Cycledata.
Three new partners entered the BITS project in 2021
Increasing number of ITS implementations
In total we now have 15 ITS implementations operational and another 11 pilots are close to implementation. To mention a few of the implementations that started this year: the bicycle parking information system in Bruges (BE), the bicycle challenge app for companies in Oldenburg (DE), Safety by radar in Aarhus (DK), smart cameras for incident detection in Zwolle (NL), bike sharing by Deelfiets Nederland in Kampen, Ommen and Dalfsen (NL) and the Bicycle Library in Withernsea (UK). Also, the BITS CycleDataHub, our portal to bicycle data, is now operational and we would welcome all bicycle data owners and interested parties to visit and, if possible, contribute to the portal: www.cycledatahub.eu.
Launch of the SHoRes Bicycle Library in Withernsea
Best wishes
We made good progress in 2021, despite the challenging conditions, and we expect to do even better in 2022. So, keep following us on our website and social media channels. For now, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
On behalf of the Project Management Team
Ronald Jorna
Project Manager BITS
