The project outlines a bold package of integrated measures in all the cities of the consortium, and covers all the areas required by the CIVITAS PLUS programme. The project shows ambitious goals which will have a substantial impact on the state of the mobility in the cities and a good visibility at the European level, mixing measures with large scale application actions based in existing and commercially available technologies, and measures with more advanced trials and methodologies. The project has common main targets:

• To increase the quality and the effectiveness of the public transport system (from the environmental and from the service point of view), increasing the number of users;
• To limit the waste of energy and to support the diffusion of the use of clean fuels among the citizens;
• To support the effort of improvement of public transport through a series of measure capable of limiting the circulation of private cars;
• To give value at alternative “sweet” mobility modes improving safety and liveability for their users;

• To lower the number of accidents on the roads;
• To increase the technological endowment of the cities as a support to more and more intelligent mobility management policies and as a service to citizens;
• To diffuse as much as possible the culture of an environmental sustainable mobility among citizens and to increase the social awareness of the vital importance of these themes. The project has 49 different measures within 4 middle-size cities: Craiova (Romania - Project Coordinator), Brescia (Italy), Vitoria Gasteiz (Spain) and Coimbra (Portugal) and 26 partners with all the Municipalities and all the local PT companies. Another crucial target is to assess a wide communication and debate among the cities at the level of political decision makers and important stakeholders, and a strong cooperation among scientists and technicians of the European team to circulate experiences and best practice.

CONCEPT AND PROJECT OBJECTIVES

The “mission” of the MODERN project is “to increase the overall quality of life in the cities, through the reduction of pollution generated by transports, the implementation of energysaving measures, the respect for the environment and the promotion of a less cardependant life-style”. The project outlines a bold package of integrated measures in all the cities of the consortium, providing a wide coverage of all the thematic areas required by the CIVITAS PLUS programme. The middle-size of the cities allows a better integration of the foreseen measures in the overall system if the mobility. The project shows ambitious goals, which will have a substantial impact on the state of the mobility in the cities and a good visibility at the European level. The measures of the project outline a good balance between large scale application actions based in existing and commercially available technologies, like in renewal of public transport fleet with clean vehicles, in technological systems for traffic management and infomobility, in promotional campaigns, in access restrictions and interchange systems, with more advanced trials and methodologies, like in energy saving, in alternative fuels, in freight distribution. The first type of actions will be the backbone of the project with a massive impact on the state of the cities, while the second one will contribute to enlarge knowledge, to increase the qualitative level of mobility tools and to throw the basis for future developments. Substantially the project is characterised by common main targets, which can be summarised as:

• To increase the quality and the effectiveness of the public transport system (from the environmental and from the service point of view), increasing the number of users
• To limit the waste of energy and to support the diffusion of the use of clean fuels among the citizens
• To support the effort of improvement of public transport through a series of measure capable of limiting the circulation of private cars
• To give value at alternative “sweet” mobility modes (at first the bicycle) improving safety and liveability for their users.
• To lower the number of accidents on the roads.
• To increase the technological endowment of the cities as a support to more and more intelligent mobility management policies and as a service to citizens.
• To strongly operate to diffuse as much as possible the culture of an environmental sustainable mobility among citizens and to increase the social awareness of the vital importance of these themes.