Andrea Colombo, Deputy Mayor for Mobility and Transport of the city of Bologna
How do you see the transport system in Bologna in the future? Will walking and cycling be a big part of the transport picture?
The future will consolidate the big step that Bologna has done in the past five years. Many things have been done to make cycling and walking a safer, more comfortable and - above all - a daily mode of transport for our citizens. The City will continue working on pedestrian areas, safe home-to-school paths, accessibility and on new cycling infrastructure and facilities, the target is to give cyclists and pedestrians the same importance and "space" that cars have had for too long in the past.
The city of Bologna has been working seriously on cycling and as a results some of its initiatives such as the European Cycling Challenge have attained widespread recognition. What is the next step?
The European Cycling Challenge, created and promoted by the City Bologna, has underlined over the years the strategic role that the Challenge plays in collecting data useful for planning cycling policies and initiatives. In the past editions, many European cities have joined this initiative demonstrating the great importance and potential of GPS data from tracking that can be collected through the Challenge. We have extended this initiative, at the local level, to additional months per year, in order to get data on how cycling mobility changes over the year in Bologna.
In addition to GPS data collection, the relationship between the Municipality and the cycling associations, gathered in the Cycling Mobility Board (Consulta delle Biciclette), provides important feedback to the Administration thanks to urban daily cyclists' suggestions. Bologna wants to promote these channels of communication with citizens, both digital and direct, in order to better answer to their real needs.
Tommaso Bonino - Technical Director, SRM Reti e Mobilità
How are you planning to involve the citizens of Bologna during the testing of the TRACE tools?
In Bologna, the Local Police and Cyclists Associations have been collaborating for a long time to promote a mobility culture in schools. We will capitalize on their experiences and use the tools that will be developed within the TRACE project, to maximize the effects and the efficacy of this existing activities, in order to reach as many pupils and students as possible.
Simona Larghetti - President of the Cycling Mobility Board of Bologna (Consulta delle Biciclette)
Do you think that tracking tools, such as the ones developed in TRACE, could encourage the Municipality to adopt further walking and cycling measures and could enhance their effects?
I think that being able to trace the actual trips and path of cyclists and pedestrians is important for three reasons: break down the clichés about cycling thanks to real data, involve citizens in real participatory processes, and - above all - make up the difference between "design" and "user's experience ", which is one of the most ambitious objectives for those planners which are asked to rethink urban spaces.