Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Aberdeen, Scotland. Louise Napier Senior Planner Aberdeen City Council

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1 Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan for Aberdeen, Scotland Louise Napier Senior Planner Aberdeen City Council

2 A bit about me.. Louise Napier Senior Planner (Transport Strategy & Programmes) Aberdeen City Council Work in a team that develop transport policy including the Local Transport Strategy Involved in a huge range of sustainable transport projects such as Aberdeen s Car Club, electric charging infrastructure, walk/cycle to school initiatives and air quality projects and the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan

3 A bit about Aberdeen Scotland s third largest city with around 213,000 inhabitants Regional centre for the North East of Scotland serving 450,000 people (Aberdeen City plus Aberdeenshire) Working harbour in the city centre Buoyant Oil Industry and surrounding faming industries 95% of Aberdeen City residents and 30% of Aberdeenshire residents work in Aberdeen city.

4 The transport situation High traffic movements on major routes (35,000 vehicles per day on main route through city centre with 10% HGVs) 43% of Aberdeenshire households have access to 2 or more cars! 84% of vehicles coming in on main southern road (A90) are single occupancy Only 10% of people pay for parking. We have 18,000 spaces in the city centre! Yet 31% of households do not have access to a car in Aberdeen (which is lower than any other Scottish City)

5 The result? Congestion Lots of HGV movements City centre feels difficult to navigate People and retailers gravitate towards malls Poor air quality - 4 out of 10 worst PM10 areas in Scotland

6 The opportunity to act now Adopted Local Transport Strategy AWPR Bypass will free-up roadspace which could benefit sustainable transport CCDF Land Use Plan for City Centre with interlinking character areas approved 2010 New LDP to take city centre regeneration focus The Smarter City Political will to regenerate the city centre and take a European Lead in developing a 21 st Century transport system. EU SUMP model chosen as answer

7 What is a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan? A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is essentially a transport masterplan looking at the way people move around by different modes of transport. These include walking, cycling, bus, train, taxi, motorcycle, car, van and Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGV). To develop the most effective SUMP, it is essential that the public and stakeholders are involved in its development to ensure that the end result is something which brings them the greatest benefit.

8 Aims of the SUMP Ensure the transport system is accessible to all; Improve the safety and security of its users; Reduce air and noise pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption; Improve the efficiency and costeffectiveness of the transportation of people and goods; and Enhance the attractiveness and quality of the urban environment.

9 Transport Challenges Perceptions of transport Everyone uses transport so is everyone an expert? Or an expert at their journey? Who is most important/ should we prioritise? Convenience or necessity? Is it about transport at all? Pre-conceived ideas about how to solve problems mostly involving building roads Transport Challenge:

10 SUMP Process Getting started Initiation of a Project Team who oversee the production of the SUMP: Aberdeen City Council officers (Transportation Strategy & Programmes, Masterplanning, Design & Conservation and Traffic Management) Nestrans, and Robert Gordon University (RGU)

11 Vision and Objectives Vision: To create a vibrant, attractive, connected and economically sustainable city centre that is accessible to all and well equipped to adapt to changing circumstances over time

12 Objectives Easy to move around Essential trips given priority Increase walking and cycling opportunities Improve public transport Improve access to bus, rail stations and ferry Focus on movement Improve air quality Reduce noise levels Minimise road accident casualties Increase footfall

13 Analysis of Existing City Centre Transport Network Understanding of the current situation Gather information about how people currently use the city centre Gather opinions from as many users as possible Find out what works, what needs to be improved and what can be done to improve things Are there good examples from elsewhere in the world?

14 Analysis of Existing City Centre Transport Network On the Street Footfall Surveys: undertaken in the city centre on a Wednesday a Friday between 6am and 10pm Cameras were set up to capture pedestrian movements across the city centre at 28 sites in both directions On Street Interviews: took place at 5 locations on Wednesday and Saturday. 301 responses

15 Analysis of Existing City Centre Transport Network Online Questionnaire Ran for 1 month at end of Almost 500 questionnaires were completed Promoted using traditional methods Posters, press release, Council website, radio interview Enhanced with social media. Twitter and Facebook Larger audience hit

16 What they were asked Workshops 4 stakeholder workshops were held at the end of October 3 of these were for organisations with an interest in the city centre and the last for Council Officers whose work could be affected by the SUMP Asked to write problems on post it notes, stick them up under transport mode headings and then group them under similar themes of their choosing Exercise repeated for good points and solutions

17 Do The Right Mix Award European Commission s Sustainable Urban Mobility campaign, launched in July 2012, is a three-year initiative aiming to support sustainable urban mobility campaigners in the European Union s 27 Member States Aberdeen SUMP won first-ever SUMP award for Stakeholder and Citizen Participation on 6 th March 2013

18 Why were we innovative Range of consultation methods Use of social media added to the usual suspects Public given blank sheet and involved at the start not consulted on a plan Workshops allowed all to participate without fear no need to voice opinions Challenging our elected members. Just because we are the oil capital of Europe doesn t mean everyone uses the car!

19 So what did the public actually say? Bus was most popular method of transport, followed by walking. Car came third!

20 So what did the public actually say? Walking was perceived as the easiest mode to get around by

21 So what did the public actually say? Cycling was perceived as the hardest mode of transport to get around by

22 So, what did the public actually say? Car sharing increased in evening Bus popular but cost, reliability, route choice, journey times and inadequate bus-priority measures could improve Cycling perceived as the least user friendly and most dangerous mode More train stations were suggested

23 So, what did the public actually say? Desire for better and cheaper parking Need to reduce cars and congestion in the city centre Better freight routes The built environment, the green space and the architectural quality were all seen as positives Poor air quality, maintenance issues and empty shops require action = it s not all about the car!

24 Develop Layered Modal Strategy for Improvement (Current Stage) Look at each transport mode and propose policies, strategies or interventions to improve the existing situation and to fill any gaps in transportation infrastructure that have been identified Produce an action and delivery programme Draft for September 2013

25 Stage 5 Multi-modal layered strategy - pedestrians

26 Why did the SUMP work for us? A model of European best practice Sustainability Agenda Consideration of all modes Link between transport and landuse Importance of the users Helped identify a strong support for change within the city centre led by public and stakeholders Present this to our elected members

27 How we made the most of it Could have done a top-down approach, instead grass routes Involvement and participation rather than consultation Involved individuals, businesses and organisations regularly allowing genuine findings to be taken to decisions makers Promotional mix designed to hit widest demographic Focus on what we want the end vision/ aims/ objectives to be rather than jumping to the solutions Encouraged people to identify problems and solve them by using good examples from elsewhere in the city and further afield rather than thinking how will my car journey improve Could it have gone another way?!

28 Where can you access more info? Facebook Aberdeen City Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan - SUMP transportstrategy@aberdeencity.gov.uk