REPORT: ECOMM 2008

Mr Bakker was project leader during the first edition of ECOMM. At the time, Bakker cum suis advised that the conference should be organised annually, which has been the case ever since. “Back then we struggled to get two hundred visitors,” Bakker reminisces, “now there were over four hundred.” Sounds like ECOMM 2008 was a success.

Contacts
And so it was. ECOMM is the annual conference of the European Platform on Mobility Management (EPOMM), a network of governments in European countries engaged in mobility management. The conference seeks to stimulate learning from one another’s experiences in mobility management and therefore tries to present examples from as many countries as possible.

“There were visitors from 25 different countries – you meet old contacts, but people from as far as Dubai or Australia as well, and representatives of the EU’s new Eastern European member states,” says Bakker. “And there was ample opportunity for networking, thanks to a programme with many parallel sessions. You had to make a selection beforehand and stick with it.”

Projects
Bakker’s selection led him to hear about some interesting project examples:

Business improvement district
“On Wednesday there were site visits. We visited a so-called ‘business improvement district’. That is a business park which is being renovated in accordance with a British law that obligates all businesses on the estate to participate (and pay their share) once the majority of them is in favour of renovation. The goal is to make the business parks greener and safer, which includes sustainable mobility management.

The Financial Times was a pioneer in this particular case. It worked well: the park attracted a lot of new enterprises.”

Sihlcity
In a parallel session on Thursday, Roberto De Tommasi of Synergo talked about mobility management for heavily visited sites, such as the Swiss Sihlcity in Zurich. Bakker relates: “Sihlcity is a ‘visitors magnet’, combining stores, work, and other popular locations. In this project the government set the boundaries for transport by issuing a restricted number of parking licenses, placing bicycle stands and limiting opening hours.

But more importantly, companies were obliged to participate in needed measures. An extra length of tram tracks and a new tram stop were needed, so all companies had to pay their share. And what is best: instead of the usual years it takes for the infrastructure to be in place, the tracks were there when Sihlcity opened!

The same went for emissions: the government set the boundaries for NO2 emissions and it was up to the companies to come up with solutions. This is something we would like to see in the Netherlands as well. At InfoMil we inform all levels of government about implementation of environmental policies. Sometimes pressure is needed if companies are unwilling.”

Miscellaneous
There were more interesting projects than can be described here. Bakker is enthusiastic about a Canadian-Washington proposal to target long distance drivers when it comes to CO2 emission cuts. This would come instead of trying to promote cycling, which is typically restricted to people travelling under seven kilometres anyway.

“And the Belgians with their personal mobility budget had a strong case as well,” Bakker continues. “An employee can spend his budget on a lease car or on public transport and can also include private travelling in the budget.” This would certainly make people more aware of travel costs. Says Bakker, “the Belgians are more pragmatic than we are: we talk about it, they just do it.”

The new London mayor’s traffic policy was discussed also, although the mayor couldn’t make it to the conference. “London’s low emission zone is a success. But whereas in the Netherlands we’re still focusing on getting people out of their cars and into public transport, they are one step ahead in London. A mere seven per cent of London traffic is by private cars. Meanwhile public transport is so overcrowded that people now have to be stimulated to go walking or cycling instead,” Bakker reports.

Exchange data
Ok, just one more project example. Researchers of the Dutch Erasmus University of Rotterdam developed a framework for mobility management. They compared two university sites: one with and one without a mobility plan. One of their conclusions: if paid parking is introduced, cooperation of the local authorities is needed to include the entire neighbourhood in the paid parking plan.

That is InfoMil’s field. Bakker: “We should certainly get in contact with these researchers to exchange data. We’ve got some material that would be of interest to them and vice versa.”

So one of the main goals of ECOMM, to accommodate connections, was certainly reached. All in all: an inspiring edition. See you all next year in San Sebastian?

Related article: European Conference on Mobility Management – London, 4-6 June 2008