THE CITY OF UMEÅ, SWEDEN, IS LOOKING FOR COOPERATION ON ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT

IDEAS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND COLLABORATION

• measures to increase the demand for sustainable transport
  (e.g. campaigns, information, dissemination)
• replication and market penetration of successful experiences or policies
• transfer of experience, promotion of best practices, education and training, capacity building
  

Intelligent Energy Europe, a European program for converting policy in to action, is one opportunity to collaborate on these issues. Expected publication date is mid March 2010 and expected deadline for applying is mid June 2010. Therefore we are now looking for partners in Europe that wants to work together with us on one or several of the above issues in a 2-3 year project.

Areas we are looking to collaborate in are for example:

• Less car intensive lifestyles
  Innovative soft measures
  Collective passenger transport
  Transport management
  Integrated pricing strategies
  Access management
  Urban goods transport
  Clean fuels and vehicles

We would like to invite you to discuss the more exact contents of these areas. In some areas we need to learn more and develop new methods and in some of the themes the city of Umeå already has good experience and best practices. For example, Umeå was awarded the Best Environmental Practice in Baltic Cities Award 2009 for the "No idling taxicabs" project.

As many other cities in Europe, Umeå has problems with air pollution. In fact, Umeå exceeds the limits, and that makes it one of the biggest challenges for the city. The winning practice, No idling taxicabs in Umeå, has contributed a lot to the environmental goal for improving the air in Umeå. The practice is part of the European Regional Development fund project, Sustainable Travel in the Umeå region.

In Umeå, there are 200 taxicabs that run an average of 300 days/year. The goal was to make visible that idling taxicabs was a problem, to stop unnecessary idling, and to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions. This was done through education of all taxi drivers. The drivers were also challenged to a competition. The driver that could reduce their fuel consumption of their car the most in relation to the quantity of kilometres driven would win a very special price! Also the media was made aware of the project so that passengers would remind the drivers when they forgot to turn off their engine. 

Background Sustainable Travel - Umeå Region

Today, the Umeå Region is composed of six municipalities working together in one joint functional region i.e. it is one labour market. The Umeå Region's population concentration is situated in the Umeå Municipality with a population of 111 000 inhabitants (of which around 75 000 live in urban areas). The Umeå Region counts a total of 144 000 households spread over an area of 9370 km2. 

The Transportation Research Unit at Umeå University (TRUM) initially mapped out the public transportation possibilities and implications for sparsely populated areas in the Umeå Region. One conclusion of this report states that the region's typical city and country characteristics need new suitable and innovative solutions to enable the development of sustainable travel in the region. 

Presently, road traffic in the Umeå's population center is causing undesirable air conditions. The Municipality of Umeå in collaboration with several national organizations have been developing an action programme to reduce road traffic and air emissions as well as to adequately redistribute the traffic flow. One of the propositions to solve those issues was to establish an agency for sustainable travel in Umeå.

Our vision
Inhabitants of the Umeå Region understand the advantages of traveling smartly and are aware of the importance of making wise choices when it comes to transportation. As a result, residents are regularly and as often as possible choosing the most sustainable travel options.

Please don't hesitate to contact us for further discussion on collaboration:

Carina Aschan                                                                  Albert Edman
Project Manager                                                               Strategic Development officer
Sustainable Travel in the Umeå Region                            City of Umeå Sweden
E-mail: carina.aschan@umea.se                                      E-mail: albert.edman@umea.se
Phone: +46 90 164960                                                    Phone: +46 90 161448
Mobile: +46 70 3410761                                                  Mobile: +46 70 2971819