In Italy, Austria and Germany the Interreg Central Europe project Peripheral Access is facilitating three pilot actions contributing to better transport access for peripheral areas. An on-demand bus service in the area of Trieste (Italy), a multimodal transport node near Graz (Austria) and a marketing campaign to promote the cross-border train route from Gera (Germany) to Cheb (Czech Republic) now promote alternatives to local people and visitors alike to using their cars, making public transport more sustainable along the way.
In Italy, Austria and Germany the Interreg project Peripheral Access is facilitating three pilot actions contributing to better transport access for peripheral areas. Peripheral Access is a project financed by the Interreg Central Europe Programme and AEBR is one of its associated partners. The objective of Peripheral Access is to improve mobility in peripheral areas such as rural, remotely located or border regions as well as the hinterlands of urban areas.
The project consists of nine project partners coming from seven central European countries, sharing their knowledge and expertise to test innovative mobility solutions for peripheral or border areas. Lead partner in this project is the German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development (DV).
This year in July, project partners from Venice International University and public transport operator Trieste Trasporti launched their ‘Smart-Bus’, an innovative on-demand transport service exploring smart ticketing solutions in the area of Trieste, which has now completed its first testing phase. Inhabitants of the Karst Plateau can order a bus between 10 am and 9 pm every day to travel between the periphery and the city-centre, no longer depending on the fixed timetable of regular busses. Moreover, partners are considering ways to extend the service to Slovenian villages, so a cross-border perspective could be added in the future.
Another project partner, the Authority for local public transport Vogtland, can also present some new developments: since August their marketing campaign to promote the Elster Valley route, which goes from Gera (Saxony, Germany) to Cheb (Czech Republic) is up and running. Large floor graphics located near stations and on the train itself represent the footprints of the fabled giant named Voglar. Via an app accessed through a QR code he leads customers through the Vogtland area with fun facts, images or augmented reality games while they wait for the next train.
Finally, this November, residents in the municipality Hart bei Graz (Austria) received a brand new multimodal “tim” node, implemented by the Regional Management Metropolitan Area of Styria – also a project partner of Peripheral Access. This node will help reduce the use of private cars by connecting public transport, park and ride carparks, car sharing, on-demand taxis and bicycle stands. Good news for the future of public transport in other local authorities near Graz: the Regional Management is planning to install more of these multimodal nodes allowing local people to travel more sustainably!
Peripheral Access will continue implementing actions to innovate public transport until May 2020, and AEBR will report further success stories from its partners.
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