The urban region Vienna – Schwechat is increasingly growing together. PUMAS developed mobility solutions for this region in order to enable a sustainable urban-rural mobility.

From 2012 until 2015 the PUMAS project developed pilot model solutions, in order to facilitate sustainable regional-urban mobility. As part of the PUMAS pilot projects in and around Vienna, a communicative process between regional stakeholders, led to the foundations of a mobility concept for the corridor of Vienna’s airport region Schwechat.

The project’s methodology followed the SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan) principle. This planning approach was proposed by the White Paper of the European Commission for Transport and formulated in the so-called “Urban Mobility Package” to promote sustainable mobility solutions in European cities.

By the active involvement of regional stakeholders, the common definition of targets, a strong focus on the implementation of feasible objectives and the use of empirical methods, future actions could be planned. These include the planning of supporting public transport services (micro public transport), the optimisation of the cycle path network and improvement of public transport information at Vienna airport.

Just like the improved cooperation between stakeholders in Vienna and the surrounding area, the taken actions will outlast the duration of the EU-funded project from 2012 to 2015, and result in an implementation.

Objectives

The aim of the PUMAS project, which was undertaken in six European countries, was to improve the existing planning cultures and practices towards an integrated and sustainable urban and regional mobility planning. The PUMAS pilot in Austria built on the established cooperation and coordination on mobility issues between the Federal States of Vienna and Lower Austria. This collaboration was not only practiced in everyday planning work, but also in international project work.

The aim of the pilot project was to develop a model of a strategic mobility concept between the city of Vienna and the surrounding communities. This model initially focussed on a mobility corridor, but can subsequently also serve as an example for other areas of the city to trigger development. Vienna, the surrounding communities, leading regional businesses and other stakeholders are collaborating in equal measures to ensure success.

During the first phase of the pilot, regional stakeholders developed a joint vision for mobility in the selected corridor and incorporated this in a target paper. In the second phase, three actions were selected from the statements of communities and stakeholders in the target paper and ideas gathered during the planning phase.

Results

Both the PUMAS project, informed by experience of seven SUMP application scenarios, and the pilot itself was a success on many levels. Particularly, the following PUMAS pilot outcomes of the mobility corridor Schwechat – Vienna – airport region have to be highlighted:

• common understanding of the challenges and objectives in the corridor between the stakeholders
• completion and optimisation of a detailed plan by experts and regional coordination
• establishment of future actions upon expiry of the EU-funded project
• successful test case of regional collaboration
• it established a “Regional Mobility Partnerships” within the mobility concepts and overall set a transport strategy for the States of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland

Priorities

• Actions to improve public transport by combining existing and future regional bus routes with on-demand services to ensure an adequate off-peak service
• Actions to connect the Lower Austrian cycle path network with the Viennese long-distance cycle path scheme, including the possible expansion of the existing cycle hire stations and Bike&Ride locations in the region
• Actions to improve the existing airport express services (S7/CAT) and general public transport services, with particular emphasis on the quality of information

Project PUMAS was completed in June 2015.

Contact

UIV Urban Innovation Vienna GmbH

E-Mail: office@urbaninnovation.at

Website: PUMAS