In early September, the Kick-off Meeting of Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021–2027 project No. CB1000574 “Reduce the use of private vehicles in city centres across the Central Baltic by implementing a range of smart, shared and scalable mobility solutions on the peripheral areas” (CENTRAL HUB) took place in Latvia. Kurzeme Planning Region is the Lead Partner of the project and will coordinate its implementation and cooperation between the five project partners in Latvia, Finland and Estonia.
During the two-day meeting, the partners discussed the project objectives, planned activities and future cooperation. Through hands-on workshops, they also began developing initial ideas for pilot solutions in each of the partner countries.
The objective of CENTRAL HUB is to reduce dependency on private cars and promote sustainable mobility by implementing and testing smart, shared and integrated mobility solutions that improve connections to public transport and main transport nodes.
Within the project, the partners will analyse people’s mobility patterns and the barriers that prevent them from using public, shared and active transport. They will also test a range of mobility solutions adapted to local needs. During the project, four regional pilots will be implemented across four countries, covering 10 municipalities and improving 13 transport nodes.
The pilot solutions will include mobility hubs, shared bikes, secure bike parking, park-and-ride systems and other measures designed to make connections between public, shared and active transport more convenient.
Particular attention will be paid to ensuring that the solutions can be applied in different territorial contexts – urban, suburban and hinterland areas. The partners will also evaluate the impact of the implemented solutions so that, by the end of the project, practical conclusions and recommendations can be developed for use by other cities and regions across the Central Baltic region.
The Kick-off Meeting marked the first joint step in three years of cooperation. The partners agreed on the next stages of work, the coordination of activities and the development of pilot solutions, with the aim of generating practical experience and data on the implementation of sustainable mobility solutions throughout the project.
The project partnership consists of:
- Kurzeme Planning Region – Lead Partner (Latvia);
- City of Turku (Finland);
- Viimsi Municipality (Estonia);
- Aalto University (Finland);
- Latvian Information Technology Cluster (Latvia).
The total project budget is €2,075,124.00, of which €1,660,099.20, or 80%, is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), while €415,024.80, or 20%, is provided as partner co-financing.
The budget of Kurzeme Planning Region within the project is €706,808.50, of which €565,446.80, or 80%, is ERDF funding and €141,361.70, or 20%, is Kurzeme Planning Region co-financing.
More about the project: https://centralbaltic.eu/project/central-hub/
CENTRAL HUB (Project No. CB1000574) is implemented within the Interreg Central Baltic Programme 2021–2027 and co-funded by the European Union.
