VCÖ Mobility Award Tyrol for INNS’PAKET – University of Innsbruck
The motto of this year’s mobility award from the Verkehrsclub Österreich (VCÖ) is “Transforming traffic”. INNS’PAKET, headed by Stephan Tischler from the Institute for Infrastructure, was also recognized as an exemplary project in Tyrol. The winning project is “Beecar” from Kufstein.
A traffic shift towards more public transport, walking and cycling will not only bring us faster to the climate target, but also reduce the costs of mobility. This year’s VCÖ Mobility Prize, which was awarded on September 15th in the Landhaus, was therefore themed “Implementing the traffic turnaround”. Stadtwerke Kufstein’s Beecar e-car sharing was awarded the VCÖ Mobility Prize Tyrol by LHStvin Ingrid Felipe, Michael Schwendinger from VCÖ and ÖBB regional manager René Zumtobel. The Nightliner of the Verkehrsverbund Tirol, the mobility management of MPREIS and the project “INNS’PAKET” of the University of Innsbruck were awarded as exemplary projects.
“Today’s projects and concepts not only make a significant contribution to the switch to more sustainable mobility, but are also role models for the future and incentives for further climate-friendly mobility projects. The reduction of individual traffic through the creation of e-car sharing and nightliner offers, the reduction of traffic congestion through comprehensive mobility management and the switch to cargo bikes for delivery trips are exemplary projects that encourage us to rethink our personal mobility behavior and ultimately the traffic turnaround put into practice,” said Ingrid Felipe, LH deputy responsible for traffic and mobility.
Winning project: Beecar e-car sharing by Stadtwerke Kufstein
The Beecar fleet of Stadtwerke Kufstein includes 18 electric cars, which are stationed at numerous locations in Kufstein and in the municipalities of Niederndorf, Kössen and Langkampfen. This made Kufstein the first city in Austria to offer a nationwide e-car sharing service. Cargo bikes can also be reserved with the app. 400 people are already using Beecar. In addition, the offer is also available to excursion and holiday guests. Beecar regular customers also receive an annual ticket for city transport and other additional offers. Conversely, Beecar can be used at a reduced rate with the various types of KlimaTicket. In the future, Beecar would like to become part of an Austrian car sharing platform so that Beecar customers can also use car sharing offers in other federal states.
“INNS’PAKET” honored as an exemplary project
The boom in online trading is leading to a high number of delivery trips. If the customers are not at home, additional journeys and thus more traffic and more emissions are the result. In the pilot project “HOUSE PACKAGE” From June 2020 to February 2022, the University of Innsbruck tested zero-emission, all-day delivery using cargo bikes in the center of Innsbruck. “Mini hubs” have been set up to facilitate deliveries. In a next step, the project is to be carried out again over a longer period of time and space, taking into account the knowledge gained.
“Nightliner Tirol” and mobility management by MPREIS
The Tyrol Nightliner and MPREIS mobility management were also recognized as exemplary projects: The Tyrol Transport Association launched the Tyrol Nightliner in July 2021. All regional Nightliner lines, S-Bahn trains and regional buses in Tyrol depart from Innsbruck main station at the same time on Saturdays and Sundays at 1.05 a.m. and 3.05 a.m. S-Bahn trains also run at 2:05 and 4:05. The urban buses of the Innsbruck public transport company run every half hour, the S-Bahn trains every hour. The concept of simultaneous descents has the advantage that groups can set off together on the return trip and there is an increased sense of security. “Night buses and night S-Bahn trains also make a very large contribution to more road safety for young people and young adults,” emphasizes VCÖ expert Schwendinger. 1,500 to 2,000 people use the S-Bahn at night every weekend. In the case of the regional buses, double-digit numbers of users per trip are achieved.
MPREIS has around 6,000 employees and 150,000 customers every day. To reduce traffic and CO2To reduce emissions and traffic noise, the company started comprehensive mobility management in 2020. Among other things, the beneficiaries WILL be offered a public transport job ticket, whoever comes to work by bike, on foot or in a car pool will be rewarded as part of the ummadum bonus point system. In 2020 and 2021, 50 job bikes were issued and 163 people used a job ticket. The measures saved the construction of a multi-storey car park at the headquarters. There are now 400 bicycle parking spaces at the branches, numerous e-charging stations for e-cars and electric bicycles, and there is a wheel repair station at six branches. Two e-cargo bikes can also be hired in Innsbruck, an offer that has already been used around 500 times.
The VCÖ Mobility Award Tyrol is carried out by the VCÖ in cooperation with the state of Tyrol and the ÖBB and is supported by TIWAG. On the VCÖ website are under www.vcoe.at currently more than 2,500 exemplary projects can be found in an online database. Municipalities, schools, companies and housing developers can get tips and suggestions on how traffic problems can be solved in a climate-friendly way.
(Tyrol/red)