Project INTERFACE for foot passengers

Foot passengers crossing South Baltic Area by foot has lost its importance during the last decades. Transport operators have adjusted to cargo and car passenger traffic. Only a minimum of service standards is offered by ferry ports. Waiting areas are unattractive for passengers. The access of people with reduced mobility from the city center to the port is more than difficult.

The main objective of the INTERFACE project, approved in April 2009 within the South Baltic Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2007-2013, is to develop foot passenger traffic making it comfortable and environmentally friendly alternative for SBA cross-border travel. It aims to upgrade the service environment in ferry ports. It will facilitate the access for people with reduced mobility, improve interoperability between ferry and transport means linking ports with city centers, implement intermodal passenger information, prepare investments to close gaps in transport infrastructure and promote improved connections. The project major target groups are foot passengers, traffic operators, ports and port cities. Project activities are focused on the transport axes Karlskrona-Gdynia, Gdansk-Baltijsk/Kaliningrad, Trelleborg - Rostock and Gedser- Rostock.

Hanseatic City of Rostock is the Lead Beneficiary of the project. The budget of the project is 1,6 MEUR, from which 1,2 MEUR is co-financed from the EU. There are 22 partners involved, including local and public authorities, traffic and port operators. Partners from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Russia will worktogether as well as ferry operators Scandlines,TT-Lineand Stena Line.

The project will last three years (April 2009 to April 2012). Designing the website dedicated to the project is the first part of work.