Overview
The Danube passes through 10 countries on its way to the Black Sea. Therefore it is one of the most transnational rivers in the world. It is a river full of history and an important interlink between the regions of South East Europe. Several initiatives clearly identified the need for cooperation to boost the development of the Danube region. With the endorsement of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region in April 2011, the member states declared their will for common action.
In line with the objectives of the South East Europe (SEE) Program, Transdanube is aiming at tackeling the weak accessibility levels and poor quality of transport services in SEE as a major constraint for further economic development and growth in the region.
It is the objective of the project to develop Sustainable Mobility along the Danube including environmentally friendly modes of transport in order to improve the accessibility and facilitate the concept of sustainable tourism in the whole Danube region. The regions will benefit from increased added value from tourists being able to reach touristic destinations even in the hinterland of the river.
The development of sustainable transport offers will stimulate the shift to environmentally friendly mobility systems resulting in reduced green house gas emissions/pollutants/noise and better transport services for the inhabitants as well. This will finally influence the quality of the whole region for economic development and the quality of life for the inhabitants themselves.
In order to reach the set objectives, Transdanube is following an intersectoral approach combining the transport and the tourism sector, where the level of cooperation is still weak at the moment. Based on an analysis of the state of the art of sustainable transport offers and tourism the partners will develop actions plans resulting in a priorisation of possible solutions necessary to overcome the identified gaps. A commonly defined vision for Soft Mobility developed and agreed by the project partners will be the guideline for the development of sustainable transport offers.
Depending on the project partners and current stage in the planning process, activities will include the elaboration of feasibility studies, pre-investment studies and demonstrations for the implementation of new/improved multimodal transport offers, new shipping services and new/improved bicycle routes/services. As information about different available mobility options is crucial for the usage of existing and/or newly developed transport offers, access to this information has to be provided on different levels. The involvement of regional/national and transnational stakeholders is of major importance for the success of the project.
Workshops on the regional/national level as well as the participation in transnational conferences and project meetings will provide adequate forums to inform relevant stakeholders about the project and to get access to their know-how during the development and implementation of specific sustainable mobility solutions.
Funding
Results
The final brochure of this project comprising outputs and results is available under: http://transdanube.eu/uploads/contenteditor/PM6_belgrad/TD_finalbrochure.pdf