Annual meeting and change of Chair

The Annual Meeting of the Commission on Transportation took place in Gdynia on 21 October 2005. The seminar on trolley bus systems was arranged. The focus of the annual meeting was the change of chairmanship within the Commission.

Since 2001 Lisa Sundell and the City of Göteborg has chaired the Commission on Transportation and during this time managed to build a stable network of 47 cities from 9 countries. The Commission worked to enable exchange of experiences and transfer of know-how by arranging seminars in Riga, Cesis, Tallinn, Paldaski, Kaunas, Örebro and Göteborg. The Commission has focused on three large areas in order to encourage sustainable transport solutions: public transport, cycling and mobility management. The Commission has also worked to develop transnational projects and is currently involved in the BUSTRIP project together with the Commission on Environment.

To encourage more members and make the network more active, the leadership will now be shared between the City of Gdynia, taking the Chair of the Commission, and the City of Örebro taking the Deputy Chair. Marcin Wolek, the new Chairman, presented his ideas on strengthening the network in the future, increasing the cooperation between both cities and external partners, constructing and using a website as a cooperation and information exchange platform, and close co-operation with other UBC Commissions to develop projects.

Regarding the future working areas for the Commission the both chairmen emphasized that this has to be formed together with the member cities. The new chairmen therefore welcome current and prospect members' ideas and proposals on how to develop the work in the future.

The retiring Chairman of the Commission on Transportation wishes the new Chairman and deputy Chairman the best of luck for the future activities within the Commission and thanks all the participants and the City of Gdynia for hosting the seminar and the Annual meeting.