“The run time for RUMOBIL is very good!”
RUMOBIL Project is currently at 25% of the full duration and it is going according to the anticipated pace. The upravljačko tijelo has validated the final report for that period with only a few suggestions. Big improvement possibilities lay in partner cooperation, and intensification of the Project communication toward the public using the website and Facebook – these are the shortest conclusions of the partners from the Zagreb/Ozalj meeting held on March 1st and 2nd.
The host of the second meeting was HŽ passenger transport, and except the work part, they organized the tour of Zagreb center and a train trip to Ozalj for the partners. Ozalj is the focus of the pilot project lead by HŽPP so the partners had a chance to see the locations and tourist offer of that region, before the tourists that will come using 35 tourist trains from March 2017. to August 2018.
During the work part of the two-day meeting, in the name of the project leader, Ministry of Regional development and Transport Sachsen-Anhalt, Sophie Golinski reported on the current Project state and assessed that all the activities are going as planned. Until now, 29 good practice examples were analyzed and many of them were visited by some of the partners during their study trips. All eight partners that were supposed to, have launched their pilot projects and promotional campaigns in their local area.
Francesco Misso from the Italian firm T Bridge which is the WP for the strategy development package, assessed that the “go time” is very good, and that the activities set in the strategy for this time were achieved so he set new ones. The results of all analyzed good practice examples and study trips bill be summarized in individual strategies for each area. They will be comparatively analyzed and assessed by the end of March. By the end of February 2018. There should be eight completed local, and one joint strategy, with recommendations for the realization of new services to connect rural regions to big centers, which is the focus of the entire Project. Local strategies will be based on social and economic recommendations, and the specific goals will be linked to the integration of local networks, creation of tariff unions, tourist offer and the preservation of cultural heritage. The pilots are the introduction of new buses of small capacity in sparsely populated areas, the introduction of software for passenger information in real-time on existing lines, building new bus and train stops, the introduction of new lines in public transport, the introduction of tourist trains in different cultural, culinary, folklore and other events.
Dana Sitányiová from the University of Zilina, which is leader of the package of pilot projects, together with their holders, analyzed the current situation. Pilot projects in eight local communities have started this spring and will last until August 2018. Their task is to improve mobility and reduce at least one obstacle in a dilemma: to stay or to move out of their region for the people living in rural areas. As Sitányiová said, all pilot projects are on their way and there were no identified risks for their realization.
On types, scopes and results of individual communication activities reported the main coordinator of SZŽ, Ante Klečina, as the leader of the work package for communication. He urged all partners to regularly provide brief information and pictures of all their activities, so they could be posted on the web site and Facebook profile of the RUMOBIL Project. Those are the main channels through which all target audiences will be able to recognize the benefits of the Project.
Since the maximum value of such meetings is to exchange knowledge and experiences, the World Work Package Café was organized during the meeting. It is an interesting new model of work - parallel round tables on which the leaders of individual packages advised partners on the open dilemmas related to current and future activities.
The participants of the meeting in Ozalj welcomed Gordana Lipsinic, mayor of Ozalj who expressed great satisfaction that the depopulated Ozalj end part of this important project. In addition, Lipsinic hopes the project RUMOBIL help the development of local economic and tourist activities, which is a prerequisite for the remainder of the inhabitants of the area.
Vlatka Škorić
Photo: Ružica Stanić
