Sustainable Mobility through EU Cooperation
Cargo bikes, park-and-ride facilities, cycling agents, winter street experiments, lockers, and bike skills tracks – all this and more was developed in the EU-funded SCALE-UP project.
The City of Turku is participating in the SCALE-UP project, which concludes in May. The project includes ten different actions aimed at developing user-centric and sustainable urban mobility services that are visible in everyday lives of city residents.
New and useful mobility services
The project enhanced park-and-ride services, which make commuting easier by offering a convenient combination of bus travel and car parking, while also reducing congestion in the city centre. The project also advanced the regional rail initiative through various surveys, workshops, and studies. The mobility view of the Turku Service Map, developed as part of the project, helps residents easily and quickly find transportation-related services. One particularly popular feature is the maintenance information section, which provides real-time updates on street maintenance activities such as snow removal. Improvements were also made to the bus station, including the addition of much-needed luggage lockers. The project also introduced Finland’s first bicycle accessory vending machine and brought shared cargo bikes to the city – these bikes will remain available to residents even after the project ends.
Mobility Map in Use in the City of Turku (Source: Suvi Elo)
Encouraging and involving residents
Various nudges were tested in the project to encourage residents to make more sustainable travel choices. One especially successful initiative was the “borrow a Föli card from the library” nudge, which now allows residents to borrow a public transport card free of charge from libraries in the Föli area.
The project also piloted the involvement of cycling agents in improving cycling conditions. These agents observed routes and provided feedback. In addition, hundreds of children developed their cycling skills through popular bike skills tracks. The project also provided "muksubusses" (group bikes for children), enabling daycare and school outings.
The project further experimented with winter squares and winter streets – similar to summer pedestrian streets – to promote outdoor activity during the colder months.
Improving the Cycling Skills of Childern (Source: Jalmari Salaterä)
International collaboration accelerates sustainable mobility
International projects are a vital part of the city’s development work.
“These projects are important because they bring in new ideas, allow us to learn from others, and offer opportunities to develop city operations from a new perspective. Through this project, we strengthened the city’s capacity in many ways – while also laying a strong foundation for future development’”
More information
The City of Turku participated as a partner in the Horizon 2020 project named SCALE-UP (Scale up user-Centric and dAta driven SoLutions for ConnEcted Urban Poles). The project focuses on scaling up user-centric, data-driven solutions for regional mobility hubs. The lead partner is the City of Antwerp. In addition to the urban areas of Turku and Antwerp, the project also involves the City of Madrid. Turku’s project activities were jointly implemented by the Regional Council of Southwest Finland, Turku University of Applied Sciences, and Vinka Oy.
For more information, you can explore the final publication of the SCALE-UP project below (in Finnish).
Additionally, the Turku Traffic Podium (in Finnish) offers insights, discussions, and updates on sustainable mobility and traffic developments in Turku.
Author: Iiris Yli-Junnila (City of Turku)