Local news Venice

14/06/2011

No bici No party with the “Geniale” initiative
On the 17^th of May, in cooperation with 13 students from the Morin High School and FIAB the City of Venice carried out the “Geniale” (Genious) initiative. At 9 different access points to the City, cyclists entering the city were counted from 7:30 to 9:30 am while questionnaires were carried out and chocolates given to reward cyclists until 10:30 am. All in all, 3604 cyclists were counted entering the city. 300 questionnaires, aimed at knowing more about the cyclists habits and opinions on cycling in the city are now being analysed and will provide valuable data to the city Bicycle Office.

The initiative was appreciated by cyclists who seemed surprised to see the city reward them for their choice of transport mode though a few pedestrians felt that they too should receive chocolates for the fact that they too travel through the city with zero emissions!

How many green miles can 347 children earn in one month?

On the 24th of May, the City of Venice organised the Green Mile project final event in the San Giuliano Park in Venice; a celebration for the 347 elementary school students who participated in the project. The Green Mile project is points based. Classes were in competition with each other for a month and points were awarded daily according to the form of transport used to come to school by individual students. Children who came to school by bicycle or on foot get the highest points, those that travelled by public transport, the next highest and the private car the lowest.

The 17 classes were invited to participate in a morning of fun regarding cycling and sustainable mobility in general. With the support of the local police, first aid service (the Green cross) and FIAB, the City of Venice provided a multitude of activities. These included a bike ride around the park set up with street signage that the children had to respect, an obstacle course by bike, activities on how to be a good pedestrian, the “policeman is your friend” stand, a first aid demonstration and a game called “ less CO₂” where the children had to try and carry out a series of shopping chores and other activities as pedestrians, cyclists and car drivers so that they experienced first hand who could get things done more quickly!

After lunch under the trees, in 33°C heat, Mr CO₂ gave each of the classes their diploma which stated the amount of CO₂ they had saved by carrying out their home-school trips with the most sustainable means possible for a month. The students in the class which saved the most CO₂ were awarded with a bicycle each. Other prizes were awarded by FIAB to the class which had saved the most space outside their school ( substituting private cars with other means of transport) and to the class which made the greatest change in their home school journey behaviour before and after the project.

In total, the children saved 10,900 kilos of CO₂ in the month in which they participated in the project. Teachers and children have told us that many of the good habits discovered in that month are being repeated.

1/07/2010
The Mestre's BICIPLAN
The Departments for Mobility and Public Works are continuing their work on the design and construction of the cycling routes on the mainland, as defined in the BICIPLAN. Thanks to PRESTO, the City of Venice technicians met for 2 days with Peter Kroeze, expert identified by the PRESTO Consortium, in order to share problems and solutions which involve a large part of the cycling ring around the central pedestrian area in Mestre. The results of this Site Visit will shortly result in an executive project with which to build infrastructure which has been long awaited by the city’s cyclists.

1/07/2010
Bike sharing scheme takes off soon
The Bike sharing system will be up and running by September. Today there are 8 bike sharing stations with 90 places for bicycles. However, it still needs to be placed at the exit of Mestre train station- the most important location- and is delayed by an agreement with the train companies as part of the project for the restoration of the entire train station area. Access to the bike sharing service will be possible with the IMOB smart card already used for local public transport (buses and waterbuses) in order to offer a new transport service to the over 500 000 IMOB cardholders, without the need to get yet another card. It is an experimental system which, if it is as successful as is hoped for, can be enlarged to new parts of the city.

1/06/2010
The first National Day for the Bicycle 2010
On May 9 ^th the City of Venice took part in the first National Day for the Bicycle promoted by the Ministry for the Environment and also participated in the competition between cities for the BICITY prize regarding the longest exclusive permanent cycling route. In Mestre and other parts of the City of Venice territory, the City Administration and FIAB cooperated in carrying out a number of cycling events, in particular Bimbinbici, a traditional event for young cyclists and their families on a route of 6,6 km (300 children took part). The Mayor and the Deputy Mayor for Mobility cycled the route after presenting the bike sharing system which will shortly begin in the city centre in Mestre’s main square.

1/10/2009
PRESTO presented at press conference during the European Mobility Week 2009
Within the intense programme of the European Mobility Week 2009, sustainable mobility issues such as cycling have been addressed and the PRESTO project was presented to the press and to the public by the deputy mayor for urban Mobility of the City of Venice, Enrico Mingardi. As for the bike sharing service it will start in Mestre and the surroundings areas in 2010, after a short period of experimentation and checking of the management system and an appropriate communication campaign addressing citizens and potential users. At least nine bike sharing stations will be set up for a total of 110 cycling spots. The current call for tender foresees further five stations with another 38 cycling spots.
Check out the video (Italian) at: muoversiavenezia.it