In Sweden, the Swedish Road is assigned by the government to work with measures that affect the demand for transport in a sustainable way, i.e. a more efficient, more environmentally adapted and safer way of travel than the individual travelling by car. It’s also assigned the Swedish Road Administration to co-operate with other actors to pursue this work, i.e. municipalities. In context of what the Swedish Road Administration calls Sustainable Travel, focus is set on changing of attitudes and emphasize on and marketing of alternative ways of travelling. In this context the regional West division of the Swedish Road Administration started up a co-operation project called “KUSTOM” – Municipal co-operation for safety and environment – in 2004. The ultimate aim of the ”KUSTOM” project is improve safety and environment issues related to transport through co-operation between a number of municipalities and the West Division of the Swedish Road Administration. Groups of municipalities with 3-4 municipalities in each grouping were formed. Each group hired an informant; one municipality in the grouping was responsible for the employment. The whole “KUSTOM” project was led by a coordinator. In total, 44 municipalities, divided in 16 groupings, was taking part in the project.

Objectives and target audience

The “KUSTOM” project aims at providing inhabitants of the municipality, companies, decision makers, employees of the municipality, organizations etc within a number of municipalities with facts and understanding of traffic safety and the environmental impacts of transportation. The intention is to increase the awareness level about traffic safety and through this achieves a safer and more environmentally sound society.
The project also aimed at, through dialogue, improving the channel of information for decision makers and employees to reach out to inhabitants, companies, organizations etc. In addition, this created a channel for the Swedish Road Administration to reach out to the municipalities.
The informants have a central role in the project. Their task has mainly been to keep a dialogue with decision makers, employees and inhabitants in the municipality concerning traffic safety and environment related transport issues. Great focus has been put on speed, belts, alcohol and carbon dioxide. There has also been a coordinator keeping in contact with the contact person at the Swedish Road Administration.
Target groups and areas:

• Children 0-18 years
• Youths 18-24 years
• Employees
• Disabled and elderly
• The public, inhabitants of the municipalities
• The local transports of the municipalities

Overall, the “KUSTOM” project directly provides a structural work methodology to tackle safety and environmental related issues within municipalities.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The project was funded partly by the municipalities themselves and partly by the Swedish Road Administration.
The budget for the project was 5,5 – 5,6 M SEK per year.
The informants have a central role in the project. Their task has mainly been to keep a dialogue with decision makers, employees of and inhabitants in the municipality concerning traffic safety and environment related transport issues. Great focus has been put on speed, belts, alcohol and carbon dioxide. There has also been a co-ordinator keeping in contact with the contact person at the Swedish Road Administration.

Process

For starting up, the municipalities met in their respective groups discussing direction and tasks for the work.
Basically, a work programme was set up for each municipal grouping. Participating in this process was the person responsible for safety issues in the municipalities, the informant of the project and the co-ordinator for the project. During the project, these persons have kept in contact to do necessary adjustments of the work programme and to keep in contact with the Swedish Road Administration.
The process can then be divided into two parallel and interacting activities – co-ordination activities and local activities.

Co-ordination activities
Throughout the project period meetings with the co-ordinator and the informants for the municipal groupings have taken place, as well as a couple of meetings each year between responsible staff in the municipalities, the informants, the co-ordinator and staff from the Swedish Road Administration in order to exchange experiences and transfer knowledge. Education about new experiences has also been held in connection to these meetings. The co-ordinator of the project has provided advice, help and support to the informants and the work programmes have been followed-up and revised. In addition, two local group meetings have taken place where the municipal representative, the informant and staff from the Swedish Road Administration have gone through achieved results, evaluation of the work and what can be further done within the project.
The co-ordinator has also provided the informants with knowledge reinsurance, tips and ideas and information about news. In addition, the co-ordinator has also provided the informants with information material such as brochures, video tapes, exhibition material etc.
Local activities
The work programme is the basis for the focus of the local work. The work within the local municipal grouping is planned 6 months ahead and evaluated semi-annually.
The informant has informed the target groups through dialogues adapted to the specific target group.
Depending on the group, each “session” has taken about 1-2 hours. Exhibits, worked out by the Swedish Road
Administration, have also been shown in the municipalities.
The concrete actions, aimed at the specific target groups, that have taken place are:

• Children 0-18 years: In schools, the informants have focused on awareness rising activities on traffic safety through information material, support for teachers etc. Parent groups have also been formed to inform about the traffic safety environment around the school, but discussions about the transportation of children to and from school has also been held.

• Youths 18-24 years: Youths have been informed about traffic safety through campaigns such as “Don’t Drink & Drive”.

• Employees: Activities towards employees of the municipal organisation have taken place and focused on work place seminars where issues related to the environment and safety within transport has been discussed. The seminars have been very appreciated and inquired for. The seminars have contributed to focus on safety and environment issues within the work places and amongst employees.

• Disabled and elderly: Study circles have been held for this target group, focusing on environment and safety contributing to rising of awareness.

• The public, inhabitants of the municipalities: Information has been spread at traffic events and through a common exhibition about safety, as well as smaller exhibitions and activities in the local area to raise awareness.

• The local transports of the municipalities: The work with transports within the municipal organisation has been called quality assurance for transports, and has involved support to municipalities on how to achieve economic gains from analyzing ones transports and how to follow-up and evaluate actions.

Analyses of the present situation has been done in several municipalities which shows there is a potential to save both money and environment through efficiency actions such as use of car pools, clean vehicles, establishment of transport and purchase policies etc.

Results

The results of the ”KUSTOM” project so far has mainly been qualitative, but will strategically contribute to change in behaviours resulting in a more energy efficient, less fossil dependent and safer transport sector. The results so far:

• 44 municipalities in 16 groupings interacting over geographical borders with environment and safety related challenges in the transport sector.
• A successful work methodology to raise awareness about safety and environment in the transport sector, and the interacting between these two, has been established. This has created a local platform for these topics, which is very valuable since there are often little resources to deal with these topics locally.
• The informants have been given great response from both inhabitants of the municipalities and municipal bodies.
• Positive networking and coordination effects; between the municipal groupings and the between all actors participating in the projects. The ways for channelling information and contacts have been very appreciated. The co-operation within “KUSTOM” has also triggered co-operation within other areas in the municipalities.

Other conclusions from the project were that this type of project needs to proceed under a longer period of time due to several reasons. One is that creation of networks is one important, time consuming, factor. Another is that traffic safety and sustainable travel take a long time to implement. In addition, continuity is of high importance in this process.
Through the work of “KUSTOM” traffic safety and environment have been put on the agenda and a channel for information has been created between the Swedish Road Administration and the municipalities. Political decision makers have been very positive to the project, the work methodology and the use of working structurally in this way.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The lessons learned from the “KUSTOM” project is mainly that the structural work methodology of the project – having a specific resource (the informant) working with the topics that employees in the municipalities seldom have time to focus on otherwise – is working very well. This model can be repeated in most municipalities throughout Europe and at the same time be adjusted to local conditions.
One common problem is the financing of a person such as the informant, and this is solved within “KUSTOM” through the dividing of cost between the Swedish Road Administration and groups of municipalities. This solution is not only positive from a financial point of view, but also from a co-operation and coordination point of view – creating a common platform for these topics.
The project has also used several information tools, such as brochures, videos, exhibitions etc that can be translated and adapted to local conditions.
Overall, the model of the “KUSTOM” project is easily repeatable in European municipalities and from a Swedish point of view considered a good way to tackle the challenges municipalities are facing in the transport sector – with safety, air quality and climate change.

The number of cars increases each year, there is a lack of parking spaces, adequate traffic ways and a reliable public transport system. Not much has been done to reduce the emissions and to stimulate the use of alternative transport. The citizens prefer to use their cars (even on short distances) to using the public transport system or bicycles. There is a lack of knowledge about what can be done at the individual level in order to improve the air quality and mobility.
In order to raise awareness and disseminate information about mobility and alternative transport, ABMEE initiated the campaign “In town without my car! “ in Brasov and the Municipality agreed to organise the event in September 2006.

Objectives and target audience

The main objective of the campaign is to stimulate the use of public transport and to promote alternative transport in urban communities. The campaign aims to raise awareness and introduce new concepts to local public authorities and citizens on the impact that daily activities and traffic have on the environment. This impact reflects in the air quality and health of the population. The event is a good opportunity to present the city in a new light, with less traffic and noise.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

For the 2007 campaign, ABMEE applied for and won financing through a PHARE project. The information campaign and the promotion of the event will be covered through the PHARE project. We plan to attract sponsors for the contests in the 2007 event. The event will take place on Saturday, the 22nd of September 2007. Sponsors were attracted in order to cover the entire value of the project. The sponsors contributed with the prizes for the contests, the equipments built for the skate park, the printing of materials.
Partners: Braşov Police, Public Transport Company Braşov, Skateboard.ro, Consiliul judeţean al elevilor – youth NGO and the Schools Inspectorate of Brasov
Media partners were attracted and assured the media coverage of the event: Radioteleviziunea “Transilvania”- local TV station, Radio21- radio station, Monitorul Expres- local newspaper, Level, Zile şi nopţi, BV24fun (national newspapers) and MixXXL- local TV show.

Process

The events in Brasov were scheduled together with the local Police Department, the municipal services, the Environmental Protection Agency of Brasov. The Municipality decided to close on of the main roads in the centre of Brasov, in order to maximize the impact of the action.
The street links the ski resort of Poiana Brasov and the historic part of the city with the rest of Brasov. The City hall building, the Prefecture building and the only bicycle runway in the city are all located on the Eroilor Bdlv, the street chosen for the project. The street was closed for motor traffic except public transport vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians from 08.00 until 18.00. The public transport used only a part of the runway; the other part was destined for pedestrians and bicycles. The two areas were separated by protective fences in order to prevent accidents.
The event was opened by a press conference where the public authorities, partners and sponsors were represented. The campaign was presented, its aims and objectives and after the questions of the press all participants travelled the project street on bikes.
Participants: George Scripcaru – mayor of Brasov, Aurelian Danu – prefect of the Brasov county, Gabriel Andronache – deputy mayor, local and county councillors, sponsors and other actors in the project.
Main actions:-
- contests
- information dissemination
- concert and skate park
- survey of the citizens
- air quality measurement

Results

• A main result is that an estimated 500 citizens (mostly young) participated in the 8 hour event and more that 200 prizes were awarded.

• The costs of the event were covered by sponsor’s contribution.
• Equipment for the Brasov skate park were fabricated and donated to the Municipality.

• Air and noise measurements were conducted in two days in order to show the impact of traffic on life quality in the city.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The measurements performed in the frame of this initiative have shown that the city centre is especially polluted. As a result the city planners have started to re-think about the way traffic should be managed, especially in the old part of the town. Several measures have been taken:-

• A pedestrian crossing in the city centre has been moved 10 m up the street (thus fluidising the traffic).
• Several roundabouts were constructed – one of them on the street were the campaign took place.
• The local transport company has created new lines for the old centre with smaller buses (shuttle buses).
• The tramway of the city has been removed. It was inefficient and poorly constructed. The streets where the tramway was are now being widened, but the good news is that not all the street will be destined for motorised traffic – bicycle lanes are being constructed on these streets.

ABMEE applied and won financing in a PHARE call for proposals in order to continue organising the event in 2007. It is a 12 month project and consists of a much larger event than in 2006 and also the creation of an air quality strategy for Brasov.
The municipality intends to organise this event each year and with it hopes to influence the behaviour of the citizens.

Natural gas is one of the most used alternate fuels. With three garbage trucks with the CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) propulsion, there started an ecological project on replacing the diesel propelled technical vehicles with the ecologically propelled vehicles.

Objectives and target audience

The main aim of this ecological project is to gradually replace the diesel propelled vehicles that are used for collecting garbage and cleaning streets with the ecologically propelled vehicles and so reduce the emissions and lower noise in traffic.  Apart from the ecological propulsion, these vehicles are equipped with the dust catcher for the particulate matter (PM-10).  The main target of this project is the reduction of the CO2 emissions. Compared to using the diesel-propelled vehicles we should lower the CO2 emissions by about 20%.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The price of a compressed natural gas vehicle is higher (compared to diesel propelled vehicles) – about 1 mil.  CZK, but the operating cost of CNG is half of the costs of petrol and diesel so the recovery of investment is guaranteed.  The keeper and operator of these vehicles, that is Pražské služby, a. s, cover the common price of a technical vehicle.  The second part of the price overlapping this level is financed by the City of Prague.  So far it has contributed to the purchase of three garbage vehicles and two cars for the street servicing and cleaning with the using of CNG.  The other partner of this project is Prague Gas Utility Company (City of Prague is the majority shareholder of this company).

Process

During this ecological project the City of Prague should contribute to the process by replacing the non-ecological vehicles with these new ones that are favourable to the environment in the next years. By the end of 2010, more CNG propelled vehicles should be purchased and delivered. So the main task is counting with the amount of the budget in the relevant department of the Prague City Hall on the basis of the application from the keeper and the approval of the Prague Council.

Results

As mentioned the key result should be significant decreasing of the CO2 and further NOx, CO and HC emissions in the area of the centre of the City of Prague, which is the most polluted area in Prague and where these cars will be mainly used.  The plan is to decrease the value of NOx emissions by about a half and the value of CO emissions and HC emissions by about a quarter.  The other results are lower noise in traffic and catch the unhealthy particulate matter (PM-10).  The outcome will be stronger because the fuel oil consumption of the old vehicles is approximately 50 L/ 100 km during the slower drive in the streets of the City.  The CNG consumption per 100 km of the new cars is 55 kg x 1,4 = 77 m3 of CNG.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Planning and looking for the financial resources is necessary in the first place.  There were a couple of negotiations on financial resources among the partners.  Out of these, the cooperation with the Union of Gas was particularly important.  The costs of the construction of the filling station are covered by the Prague Gas Utility Company.  The City of Prague contributed to the purchasing of the vehicles.  Education is necessary in order to transfer this approach to another municipality or organization and the support from the European Funds would be the motivational issue.

Today, the Brussels-Capital Region offers employment to about 680,000 people. More than half of these workers live outside the Region and 57% of them travel to work by car (most of them alone!). Improving mobility is essential to maintaining the economic appeal of Brussels.

Objectives and target audience

The WMP obligation aims to involve around 300 to 350 sites and 300.000 workers (44% of total employment in Brussels region).
In terms of CO2 emissions, it has been estimated that this obligation could bring a reduction of about 21,000 tons of CO2 in 2010, which is equivalent to 2.5% of the 2005 total regional transport emissions.

The target audience are the companies employing more than 200 people.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Total expenses, from 2004 to the end of 2007, for the implementation of the WMP obligation can be estimated at about 1 million Euros, mainly for staff costs, developing software, map and awareness tools, and subsidies to STIB (regional public transport), Taxistop (carpooling) and Cambio (carsharing). Since 2008, the annual budget is around €250 k.
The cost per non-emitted ton of CO2 during the Kyoto period is about €23.80 (Implementation costs as annual budget included). The cost of a ton of CO2 on the European market is presently around 27€ (June 2008) and 2010 forecasts estimate it to rise to €30 per ton. Therefore, this measure is economically efficient.
In addition to the two regional administrations, the partners involved are the regional public transport, the carpooling and carsharing organisms and of course the companies and enterprises which have to develop a WMP.

Process

Brussels Environment and Brussels Mobility work together in the Follow-up Cell on MWPs. The task of this Cell is to support the implementation and evaluation of the WMP’s obligation. These administrations guide businesses through joint advice on individual WMP.
The development of a WMP is a long-term process, characterised by the progressive implementation of concrete measures. The plan is designed based on two initial phases, followed by an annual update.
The first stage of the WMP consists of making the mobility diagnosis of the company and establishing a draft action plan with a first selection of foreseeable measures.
The second phase is the presentation of action plans: describing all the means used to improve mobility and air quality.

Results

The obligation of a Workplace Mobility Plan covers now about 250 sites and 220.000 workers (32% of the number of employments).
The analysis of WMPs – phase 1 allows the Region to have a clear picture of the regional workplace mobility and the factors which encourage or discourage a green mobility.
Companies voluntarily engage themselves to promote modal shift from cars to other modes of transport by 5% within 1 year after the WMP is started. Thanks to the WMP approach and the work of the Follow-up Cell (advice and recommendations), companies commit to implement several measures concerning sustainable mobility as for example: realisation of a multi-modal accessibility data-sheet, creation of a car-sharing database or enrolment to Taxistop, installation or improvement of bicycle parking, designation of a mobility coordinator, booking of parking spaces for car-sharing users…
Numerous on-line-tools (questionnaires, geographical tools…) are in continuous development to facilitate the preparation and the implementation of WMPs.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Success factors:-

• The individualised advice and recommendations from the Follow-up Cell encourage enterprises to take efficient and concrete measures to foster sustainable mobility;
• Tools developed: online forms, map tools, best examples, practical leaflets, websites;
• Problems encountered;
• Sometimes it is difficult to involve all companies affected by this obligation;
• The Follow-up Cell gives advice and recommendations to the companies once phase 1 (diagnostic) is finished. The deadline for giving those recommendations is 3 months after the submission of the report. At the beginning of 2005, nearly 200 MWP-phase 1 reports arrived were submitted at the same time,  it was impossible to respond on time to all of them, due to the lack of human resources in the Cell and given the willingness to provide individualised good quality advice to each company.

The regional commuter traffic operator in Skåne, Skånetrafiken, has set the target to be fossil-free fuelled by 2020.

Objectives and target audience

The main focus within this project is to reduce fossil fuel use of busses in Skåne to zero by the year, 2020 at the latest.  The plan to ensure that this will occur is as follows:-

-    Busses in city traffic should be fossil-free fuelled year 2015.
-    Busses in regional traffic should be fossil-free fuelled year 2018.
-    Other vehicles in traffic should be fossil free fuelled year 2020.

600 GWh of renewable fuel is the estimated requirement in Skånetrafikens for busses in the year 2020.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Region Skåne is the owner of Skånetrafiken, and they finance 35% of Skånetrafiken´s expenses.  The remaining stake of 65 %, is financed by the public by the use of Skånetrafikens services.

It is hard to determine at the present time, how much capital is needed to undergo the process of the change to a fossil free fuelled commuter service company.

Process

-    The trade organisation for commuter traffic in Sweden, Swedish Local traffic organisation (SLTF), has developed an agreement for all local commuter traffic companies to sign, legally agreeing to a fossil-free fuelled commuter traffic system by the year 2020.
-    Skånetrafiken is the first regional commuter traffic company in Sweden to sign the agreement which occurred in 2008.
-    The change should begin as soon as possible but fuel supply, vehicle supply, technical situation, economic situation and agreement boundaries have to be taken into consideration.

Results

Skånetrafiken has already implemented the work on the change to become a fossil-free fuelled commuter traffic company.

-    100 % of the electricity needed to supply trains for transport in Skåne is delivered from renewable sources.
-    90 % of Skånetrafikens city busses are gas driven.  Within the cities of Kristianstad and Eslöv, the busses are operated by 100 % renewable biogas.  The remainder of the city busses are fuelled by a mix of biogas and natural gas.
-    10 % of the regional busses are gas driven.  They are also fuelled by a mix of natural gas and biogas.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Success factors are:-
-    The supply of renewable energy to decent prices from energy market actors.
-    The enthusiasm from key actors including steering committee to take the step towards a fossil-free fuelled traffic.
-    Increased technology development.

Sustainable Mobility Skåne is a regional center in Skåne county, working with environmental friendly transport uses within the region.

Objectives and target audience

The main working areas for Sustainable Mobility Skåne are:-
-    Regional commuting;
-    Change of behaviour to increase human health and environment;
-    Cycling;
-    Alternative fuels, environmental friendly cars, fuel-efficient cars;
-    Information technology;
-    Phone and video conferences.

The aim is to reduce the impact on the environment from transports and to encourage people to use more sustainable alternatives.

The target group is municipalities, organisations and companies.

Financial Resources and Partners

All of the involved financial partners are of governmental character.  Including the participants, who pay a small fee every year,  there also a limited number of private companies are also involved, 15 municipalities and a limited number of organisations. Of 2008  there are currently 2,8what? employees working with SM Skåne.  The yearly budget varies, but is approximately 200 000 €.

Process

SM Skåne initiates and supports the following projects:-

-    An application for “Information for commuter parking in Skåne”.  The aim is to coordinate the communication and information around commuter parking and to help support the municipalities in their work.;
-    Mobility management – a variety of measures to be undertaken within the municipalities.  The aim is to coordinate measures needed within municipalities to work for a more predominant sustainable transport system.
-    “Skåne pedals”, is a campaign to the increase use of bicycles.
-    Purchase policy for vehicles.  This project aims to create a template for the purchasing policy for clean vehicles to be used in municipalities, organisations and regional authorities.
-    A forum for car pools, aims to ‘hurry-up’ the process number of car-pools in Skåne.

SM Skåne also perform seminars and training education within the area sustainable transports to who?

Results

SM Skåne has 24 participants of whom 3 are main partners and head-funders. 15 participants are municipalities.

18 municipalites take part in the project of developing a purchase policy for clean vehicles.

With regards to car pools, the number within Skåne increased from 20 to 38 and from 300 members to 480 members, at the end of 2007.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Success factors could be:-
-    A good development of the network within the municipalities;
-    The use of seminars to display information by professional speakers;
-    A humble and understanding approach to the participants within SM Skåne;
-    Interested regional actors as county council and county council administration;
-    Productive and meaning work will attract the attention of finance partners and get themselves interested in the project SM Skåne.

The Council has purchased several vehicles which produce less NOx than older vehicles.

Objectives and target audience

The aim was to reduce the detrimental affect that the Council’s operations can have on local air quality. It also helped to improve our performance with regard to the National Indicator, which deals with air quality. The current fleet of vehicles travel up to 160,000 miles per year, meaning that the reduction is very significant. The vehicles meet the rigorous new EU emissions standard, called ‘Euro V’.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The five vehicles are leased by Oldham Council, from Specialist Fleet Services (SFS). Each vehicle is worth new £130k

Process

A part of the process of implementing our Environmental Management System, the Council undertook audits of its various operations. It was identified that the Council’s fleet caused major impacts on the local environment. The use if bio diesel was trailed, but was found to be ineffective as it blocked pumps. Other options were investigated and it was discovered that when purchasing new vehicles, there was potential to purchase more environmentally friendly vehicles. Five new vehicles were leased. These are fitted with a new type of engine, which release fewer pollutants into the air. An additive known as Adblue is injected into the engine, which reduces the levels of harmful nitrogen oxides in exhaust fumes. Later in 2008, the Council will replace five more of their existing vehicles with these new vehicles, meaning that approximately half of the waste disposal fleet has Euro V engines.

Results

The new vehicles produce around 43% less NOX than older vehicles.  NOX, are formed in the high temperatures of vehicles’ engines. In the atmosphere they can form a haze, called a photochemical smog, which is significant in the summer months. These smog’s can affect young children and people with lung problems. NOX can also react with the moisture in the air to form acid rain.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

We could demonstrate through site visits of how the vehicles work.

Implementation of sustainable development  through the low emission transport and adaptation of eco-driving

Objectives and target audience

The Objectives are the below:-
•    Saving energy, reduction of energy use;
•    To make a significant reduction in climate change emissions (Reduction of CO2 emissions)- Improvement of citizens quality of life through low emission transport;
•    Raise awareness on climate change – Citizens activation and sensitization (Development of active citizens).

The target group that the municipality of Amaroussion has aimed this project towards are children and students.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

The Municipality of Amaroussion finances the entire project.

Process

• Time-table mapping of the inter-transportation;

• Continuous public awareness;

• Dissemination of the project’s existence to the municipality public through leaflets, spots, etc.

• Problem reports and registration (through municipality’s call centre – citizen’s phone line),

• Corrective actions.

Results

Citizens prefer the public transportation or the inter-transportation systems between the neighboring municipalities.  It appears that the local air is improving. There is a reduction, as far with regards to the concentrations of CO, NOx, SO2 and benzene.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The key issues for success are:-

• The coordination between the municipality’s services;

• The right public awareness and sensitization. It appears that as public awareness increases, public participation increases.

WhizzGo is a pioneering UK company, dedicated to providing a workable alternative to car ownership that is both socially and environmentally advantageous.

Objectives and target audience

WhizzGo was implemented to support the objectives of the Greater Manchester LTP regarding the delivery of modal shift and reducing congestion. This can be achieved by allowing car club members to give up their own private car thus reducing parking pressures and encouraging more walking, cycling and use of public transport. The target audience is a combination of city centre residents and workers together with business owners, developers and private land-owners.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

Manchester City Council has provided in-kind support to WhizzGo through the provision of on-street parking spaces and the facilitation of discussions with developers and other stakeholders to support growth. Small financial resources through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund funding have been made available to facilitate, for example, street signage where appropriate.

Process

A feasibility study was undertaken and a comparative tender process was instigated. Once the preferred operator was selected, a joint steering group was established to monitor progress. On-street parking bay locations were agreed and set aside. The operator undertook an intense marketing and promotional campaign with assistance from the local authority. The operator was encouraged to deliver off-street parking through negotiation with developers and land owners. The above procedures have created a close, dynamic working relationship.

Results

Manchester has recorded the most successful first year after launch in the whole of the UK. Over 500 registered members from a combination of both residential and business membership. Manchester is the third most successful city to date behind London and Leeds, which have both been involved with the scheme for a number of years. Twenty-four cars now operate in the city centre and expansion is planned to expand the scheme outside of the city centre.
The scheme has shown its effectiveness as an environmentally sustainable service, reducing pollution and congestion by: using cars which are chosen for their low emissions, reducing the amount of time drivers spend behind the wheel, and exploring alternative technologies to keep emissions low, such as sustainably-sourced biofuels, petrol/electric hybrids, and stop-start technology.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

The key issues for success are partnership working, great communication links and a structured process from the start to present. An effective marketing and promotional campaign was, and still is, key. Selecting the correct locations was also a vital component of the process as the development of a competitive pricing structure.
This scheme already works well in a number of cities. However, it is important that the lessons learned from the close working relationship between the operator and the local authority are applied to other current and future locations.

GMPTE own the Greater Manchester light rapid transit system – known as Metrolink. Operations are franchised to a private company. The tendering process for a new operator allowed an opportunity to embed sustainability issues, including a requirement to certify to Environmental Management System ISO14001, and to introduce environmental criteria into energy procurement.

Objectives and target audience

The main objectives of the initiative are, to reduce the carbon footprint of the Metrolink system by including weighting for green energy and e-billing within the award criteria, thereby combining value for money and improving environmental performance, to promote the environmental image of Metrolink to both staff and the general public, and to promote climate change awareness and the importance of alternative energy sources.

Financial Resources and Partners involved

GMPTE, Scottish and Southern Energy and Apollo Energy (energy brokers).

Process

Electricity for the Metrolink system had previously been procured by the franchise holder, based on price only. GMPTE changed the contractual relationship with the franchise holder in order to ensure control over the procurement process. The award criteria of the contract were also changed to ensure that cost was not the sole factor in choosing a supplier and weighting was given to green energy and e-billing issues.

Results

In July 2007, GMPTE became the first tram network in the UK where traction current is supplied entirely through green energy – specifically large scale hydro power.  The reduced emissions improve the environmental performance of the system, whilst continuing to fulfil our obligations to the public to seek value for money. GMPTE has received favourable publicity from the switch, which has achieved the aims of promoting awareness of the environmental benefits of Metrolink, climate change and alternative energy supplies.

Critical Success Factors / Challenges

Effective contractual changes in contract with the franchise holder enabled GMPTE to procure the electricity contract, whilst ensuring that charges were the responsibility of the franchisee. Forward planning, and clarity of the OJEU award criteria were required to ensure that cost was not the sole factor in awarding the contract. A commitment to improving GMPTE’s environmental performance from all levels within the organisation enabled GMPTE to include weighting for green energy and e-billing.