Car-dependency in urban mobility is particularly prominent when it comes to the transportation of goods, children and equipment of small trade and repair businesses. Ever-growing CO2 emissions in the transport sector let municipalities set their targets high: e.g. Växjö is aiming at shifting 14,000 trips per day (9%) from car to fossil-free transportation by 2020 and becoming fossil-free by 2030. With the bicycle experiencing a reincarnation in European cities already, there is high potential for a modal shift to bicycles for personal and goods transport using cargo bikes. Solutions for how to use this potential, i.e. ways to promote the use of cargo bikes, will improve the quality and environmental sustainability of transport services in the South Baltic area. Proven positive impacts on people’s health and on the economy are welcome collateral effects. The problem situation is very similar in cities throughout the South Baltic area: increasing number of cars, limited space and poor air quality (particulate matter); however, the approach to individual solutions may be different as every city has its own mobility pattern and cultural background influencing people’s behavior. In a seed money project we want to assess the individual needs of partner cities in a feasibility study, elaborating solutions for different players (e.g. starter cities, climber cities and pioneer cities) with different aspects (private transport – e.g. children, groceries – transport related to communal services – e.g. sanitation, maintenance of green areas, facility management – and urban logistics and freight transport). We want to find suitable partners for the future project covering a wide range of aspects, thus ensuring better transferability, and have contributions from all countries from within the programme area. Some additional desk research is necessary to achieve a targeted, high quality full application.
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