Themes » Building Local Partnerships

Building local partnership

Building local partnerships is often a key aspect of introducing new proposals to improve cycling conditions. There is a need to find consensus to resolve issues such as end-users' interests regarding the reallocation of street space, to involve key actors (e.g. for the police involvement in marking schemes to dissuade cycle theft), and to coordinate the actions of different municipal departments (e.g. in Barcelona, the Mobility, Urban Planning and Environment Department all carry out budgeted actions to promote cycling).

The overall goal is to ensure that key actions to promote cycling are agreed between local actors in Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest Goteborg, Ploiesti and Rome in a manner that safeguards the authorities' original proposals and, where possible, demonstrates that the consensus process has contributed to an improvement of the original proposal.
 
Building local partnerships is closely linked with other work done in Spicycles  where some of the key actions are proposed. For example, Barcelona develops elements of its communication campaigns through agreements with actors such as schools, universities and local organisations representing cyclists, and the development of infrastructure needs is progressed through an extensive and active consultation process based upon bi-monthly meetings of the Comissió Cívica de la Bícicleta (CCB - Civic Commission for the Bicycle).

Building local partnerships calls for the following actions:
  • Definition of current local procedures for progressing a consensus on key actions (nature and frequency of consultation by type of action and participating organisations);
  • Analysis of previous case studies to determine key barriers and drivers encountered during the consensus process. Definition of key actions proposed by local authorities;
  • Development of a template to commonly record the consensus development for the key actions to be demonstrated.
In Barcelona the key actions requiring stakeholder agreements as per the Municipal Programmed Actions concern:
  • cycle anti-theft systems;
  • the expansion of the cycle route network and parking facilities, particularly with a view to resolving cyclist/pedestrian conflicts and promoting intermodal (metro/cycle) travel (see WP5);
  • collaborative agreements for marketing /raising awareness (see WP4).
In order to establish the strategic cycling route network, collaboration between the Mobility, Urban Planning and Environment/Maintenance departments and other organisations including user groups was successfully achieved through the Barcelona Mobility Pact, the overall forum for consultation and representation, and through the Comissió Cívica de la Bícicleta (CCB - Civic Commission for the Bicycle).

The main task is to adapt and renew this collaborative framework with a view to implementing the key actions of the new mandate.

In Berlin in order to complete intermodal mobility-chains the Deutsche Bahn AG tries to establish "Call a Bike" as a flexible, innovative bike-rental-systems. Together with DB Car sharing and railway-services as core-competences of the DB AG the intermodal mobility-chain is completed. The main objectives are to enforce non-motorized traffic and to move traffic from the streets to public-transport-alternatives.

DB Rent intends to contribute experiences from two generations of bikes and locks into these processes. Particularly during the transmission of the system to Rome (if similar to Call a Bike) the DB Rent will accompany the set up of procurement management. Main topics are:
  • Technical feasibility;
  • Set up of a supplier-network;
  • Supplier relationship management;
  • Synergy effects (seem to be possible if 4 cities take part in).
In 1999, a bicycle programme with the overall goal to increase the cycling and traffic safety in Göteborg was taken in use. In addition, in 2004 the city council explicitly expressed that one of the few prioritised goals for the city development should be to increase the share of cyclists.

Within SPICYCLES the aim is to create conditions and working methods for cycling planning already in the early stages of building- and planning phases. The ideas of bicycle pools, safe indoor bicycle storing with easy access, quality bicycle lanes etc should be integrated into the work of the cycling planners. A platform, similar to the round-table in Rome, and methods for collaboration with stakeholders such as construction companies, local municipal development companies, City Planning Authority, cycle rental companies etc will be developed. This will improve the possibilities to communicate and market the advantages of cycling for the individual as well as the society.

Developing a cycling programme in Rome and making of bicycles a credible alternative to individual motorised vehicles requires a strong political commitment and the willingness and capability of coordinating the several actors involved in governing and managing the territory and its complex transport system.

To the purpose of facilitating the participation of all those directly and indirectly involved in this action since the very beginning, the Municipality has established a technical round table on the intermodality between bicycle and public transport. This platform of discussion includes local institutional authorities (Municipality of Rome, County of Rome and the Lazio Region), infrastructure managers (Ferrovie dello Stato, RFI S.p.A., Atac S.p.A.), public transport undertakings (Trenitalia, Metro S.p.A., Trambus S.p.A.) as well as the coordination of cyclists' associations (Roma Ciclabile).

Because of a lack of tradition regarding this soft transport system in Romania, a stakeholder agreement on street space reallocation and co-ordination of different actors is a key aspect in Ploiesti. Moreover, differently from the Occidental cities, in Ploiesti, like in other Romanian cities, there is a dramatic increase in car ownership, perceived as a freedom value after 50 years of neglecting human rights in the previous command economy. Moreover, public transport modal split is still above 50%. As a consequence, it is possible to increase the cycling rate in modal split capturing mainly previous users of PT instead people accepting to reduce the usage of their cars.

As a consequence, it is important to avoid some mistakes made in the past in Western Europe and establish from the beginning an intermodal vision of urban transport having cycling as a valid component and an adequate framework for difficult trade-offs.

The expertise of Barcelona Mobility Pact will be analysed and in case of a potential transferability, it will be adapted in Ploiesti case.

The City of Bucharest, as a motor of the changes in respect of our expected integration in the EU, is very much interested in development of those strategies with positive/higher impact of the quality of the city inhabitants. The Municipality could act as a link between all the stakeholders interested in the bicycles transportation development. The results of the study RATB intends to develop could contribute to a first step in the way of the improvements waited by the bickers. Further more, the results of the study could be recommendations for the City strategy for the next period.

The City's representatives together with representatives from other transport operators, bicycles clubs, and other actors/cities interested in the development of the cycling will create a platform for discussion of this topic.
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