Creative session in Zwolle (NL), World Cycling city and Bicycle ITS, 3 July 2019
How will Zwolle stay World Cycling City and how can bicycle ITS contribute to this goal? This was the main focus of the creative session held by Mobycon and the municipality of Zwolle.
Alderman William Dogger addressed the challenges of the city of Zwolle. Zwolle is growing in terms of inhabitants and also economically. How can we ensure this growth does not conflict with the mobility in the city and the accessibility of the city? The bicycle is a very promising alternative to the car. Cycling is clean, sustainable and healthy.
Otto Cazemier of Mobycon talked about Zwolle World Cycling City. In the city of Zwolle the share of bicycle use in daily traffic is the highest in the world. In his presentation Otto talked about the eight ‘gears’ to make the bicycle in Zwolle more prominent and dominant.
The participants were asked what they considered to be the most important approach to stimulate cycling in Zwolle:
- Innovation is considered to be the most important approach
Other important approaches:
- Bicycle parking
- Connection: connection between residents who cycle regularly
- Connection: public-private partnership
- Connection: research and knowledge
- Events, use regular events to promote cycling
Mobycon will use the input of the participants in an action plan Zwolle World Cycling City 2020 – 2022. This is a plan for the municipality of Zwolle, created and supported by organizations and partners of Zwolle.
The second part of the creative session was about Bicycle ITS. After a short introduction on BITS by Syb Tjepkema (traffic expert at the municipality of Zwolle) the participants split into two groups. Both groups brainstormed about BITS and the opportunities for BITS pilots in Zwolle city.
The three goals for BITS in Zwolle are:
- Make cycling more appealing with ITS
- Improvement of the collection and the use of cycling data
- Stimulate cooperation and participation
The municipality of Zwolle wants to conduct different pilot tests that contribute to these goals. Zwolle collected many different ideas during the creative session and the municipality will now process all the ideas. With Mobycon and all the BITS-partners Zwolle will decide which pilot test will be conducted in the city in the years 2020 – 2022.
