Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

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STRATEGIC
CITY-WIDE
TRANSPORT PLAN
Objectives of MCN activities for
improving cycling
As previous activities in 1994 to 2002 on setting up an integrated
citywide cycling network had been only partly successful and did
not gain much interest from responsible politicians and staff at the
local authority, the Maribor Cycling Network (MCN) changed its
strategy: Instead of trying to set up an individual cycling plan, they
aimed at improving the general conditions and facilities for cyclists
through the new Parking Development Programme for Maribor (to
be developed until 2004/2005) and a new awareness campaign for
cycling.
The parking programme will result in recommendations, directives
and plans for new parking arrangements in the city centre, including
a thorough reorganisation and extension of parking facilities, e.g.
underground parking in the city centre. MCN recognised that it also
offers the opportunity for to solving the problems of other road users
as well, particularly those of cyclists that are strongly affected by the
parking problem, e.g. when cars are parked on cycle tracks.
However, as the latter was not planned from the outset, MCN was
striving to open the preparatory phase of the programme to public
participation and involvement and to influence its content by public
pressure to achieve the following goals:
! To broaden the programme scope with cycling issues;
! To instigate public debate about available alternatives to caruse;
! To strengthen public demands for public involvement in
decision-making processes
The MCN activities and tools selected from the GUIDEMAPS
handbook were intended to contribute to a more broad-based
problem understanding of all stakeholders involved; politicians
(decision-makers), city officials (transport), journalists, and the
general public.
The overall 'message' for all stakeholders was to use the
reorganisation of parking space for reaching a "win-win" situation
for all road users: car drivers would benefit from the offering of
additional parking facilities, cyclists would benefit from cars not
parked on cycle tracks anymore and traffic separated on streets,
pedestrians would benefit from cars not parked on footpaths etc.
Tools and techniques applied
For the awareness raising campaign, it was found to be
necessary to focus in particular on a media approach with the
following tools selected from the GUIDEMAPS handbook:
! Preparing newspaper feature articles;
! Arranging radio discussions with a telephone hotline;
! Preparing a press kit/press pack;
! Carrying out a public meeting (roundtable meeting);
! Carrying out key person interviews;
! Preparing a leaflet; and
! Setting up an internet forum.
Two questionnaires (ex ante and ex post) were prepared for the
campaign to be able to evaluate the success of the activities.
Results of the awareness raising campaign
A comparison of the results shows that the knowledge about the
preparation of the new parking programme and cycling issues
rose from 11% to 18% after the campaign. Two thirds of the
respondents declared that the media in Maribor had reported
more about traffic issues in the city lately. Most notably, the
recognition of the problems for cyclists rose significantly, so that
after the campaign 2/3rds of the respondents felt ready to
participate in public meetings. Consequently, a better informed
and sensitised public will be able to monitor transport activities
with regard to cycling more carefully in the future.
Leasons learnt
MCN discovered quite a number of important criteria
that must be considered if a local NGO tries to prepare
an awareness raising campaign efficiently. It depends
on a good relationship with the local media. Lessons
learned have been, among others:
! Media tools for consultation activities have to be
chosen carefully: identify your goals (what you
would like to achieve) and decide about the means
and tools you need in order to achieve your goals.
! A mixture of media tools should be used, and their
content should be consistent and to-the-point:
comparison of data (your city, good examples) and
graphical presentations are much more informative
and comprehendible than pure text.
! The media (newspaper and local radio) need to find
the issue important for their readers/listeners: issues
that are very technical should be presented in a
different way and to focus on everyday experiences,
so that technical things are understandable for the
'average citizen'.
! Media space and radio time are limited: having 30
and 60 seconds for e.g. speeches or radio
interviews, means that you must be prepared in
advance, in order to 'deliver' the exact message
(longer speeches will be edited by the editors and
your message might get distorted in an unintelligible
way). The same applies for the printed media: try to
have statements prepared in advance.
All in all, it was realised that engagement tools and
techniques can help to establish a bottom-up approach
for achieving sustainable transport and that this can help
to 'influence' the decision-making process in the Parking
Development Programme more 'positively'.
Also, it was found to be useful to monitor and evaluate
the specific engagement activities, in order to build trust
to citizens, media. and to get feedback and motivation
for future activities.
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