The project "Cycling city - a model of modern urban mobility" aims at covering the target area of the Southeast planning region and its main objective is to reduce CO2 emissions by encouraging use of bicycles as an alternative means of transport in urban environments.
The administrative centers of the four areas within the Southeast region are towns with prominent metropolitan functions that face major problems in highly urbanized areas: dynamic processes of incorporation of the suburban areas and villages to urban compound nucleus, heavy traffic, lack of flexible and covering the needs of the population transport network that provides opportunities and alternatives to private car transport. The proposed project is aimed at creating and promoting a new culture for urban mobility in the targeted area, which is associated with the establishment healthy and environmentally friendly means of transport. During the project implementation there will be developed a model practice for integration of a system for bike rental in the overall transport system of Burgas, which will be popularized among the other urban centers included in the Southeast region.
Burgas is one of the fastest developing towns in Bulgaria, which is facing the challenge to deal with problems such as environmental pollution, increased concentrations of sulfur dioxide, resulting from the progressive increase in the use of personal vehicles as a means of transport in the urban environment. Automobile transport is the second major source of pollution in Burgas, which is the result of intense traffic during the summer season and the lack of bypass routes to divert transit traffic. The widespread use of cars as a means of transport in the urban environment is connected to problems in the overall management of traffic, congestion, parking problems in the central part, etc.
Burgas Municipality implements consecutive policy aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions through the introduction of measures for energy savings in the private and public sector, deployment of renewable energy technologies and development of infrastructure, contributing to the use of alternative forms of transport. Municipality of Bourgas is one of the first Bulgarian municipalities to join the Covenant of Mayors and to develop strategies for sustainable energy development in 2011-2020. The pilot system for bike rental in the city of Bourgas that is presented in this project proposal will be an additional contribution to the implementation of local sustainable development policies. The pilot system will encourage bicycle use not only for sport and leisure, but for daily transportation as well. It will be designed to provide easy, fast, inexpensive and energy efficient means of transport from the neighborhoods of Burgas to the town center and administrative and recreational areas. Through the wide information campaign planned, the proposal will contribute to the increase in the number of users of alternative forms of transport and to the dissemination of the project results throughout the Southeast region.
The project contributes directly to achieving the Strategic objective 4 of the GEF SGP which is to "promote and support energy efficiency, low carbon transport at Community level". In the long term the project will assist the fight against climate change through expansion, upgrade and multiplication of good practice for the use of bicycle as a means of transport in urban environments.