Croatian city of Zadar seeks views on its proposed mobility plan

The city of Zadar in Croatia is in the process of drafting its Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). Its main goals are to improve the transport system by making it more sustainable, to increase the accessibility of people, goods and services and to reduce negative environmental impacts. This will help to improve the quality of life in the city, both for residents and occasional visitors.

Planners and the public administration are paying special attention to the involvement of people and stakeholders in the decision-making process. They affirm that this will help them provide a clearer picture of the city's users' attitudes in the context of the development of the mobility system. Indeed, the Administrative Department for EU Funds of the City of Zadar recently published an online survey on the city’s official website, which focuses on obtaining people’s views. This will provide insights on the actual status of the transport system and on people’s desires, which, in combination with expert knowledge, will significantly enhance the city's ability to identify the real issues and needs to be tackled.

The survey, which is open to everyone and takes about 10 minutes to respond to, asks people to assess the importance of goals for establishing sustainable mobility in the city of Zadar. Some of the main goals are: Zadar cycling city; transport safety; fast, quality and affordable public transport; better connection with the islands; available and qualitative urban spaces for all; optimised road traffic; and a modern and energy sustainable overall transport system.

Furthermore, people can present their views on the importance of introducing some policies and measures. This includes intelligent transport systems to provide information for passengers in real time using VMS (Variable Message Sign) technology. In addition, the survey asks about the importance of establishing an integrated passenger transport system, which would connect all transport services with the use of a common (unique) transport card.

Great attention is being paid by the city to the development of cycling and pedestrian networks, so citizens are asked to assess the importance of establishing uninterrupted bicycle corridors and the construction of public and safe bicycle parking, as well as the establishment of pedestrian zones and a pedestrian network to ensure the complete, comfortable and safe accessibility of all parts of the city on foot.