BITS Project Manager Ronald Jorna on the Intertraffic ON AIR show
ON AIR 5 | EUROPEAN GREEN DEAL: SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY
This article has been originally published on Intertraffic website (https://bit.ly/3zYRypC)
During this Intertraffic ON AIR episode four experts, Lucas Harms, managing director of the Dutch Cycling Embassy; Ronald Jorna, Bicycles & ITS project manager for the Dutch province of Overijssel; Pieter Litjens, general director of CROW; and director of new ventures at MaaS Global, Peter Kuhn discussed what must be done to maintain the set course. While at the same time ensuring that mobility access is available for everyone – inclusive and not exclusive. Our panelists talked about their organisations’ contributions to the wider ethos of the Green Deal.
Bicycles and ITS: Data is the key
Overijssel’s Ronald Jorna is the man in charge of the Bicycles and Intelligent Transport Systems project. BITS is a multi-stakeholder project that is seeking to reduce CO2 emissions by 9% and increase bicycle use by 10% within target groups.
Under the auspices of the BITS project 10 partners from top cycling countries (Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, UK and Germany) came together in a consortium to raise awareness of best practices of “Smart Cycling”, and to provide implementers with ready-to-use information and evidence from different regions. This project is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world. The BITS project, co-funded by the North Sea Region (NSR) Programme, has a budget of €5 million over 3 years (2019 to 2022).
“The long-term effects of more and better cycling data is better cycling policy”
Among Jorna’s main objectives for BITS is the better use of cycling data. “The long-term effects of more and better cycling data is better cycling policy,” he maintains. “This leads to greater levels of sustainable transport that is more convenient and safer. And that,” he asserts, “will lead to an increase in cycling.”
The approach of BITS is based on the Bicycle Pyramid that is derived from Maslow’s pyramid. The pyramid structures needs from cyclists and conditions to stimulate cycling. The idea is that the needs on the bottom of the pyramid need to be met before the next level becomes relevant. “This means that cycling can be made more attractive by improving the surroundings but improving the surroundings alone will not have a big impact if cycling is dangerous.”
ITS implementations that address the right level of the pyramid will be used to stimulate cycling and these ITS applications will generate valuable data that is collected in a ‘CycleDataHub’. “Some of this data feeds back directly to cyclists. In addition, these ITS systems will produce data on cyclists and infrastructure utilization, which provides valuable input for cycling policy. Improved policies will then attract more cyclists and generate even more bike data.”
For the full episode and recap check out the Intertraffic website here