BITS project at the annual POLIS Conference in Gothenburg
Else Tutert (Province of Overijssel) presented the BITS project at the annual POLIS Conference in Gothenburg on the 1st of December. POLIS is a leading network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport. Circa 600 people attended the conference and more than 60 of them joined the session about “traffic management of the future”, where Else was one of the speakers.
In her presentation she highlighted some examples and the lessons learnt. One of the conclusions of the discussion afterwards was that intelligent transport systems for cyclists can be a solution for the challenges we are facing. The ambition of most of the speakers and attendees is to grow towards multimodal traffic management. This will also ask different skills from people working on it.
The focus of the conference was on innovation, sustainability and co-creation. Inclusiveness and liveable streets were important recurring topics. There are some lessons out of the conference that we can use for the BITS project:
- It is important to clarify the “urgent problem” - a partner is more likely to join if it will help him or her to solve their urgent problems.
- We need solutions that integrate in the whole system and/or city/region. The challenges are too big for “stand alone” solutions. This means that sometimes big decisions have to be made. For example, no cars here, only walking and cycling. It was noticeable that in Gothenburg at some locations like in the city centre, Haga and Lindholmen these decisions are made and some liveable streets appear.
- One of the lessons out of the BITS project is to focus on the user’s perspective. At the conference there was a call to not always focus on the usual suspects. There are some good examples where people include the younger generation and the people thinking differently from the mainstream.
It is obvious that the BITS project does contribute towards the challenges we are facing, like urbanisation and climate neutrality. The bike is a precondition for achieving liveable streets and inclusiveness.
A free ferry from the city to Lindholmen in Gothenburg, every 8 minutes during the day.