Identifying barriers, hooks and opportunities – WP4

COUNTRY PROFILE REPORT

ESTONIA

1. INTRODUCTIONThis is the Estonian country profile that summarises the current status of sustainable urban mobility planning in Estonia. This report is focusing on funding policies, decision-making mechanism and future outlook. The report is based on information gathered from a quantity of interviews carried out across a broad mix of mobility experts and decision makers. Information in this report represents the standpoint of experts´ private professional opinions, which makes this report more honest and reveals unofficial thoughts.

Although, a relatively small pool of experts to choose from, we tried where possible to contact and speak to balanced cross-section who could provide a broad perspective on mobility planning and the structure of financing in Estonia. The aim was to interview experts from local authorities from outside of Tallinn (where sit most of the experts connected to sustainable mobility and SUMP development). In addition, it was important to interview experts in different area of expertise such as planners, engineers, environmental consultants, politicians, researchers.

However, it must be pointed out that we had quite some substantial difficulty in getting responses from those we contacted. Often, having either spoken by phone or sent an email

The interviews we took were conducted with representatives of the following stakeholders:

Towns, cities and counties (including experts / specialists from Transport Department, Urban Planning Department, Strategic Planning, and Land Management)

Mobility planners, consultants and business entities (incl. private consultants and experts from Sustainable Energy, SmartCity Cluster, Comprehensive Planning and Regional Development Department at Hendrikson and Ko)

NGOs and Community Activists (MTÜ Linnalabor and Cycle Enthusiasts) Research institutes and academia (Tallinn Technical University Transport Department,

Stockholm Environmental Institute in Tallinn Estonia) Government agencies (Tallinn EU Office in Brussels, Ministry of Economic Affairs and

Communications Transport Development and Investments Department)

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

The information contained in this report is based on a series of personal and telephone interviews with a broad mix of mobility experts and decision makers conducted between May 2015 to April 2016.

2. THE STATUS OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLANNING IN ESTONIA

Although, there are no specific single documents existing that cover certain parts of the sustainable urban mobility planning cycle for instance cycling strategy, the interviews showed that there is high level of awareness and knowledge of the concept among the interviewed experts. Most of the interviewees had been to related conferences and mostly acquired their knowledge through EC and government communications and websites.

Sustainable urban mobility has been previously mentioned only briefly in parts of national, regional and local strategies for instance in transport planning documents (e.g. in Tartu and Tallinn) and the national transport development plan for 2014-2020. Despite this, Tallinn, Tartu and Pärnu have been actively participating for over ten years in a number of sustainable mobility projects.

For instance, Tallinn has participated in previous and current EU transport related projects such as Pilot (2005-2007 – one of two EU inaugural projects testing out the ‘Sustainable Urban Transport Plan’ concept.); two CIVITAS projects SMILE (2005-2009) and MIMOSA (2008-2012); numerous INTERREG and Intelligent Energy Europe projects; active membership of the Eurocities and POLIS networks as well as a member of the CIVITAS Forum Network. Tartu has been involved in EU projects such as BUSTRIP (2005-2007 – the second of the EU’s Sustainable Urban Transport Plan projects); ‘ACTIVE ACCESS (2009-2012), Baltic Biogas Bus (2009-2012), MoMaBiz (2010-2012), Ch4llenge (2013-2016); and active member of ICLEI. Rakvere was involved in ICLEI and UrbEnergy - Implementing Energy Efficient Urban Development Concepts in the Baltic Sea Region (2007 - 2013) projects.

Despite, participation in different EU projects on sustainable urban mobility, there is no single city that is currently with a fully developed SUMP. Tallinn – with an eight year CIVITAS involvement – still does not consider the development of a SUMP. For all the learning and skill sharing on mobility management themes, some big issues still remain unsolved in Estonian big cities; issues such as traffic congestion. Overall cities have made only minor changes and there is a lack of continuous improvement. The EU related projects have operated as ‘stand-alone’ projects with limited linkage or continued action with either the Ministry or other cities. An example of non-joined-up thinking is with the new cycle paths being constructed randomly as part of road extension or street reconstruction rather than as a coordinated cycle path strategy.

The reason for the slow uptake of SUMPs in Estonia according to the interviewed experts is that the SUMPs are not required by law or as a condition to obtain EU funding. In addition, there is limited funding earmarked for local authorities. Currently, most of the local municipalities have marginal budgets and many other sensitive obligations to take care of. A number of interviewed city representatives confirmed that they would intend to develop a SUMP if more national funds become available.

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

Another issue that prevents the process of sustainable urban mobility planning is legal and ownership issues e.g supermarkets, hotels, new development etc. Currently, the owners decide how the parking area is constructed for instance, whether there is place to lock cycles or not. This is due to there being no strict regulations that support and favour sustainable modes of mobility.

Sustainable urban mobility planning is also impeded by politicians who believe that it is not popular decision to support improvement of sustainable transport. Especially it is an issue in areas where it may appear that there is not enough room to incorporate all modes of mobility. One positive example is the public transport lanes dedicated only for public transport in Tallinn, where “bottlenecks” are generated in the normal traffic lanes in order to provide faster connections for public transport. In addition, there have been a lot of new cycle paths constructed in Tallinn but most of them are located outskirts of the city and serve more for recreation than transport cycling.

3. PESTLE ANALYSISThe following section provides a general overview of urban mobility in Estonia from a political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental (PESTLE) perspective.

POLITICAL

The main political priorities for mobility development in the 2014-2020 budgeting period in Estonia include economic growth, greater competitiveness and higher levels of employment. According to Estonian Transport Development Plan 2014-20201 the main goals more specifically are to:

create smart and comfortable mobility (60 million Euros); ensure high quality roads and smooth traffic (1944 million Euros); reduce losses and damage caused by traffic; reduce environmental impacts caused by transport; provide modern and comfortable public transport (711 million Euros); ensure travel connections for tourism and businesses (79 million Euros); increase the volume of international freight (36 million Euros).

The budget for 2014-2020 is 3.3 billion Euros, which reflects a significant investment and public transport subsidies. The budget does not include the overhead costs related to the implementation of measures in state companies, local governments and police and border security costs. The plan of action includes measures such as improvement of regional and local public transport system, to develop and improve the access to integrated transport systems. Out of the 3.3 billion about 0.48 billion Euros is coming from the Cohesion Policy fund the rest is coming from national budget.

The government funded projects are usually international or pan regional projects. One of the biggest projects is Rail Baltic railway development through three Baltic States. In addition, the roads outside

1 Estonian Transport Development Plan 2014-2020, https://www.mkm.ee/sites/default/files/transpordi_arengukava.pdf

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

the cities are maintained by the Estonian Road Administration and there is increasing trend of cycle paths by the bigger roads that connect different settlements.

ECONOMIC

Each region and city has its own transport strategy and action plan where the allocation of the budget is planned. Although each city has its own documented strategy and detailed project list, these are largely subject to the availability of national and EU funding, reflecting higher-level policy priorities. In most cases this is due to municipal income is only sufficient for the minimal maintenance of existing infrastructure e.g. maintenance of the road network and the public transport service. Thus, the weak economic base is one of the main reasons why only minor improvements in the interests of sustainable mobility are financed from municipal funds (e.g. new bike racks, bus stops or street furniture).

In the National Operational Programme (prepared to receive EU Cohesion and Structural Funds), one of the five overall objectives listed is “Sustainable connections and mobility options, satisfying the population’s needs and supporting entrepreneurship”.

For 2014-2020, Estonia has been allocated around 3.59 billion Euros in total Cohesion Policy funding. One of the investment priorities is to ‘promote sustainable transport and to remove bottlenecks in key network infrastructures’. 13.5% of the funds (0.48 billion Euros) is set aside for sustainable transport. This is a broad theme and is intended to cover such areas as limiting the increase in greenhouse gas emissions from sectors not covered by the emission trading scheme (ETS); to improve road and rail networks; to enhance maritime transport; to reduce environmental risk and increase safety in airports; to integrate different modes of mobility; and to develop urban mobility.

In addition, 8.4% (0.31 billion Euros) will be used to help make the shift towards a low-carbon economy to stabilize energy consumption in 2020 at the 2010 level, to enhance the use of energy-efficient solutions in the housing sector and local infrastructure. Biofuels and clean urban transport will also be promoted. Though for all these plans and priorities, there are no specific detailed projects yet to explain how these priorities will become reality; cities know what will be spent but not always show it will be spent.

The funding allocated for sustainable transport development comes 100% from structural funds and it is 60 million Euros that is 12.5% of the funds allocated for transport from Cohesion Policy funds. This means that the Ministry is not contributing towards the sustainable mobility budget, and the question might be, whether they would be planning any sustainable mobility actions if not for structural funds.

On a local level for instance, a total budget of Tartu city in 2015 was 139 Mil. Euros. 400,000 Euros was allocated for constructing 16 km of new recreational paths (cycle/pedestrian paths), where 260,000 Euros comes from the external funding and 140,000 from Tartu’s city budget. For public transport 7 857,000 Euros were allocated. On contrary 10 million Euros are invested in street reconstruction.

Tallinn invests in free public transport; the total cost in year 2015 was around 60 million Euros, total of 12.5 % of the total Tallinn’ city budget in 2015. Although, since 2013 there is a free public transport in Tallinn, the public transport use has not increased significantly. The quality of the service is decreased

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

due to overcrowding and less frequent lines, which makes the system unpopular especially among young people. At the same time the car use has increased. In contrast to Tallinn, public transport fares in other cities have increased. In 2015, 1.7 million Euros were invested into tramway infrastructure reconstruction.

SOCIAL

For some of the activists and NGO specialist interviewed, there is still a disconnect between the government and their decisions made, and the views and concerns of the citizens. Mobility is a concern for many citizens, which is expressed through a high level of interest in mobility planning — especially within their local neighborhoods. The role of a strong civil society remains very important in order to keep the pressure on government and government representatives to be answerable to the electorate. Maintaining this pressure is necessary in order to continue to make some progress in the development of sustainable mobility and transport in Estonia. It’s not happening as fast as people want, but at least the messages remain in the public eye through close links to the media. However, many further improvements must be made.

There are a number of interest groups in Estonia that support and promote the sustainable transport. Those organizations are lobbying for more sustainable transport. For instance, in Tallinn, there are few interest groups, which are representing certain district of the city. Contrary there are also many citizens who are supporting the improvement of roads to make car use more convenient. In city centers, the main conflict of interest emerges due to lack of city space, which makes it difficult to allocate more space for cyclists and pedestrians.

During Car Free Day in Tallinn no major roads for cars are closed. Instead such activities take place on the outskirts of Tallinn so as not to cause too much major disruption of traffic (which in many ways defeats the whole objective of having Care Free Day!!). Mobility Week that takes place also in September is mainly focused on the sports event such as marathon and cycling for leisure instead of transport.

One genuine success story is the Critical Mass demonstrations “Tour d’ÖÖ”, which takes place a few times per year and contributes to increasing the number of cyclists in Estonian cities and in addition, gives greater visibility to cyclists in urban space. The number of contestants has increased every time its held. “Tour d’ÖÖ” does not only take place in Tallinn but also in Tartu, Viljandi and Pärnu. These events are planned randomly and do not follow any set or certain schedule.

In addition, Estonian cities Tallinn and Tartu have been taking part in the EU supported European Cycling Challenge. Tallinn won the European Cycling Challenge in year 2013 registering 55,762.02 km cycled in one month, Tartu registered 11,647.51 km and came in at No. 8 on the leader board. A year later in 2014, Tallinn registered 43,767.76 km and came in at No.13, and Tartu at No.22 (14,573.52 km) with a greatly improved km cycled in contrary to Tallinn. In 2015, km decreased even more but the reason behind this could also be due to the European Cycling Challenge now having a new application for tracking the routes and also the fact that there were specific requirements such as if you cycled more than 40 km per day or faster than 35 km per hour it was not counted. In year 2016, the registration for ECC is started but none of Estonian cities have registered its team.

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

TECHNOLOGICAL

On a local city level in Estonia (and very similar also in Latvia and Lithuania), local decision makers are prioritising maintenance and repairs to current infrastructure as a priority over and above the development of any new sustainable transport or mobility technology; sticking to what is easier to deliver than what would need serious thought and planning (such as smart technology development). In addition, the bigger projects such as junctions, bridges and multi-lane roads are preferred over cycle paths. However, during some city street reconstruction there are emerging more cycle paths in cities. According to Tallinn City Council in 2015, 5,245 km of new cycle paths were built in Tallinn of which only 225m were in the city centre. In Tartu there were 16 km of new recreational paths constructed. In 2013, Tallinn allocated public transport lanes for public transport. There have also been investments made in the national electrical vehicle charging network in Estonia.

LEGISLATIVE

It is mandatory to make environmental impact assessment or strategic environmental impact assessment for projects. Detailed requirements are listed in the Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management System Act1. 2 Projects are planned often based on the previously completed impact assessment. It is required by law to carry out an environmental impact assessment and strategic environmental impact assessment for new plans. In those plans transport is covered in generally under air pollution and resource use.

The requirements of building are listed on national level in Building Code1 that gives general guidelines and minimum requirements for regions.3 On regional and local level those requirements are given in comprehensive plans and may vary from region to region. Although, the aim of Building Code is to promote sustainable development and to ensure the safety, purposeful functionality and usability of the built environment, it does not require sustainable mobility plans or state specific requirements that could support SUMP. Requirements, such as parking lots, are more specifically set in local building regulations.

Planning Act is another law that is connected to Environmental Management System Act. The aim of Planning Act is to create through spatial planning by promoting environmentally sound and economically, culturally and socially sustainable development. By law, during the planning process the public engagement is required during the plan drafting process and then after completion of the plan. The plan has to be in public consultation for each project. During public consultation all the stakeholders can express their views. Planners must justify their decision when refusing to consider the views.

Most of the projects involve cost benefit analysis but not all. When there is any public procurement the criteria for the successful bidder is usually the lowest price. There is usually no impact analysis done after the project has been carried out e.g. road construction how effective it was.

2 Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Management System Act1, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/509022016002/consolide3 Building Code1, https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/511082015002/consolide

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

ENVIRONMENTAL

All larger cities have air quality monitoring stations in central locations or at busy transport hubs. The level of detail and the frequency of monitoring vary, depending on local circumstances.4 Also there is ambient noise monitoring systems in place in some of the larger cities. Environmental reports are established randomly in Estonia. For example, in Tallinn, there is ambient noise reduction action plan for 2014-2018 with the main aim to maintain the stabile level and prevent the increase of the ambient noise levels.5 Similar plan is also in Tartu. Most of the other environmental reports are established on national level (e.g. Estonian Environmental Action Plan 20306).

In order to meet the strict environmental criteria, the cities have upgraded their public transport services by converting to a low-emission fleet (e.g. hybrid busses) and by implementing other mobility measures. For instance, in Tallinn (in addition to the free public transport) there is the recently established “Park and Ride” system introduced, which allows people to park on the outskirts of Tallinn and use public transport for the “last mile” to reduce traffic congestion in downtown. In addition, Tallinn has allocated space for public transport lanes in some parts of Tallinn in order to provide faster connections for public transport users during the peak hours. Since 2015, electric vehicles with full-electric traction can also use public transport lanes to drive.

Sustainable urban mobility is also supported using funds directly aimed at climate protection or energy efficiency. Estonia bought 110 new busses and 15 new trams for public transport purposes with the money allocated from Kyoto emission credits. Investment into sustainable transport continues from the Kyoto emission credits.

In addition, as of 2016 there are 167 quick chargers in Estonia for electric vehicles. Most of them (102) are located in towns and 65 by national roads. Nearby to larger towns, there are 29 quick chargers: Tallinn, 10 in Tartu, five in Pärnu and two in Narva with the rest spread amongst the other larger towns.

4. STATUS BASED ON ANSWERS TO KEY QUESTIONS

4.1 Power structures/decision making

Most of the financial and economic decisions are made by the local authorities or national government. There is an Estonian Transport Development Plan 2014-2020 established but no national cycling strategy. The policy is to improve the sustainable transport within this action plan but there is no national funding allocated for it. The funding allocated for sustainable transport development comes 100% from structural funds (60 million Euros) ie: the national ministry is not contributing any funds towards this initiative!

4 Estonian air quality monitoring stations, http://airviro.klab.ee/5 Tallinn noise reduction action plan for 2014-2018, http://www.tallinn.ee/est/g12617s697166 Estonian Environmental Action Plan 2030, http://www.keskkonnainfo.ee/failid/viited/strateegia30.pdf

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

The national government cannot directly demand local authorities to invest into sustainable transport projects. The ministry decides about the priority of national projects. National projects are funded and coordinated by ministry. Local municipalities decide on the priorities on local level. Most of the strategies and plans on national and regional levels are established for 4-5 year cycles. Thus, it is very difficult to get additional ideas into their budgets.

In prioritising the projects, the cost-benefit analysis is carried out. Sometimes the decision is based on historical data. Often the bigger projects are done without CBA analysis and are rather based on political decision making. A lot of effort is put on national scale projects and less on local scale. The (public) procurements have specific requirements for bidders but often the bid with lowest price wins.

Although, there are few NGOs and pressure groups, whos members are active in promoting sustainable transport and mobility, but they can only influence the decision makers and have therefore not enough power to directly change the ‘business-as-usual’ approach in cities. The decisions are often based on political interest and depend a lot on the vision of the political party in power.

Some of the leading experts say that 10 years ago most transport funding was for road construction, bridges and major such infrastructure projects. Now however, the government is trying to increase the value of sustainability in all big projects and they are more open to providing funding for more sustainable projects (such as walking, cycling, alternative transport.etc.).

4.2 Policies and strategies on urban mobility

The main relevant policies and strategy documents are listed below.

International level:

EU White Paper;

National level:

National Spatial Development Plan – Estonia 2030+; envisions developing integrated planning policies and national guidance;

Sustainable Estonia 2021; envisions the national sustainability goals to be achieved by 2021; Estonian Transport Development Plan 2014-2020; envisions developing sustainable urban

mobility planning and mobility management; National Energy Strategy 2030+; national strategy where the strong emphasis is put on energy

efficiency measures in transport.

Regional/city level:

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Transport management plans for bigger cities (e.g. Tallinn Transport Management Plan 2010-2025; Tallinn Public Transport Management Plan 2011-2020; Tartu Transport Management Plan 2012-2020);

Regional and urban comprehensive plans (e.g. Tallinn Development Plan 2014-2020; Tartu Development Plan 2013-2020; Pärnu Development Plan 2025)

Development strategies for regions and cities (e.g. Tallinn 2030; Tartu 2030); On a smaller scale e.g. street, property level, there are detailed plans, which are based on the

comprehensive plans of the city/region.

4.3 Funding sources

The main sources of funding for urban mobility are:

EU funds: CO2 quotas; cohesion funds, structural funds, Horizon 2020, CIVITAS and from other EU projects;

Combined funding where there are two or more organizations and funds; Government funding; Local council funding;

5. THE FUTURE of Estonian SUMP Implementation & EVIDENCE Project

This section provides an overview on how Evidence Project set out to provide objective, robust information to support Estonian local and national policy initiatives seeking a substantial change in the flow of funding towards sustainable urban transport investments. In the Organogram attached to the end of this report, one can see which deliverable is most useful for which stakeholder.

Connecting current political priorities to SUMP measures

Generally, there is a political will in Estonia oriented towards sustainability. The plan of action includes measures such as improvement of regional and local public transport system, to develop and improve the access to integrated transport systems. Government funded projects are usually international or pan regional projects. One of the biggest projects is Rail Baltic railway development through three Baltic States. In addition, the roads outside the cities are maintained by the Estonian Road Administration and there is an increasing trend of cycle paths by the bigger roads that connect different settlements. On city level, local decision makers are prioritising maintenance and repairs to current infrastructure as a priority over and above the development of any new sustainable transport or mobility technology.

In addition, the bigger projects such as junctions, bridges and multi-lane roads are preferred over cycle paths

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

EVIDENCE project has analysed the costs and benefits of non-motorised transport, namely:

New Models of car use (no.18) Walking (no.19) Cycling (no.20) Bike Sharing (no.21), Inclusive urban design (no.22)

Depending on the local demand for mobility and the local public transport characteristics, cities should consider the costs and benefits arising from interventions which would complement the dedicated investments on regional and national level in Estonia. Per the studies reviewed, benefits will increase if interventions are integrated together with enhanced public transport network. Where possible, pricing and incentives should also be used to carefully manage the integration.

Therefore, the following local initiatives could complement the national/European SUMP implementation in Estonia:

Infrastructure changes that facilitate and encourage walking. Promoting shared spaces and home zones. Building integrated networks of bikeways with intersections that facilitate cycling. Good quality bike parking at key destinations and public transport stations. New bike sharing schemes, Carpooling and Car sharing schemes.

Overcoming challenges of limited public funding resources

Most Estonian city representatives claim to have very limited funding sources to support potential mobility initiatives. In most cases this is due to municipal income is only sufficient for the minimal maintenance of existing infrastructure e.g. maintenance of the road network and the public transport service.

Cities are wholly dependent on EU funds, donors or EU projects. From their perspective, this hinders the development of measures which demand high investments or upfront payment. EVIDENCE project has analysed demand management strategies which are highly cost-effective and only induce little upfront investments, specifically:

Access restrictions (no. 4) Roadspace reallocation (no. 5) Environmental zones (no. 6) Congestion charges (no. 7) Parking policy (no. 8) Site based travel planning (no.9) Personal travel planning (no.10) Marketing and rewarding (no.11)

Depending on the local mobility demand, cities should consider investing in such interventions which would complement regional and national mobility policies in Slovakia.

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

Involving the population to foster sustainable mobility initiatives

Estonians have shown a high level of interest in mobility planning. Generally, people are interested in mobility measures implemented in their neighbourhood or city. They support cycling infrastructure, pedestrian paths, and frequent public transport services.

Mobility management strategies are key for the active participation of the population in sustainable mobility initiatives. Evidence project analyses socio-economic impacts of mobility management strategies. Often, these strategies include the collaboration of employers and employees. Those measures consider people perspective on mobility and thereby provides key support to travel behavioural changes. The interventions listed below have been discussed thoroughly within the Evidence project:

Site-based travel plans (corporate, school, university, public buildings, major traffic generators such as hospitals, stadia, measure review no. 9)

Individually focused travel planning, e.g. in new housing developments (measure review no.10)

Marketing/social marketing which is brand/image/lifestyle focused or rewards-based schemes, e.g. Ecodriving (measure review no.11)

Considering technological options

Smart mobility concept has been introduced to Estonian cities, large cities have upgraded part of their public transport services to low-emission fleet (e.g. hybrid busses), and have deployed electric vehicles and charging stations in several locations across the country. However, investment in new technology has not been a priority for cities.

EVIDENCE project provides information about Transport Telematics, clean vehicles and fuels. The information provided under the reviews listed below is very helpful for future implementation of the technology:

electric battery and fuel cell vehicles (no. 1) cleaner vehicles (no. 2) e-ticketing (no. 15) traffic management (no. 16) travel information (no. 17)

Fostering local environmental initiatives

Estonian cities have applied advanced environmental measures to foster local environmental initiatives. Large Estonian cities have air quality monitoring stations in central locations and/or at busy transport hubs. There are also noise monitoring systems in some of the large cities. Estonian cities have also upgraded part of their public transport services to low-emission fleet (e.g. hybrid busses), and have deployed electric vehicles and charging stations in several locations across the country.

EVIDENCE project provides information that supports the deployment of the measures mentioned above, such as the information provided under electric battery and fuel cell vehicles (Evidence measure review no. 1), cleaner vehicles (Evidence measure review no. 2). The information provided

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under Congestion Charges (Evidence measure review no. 7) and Environmental Zones (Evidence measure review no. 6) could also help foster local environmental initiatives.

The basis for decision-making - moving beyond CBA

As mentioned, often big projects in Estonia are done without CBA analysis and are rather based on political decision making. The (public) procurements have specific requirements for bidders but often the bid with lowest price wins.

The EVIDENCE common practice reader discusses advantages and shortcomings of CBA and discusses other tools, which may be applied. These may be more appropriate to support decision-making in sustainable urban mobility planning processes. SUMPs may stipulate interventions which are not eligible for public (co-) funding or which do not need public (co-) funding.

5.1 Data requirements

Most experts and local decision makers demonstrated a very good understanding of the current situation and international trends. Most of those interviewed found that we are missing enough evidence about the benefits of encouraging cycling and walking in the cities, and that we need more on the evidence of the benefits of sustainable transport. Information should be forwarded primarily to the decision makers and researchers/planners/consultants who are working for governments and local authorities. The evidence should be short and to the point and presented on maximum 2 pages. It is advisable to establish the published information also in Estonian. Evidence could be best used if it would be in simple form and easy understandable for specialists with different profiles and other target groups.

The data is also important for ordinary people who are not aware of the benefits of sustainable transport. If there was better understanding about benefits of sustainable transport, people would talk more about it and require more the implementation of new sustainable measures. Another target group is business sector, which has a lot of influence on political parties’ decisions. If there was evidence based on perceived / actual business benefits from sustainable transport measures this would help a lot.

Also trying to link in with University led summer schools for students where local and foreign specialists are invited to share their knowledge. During these summers schools the topics already include: road safety, travel habits, benefits of transport and etc. so any additional information to support these topics, along with a guest speaker to present to students and academics would provide valuable input.

A number of additional examples were given of the kind of concrete data that would be useful:

Methodology and recommendations on how to involve sustainable urban mobility plans into comprehensive planning;

Methods on how to encourage decision makers to use the evidence documents; Planning training courses for decision makers to raise awareness on sustainable transport;

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Bring examples of successful and failure sustainable transport projects of other cities and regions;

Methodology for local authorities and government to work together for the same goal; Evidence, which proves that conventional transport measures do not pay off.

5.2 Data dissemination

Although, the interviewed experts came from a wide professional background (e.g. engineers, architects, planners, economists, environmental and marketing specialists working in different organizations), they all are in different ways connected to the transport sector and have several years of experience in field.

The exchange of information and awareness rising on national level is taking place during thematic conferences, irregular roundtable discussions, seminars, workshops and different organizations’ own meetings (e.g. local authorities’ meeting). In addition, stakeholders in field are associated often with same projects either establishing measures, coordinating the project; provide the position or some other way (e.g. during public consultation process of the cities’ comprehensive planning). There are a few yearly events, which have become regular traditions such as Arvamusfestival, Tallinn Bicycle Week, and Car Free Day. In these events the sustainable transport topics are represented and somewhat discussed. The information exchange also takes place through social media channels, for example in Facebook there are some active social groups (e.g. Eesti Rattarikkaks!- “Estonia to become rich in cycles!”, Linnad ja Liikuvus “cities and mobility”, Jalakäijateühing “pedestrian union”, Linnalabor “city lab”).

Some of the professional networks for the exchange of information in Estonia include different associations. Among the others are:

Association of Estonian Cities (as of 2016 there are 27 cities joined the association); a voluntary union established for representing the common interests and arranging co-operation of cities and rural municipalities.

Association of Estonian Local Authorities; a voluntary union established for representing the common interests of local authorities.

Estonian Association of Architects; organizes architects, landscape architects and architecture researchers.

Estonian Association for Environmental Management; a non-profit organisation, which brings together enterprises, organisations and individuals, who are interested in improving environmental performance related to corporate management.

Estonian Association of Spatial Planners; a voluntary, non-profit organisation for persons dealing with spatial planning.

The Urban Lab. a testing ground for urban innovations working on new solutions to improve and diversify the urban life.

The interviewed experts also take part in various events such as EU conferences, mobility forums, events, webinars and participating in different projects (e.g. organized by/ related to projects/organizations such as EUROCITIES, UITP, ELTIS, ENDURANCE, European Mobility Week,

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

SUMP, CIVITAS, Horizon 2020, Polis, UBC, EPOMM). In addition, the experts update their professional knowledge by using a number of external sources, mainly EU publications.

Collaboration with other countries in Estonia takes place mostly with neighbouring countries. Most of the interviewed experts said that there is some valuable exchange of knowledge with Finland, Baltic States (Latvia and Lithuania) and somewhat less so with other Scandinavian and EU countries.

6. CONCLUSIONSInterviews revealed that even though the professionals have a good knowledge about the benefits of sustainable transport the decision making process is highly political. This means that even if experts in the field support going further with sustainable mobility projects it can be impeded due to politicians’ political priorities. There should be a sustainable urban mobility strategy in place both on national and local level, which should be followed independently from the politicians in power. Policies that can play a role in increasing the modal share of cycling in urban areas are policies that should be part of carefully chosen policy mix, policies that have included all the stakeholders in decision-making and policies that are successfully transferred from other cities and implemented.

Sustainable development and importance of sustainable urban mobility has been briefly mentioned in strategies and plans both on national and local level. Although, in local and national budgets there are monetary resources allocated for development of sustainable transport, it is mainly coming from external funding. Thus, there is uncertainty whether there would be any funding if it were not for the availability of EC cohesion policy funds.

Sustainable urban mobility projects that have been carried out are usually random and not related to one another. In addition, it is common that there is no balance between the uses of different policy instruments. For instance, local authorities are intending to please both car drivers and cyclists which lead to the situation where no one is satisfied. Currently, the cycle paths are constructed on the outskirts of the cities and they do not necessarily provide any useful connections for transport cyclists. On the other hand, the city of Tallinn provides more parking places in the city centre. This approach is clearly conflicting. Therefore, all the policies should be based on common vision, individual policies are conflicting. The common aim of having a wide range of community stakeholders engaged in decision making and policy making is still clearly missing from across the broad level of SUMP and mobility management planning. In addition, before planning a project and after the project has been carried out the project outcome should be analyzed and conclusions should be drawn based on it. This could be much better and linked to a permanent policy for such major planning schemes.

Report completed and finalised in April 2016

ORGANOGRAM – EVIDENCE Materials Needs Analysis

Stakeholder Local Government National Government NGOs Academic Institutions Professionals and Experts

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Main Need of Stakeholder

Effectiveness of Measures and

Financial Issues

Effectiveness and Efficiency to Support

Policy

Supporting Evidence to Convince Decision

MakersPeer Reviewed Research Thematic Evidence of

Sustainable Mobility

WP2 – Common Practice Reader

WP3 Measure Reviews

WP4 Next Generation Report /

Training Materials

WP4 Country Profile Report

Report completed and finalised in April 2016