Promoting Bike-to-Public-Transport Intermodality

The COVID-19 pandemic has strongly incentivised cycling as a mode of personal transport. While this is a welcome development towards more sustainable mobility patterns, cycling is often not well interconnected with other sustainable public transport modes such as bus and train systems. These deficiencies need to be assessed in order to popularise the usage of environmentally friendly transport modes. 

Hinge; ©BVDC Mobilitar

The project partners supported regional and municipal governments of Livorno (Italy), Szombathely (Hungary) and Brasov (Romania) in formulating strategic action plans (SAP). These plans provided the necessary frameworks to strengthen the integration between bike, bus, train and other modes of sustainable transport. Integration measures varied across regions but were all centered around physical connection of cycling and public transit, such as expanding cycle path networks and connecting them to public transit.

Development of the SAPs relied on two elements: first, they gathered learnings from similar, successfully implemented projects, analysed them and explored their potential for being replicated in the target countries. Second, project members consulted with local transport users to ensure that the SAPs were tailored to local needs. The project team regularly conducted round tables for transport users, biking associations, environmental groups, research institutes and transport operators. These round tables ensured constant community involvement and allowed participants to evaluate implementation of the SAPs, suggest changes to policy makers, and share ideas among each other. 

The SAPs laid the foundation for truly sustainable transport patterns, thus advancing decarbonisation, reducing air pollution and preserving citizens’ health.

Hinge; ©BVDC Mobilitar

• Institutionalised partnership with clear objectives: In October 2023, the three HINGE partner municipalities signed a joint declaration of intent for long-term cooperation. They intend to continue their cooperation on intermodal transport in the areas of business, culture, tourism and sustainable mobility, which they initiated during the project, jointly apply to EU funding programmes, and promote climate-friendly infrastructure. 
• Knowledge transfer and sustainability: The formalised cooperation strengthens knowledge transfer and ensures the long-term effectiveness of the project results. 
• Policy recommendations for municipal transport planning: Policy makers and specialist departments in Italy, Hungary and Romania received 35 strategic recommendations for better integration of cycling and public transport. The recommendations were based on practical trials and experiences from the three regions and provided important impetus for mobility policy toward intermodal and climate-friendly solutions.