Workplace Mobility Plan for Municipality of Ljutomer (Slovenia)
Ljutomer (Slovenia), 13. November 2018
Dear readers! Greeting from green Slovenia!
So far, we have presented 2 Workplace Mobilty Plans from big cities, from City of Modena and City of Leipzig and now for comparison is here the Workplace Mobility Plan for small municipality for Municipality of Ljutomer.
Here is the summary from Workplace Mobility Plan for Municipality of Ljutomer:
The process of document preparation included six steps: confirmation of mission and commitment, establishment of a working group, analysis of the situation, definition of vision and goals, elaboration of the strategy, definition of responsibilities and resources. Based on the experience of the members of the working group, the step of defining the vision and objectives was preceded by an analysis of the situation. This early formulation of the vision was carried out with the intention to define the framework and direction in the process for the preparation of the mobility plan, in which all other activities that are in this case coordinated with the final goal. The vision of the desired situation was thus treated as a criterion, by means of which it is possible to assess the relevance of the input data as well as direct the course of the preparation of the entire document.
Certain content of the document was presented and discussed at the training of employees. This step has been necessary in order to ensure the implementation of the plan and measures, as the document also acquires a binding nature. The final strategy was presented via various channels, including also the municipal website, by e-mail of the employees.
Otherwise, the employees of the municipality were intensively involved in the process of the mobility plan, since such a way of work enables the acquisition of important data that field and other analyses cannot provide. A series of meetings were conducted in the context of the situation analysis and the selection of measures. Key stakeholders (employees) also participated at the training. The employees were included in the preparation of the strategy through the questionnaire, and the training process was informed about the training process itself. A school bus provider and taxi company were also the participants of the meetings and contribute to the specific measures which enable to cover broader area.
The space and the traffic system of the entire Ljutomer Municipality devotes a little more attention to other settlements in the municipality as well as outside the municipality and other surrounding municipalities.
Ljutomer is the centre of regional significance and is connected in the light of trade, business and shopping to the centre of national significate which is Murska Sobota. However, when municipal employees commute many more links occur between another centre of regional significance, Gornja Radgona which is 30 km far away from Ljutomer. The analyse shows that during the school hours, connections with many centres have been halved. The public transport provides unsatisfactory connections. The diversification of the network of lines during working days is appropriate, but some lines are poorly frequent. The presence of the railway greatly improves the level of accessibility in the hinterland of the railway stations, but not to Gornja Radgona, the railways works only for freight transport. The envisaged measures to bridge that gap is integration of the public transport with the school bus transport. The employees could use the school buses for commuting. Almost 20% employees travel between 10 and 20 kilometres in each way and this measure can enhance the sustainable commuting. Additional low carb solution how to overcome the challenge of the better connection with the city core and hinterlands is to improve and increase the cycling lines, which can enable commuting across the municipalities’ boarders. The distances between other municipalities are quite short (up to 10 km) and reachable. 48% of employees live in a radius of 1 – 10 km. The cycling connections are not in all directions connected, thus should be updated and reconstructed properly to be able to connect them with the other municipalities’ lines. The municipality will in next 5 years provides and ensures 6,75 M EUR for new cycling lines.
Additionally, carpool is one of the great measure that can decrease single car occupancy usage. Thus, the carpool system will be established to allow employees to match the trips. The action plan provides a significant number of other soft measures that foster the low carbon solutions. For instance: capacity building for employees, promotional and awareness raising campaigns, rewarding the employees, carpool e-system, call on demand system and parking management in a favour for carpool parking slots. On the other hand, infrastructure and equipment investment are also part of changing the employees’ behaviour.
Purchasing of e-bikes for using them for home-work-home trips, e-car purchase, installation of electrical recharging station at the municipal station and maintenance of the exiting pavements and cycling lines.
In terms of the timetable, the document deals with several time horizons of mobility development. It sets out in the starting points a long-term vision of the development of transport and soft measures (motivational part of the plan). Within this period, most of the strategic and specific goals and target values of the plan are also identified. A more detailed action and financial plan has a 5-year reach with the period until the end of 2022. After five years, a renewed rebuilding of the plan is envisaged.
