Traffic planner and mobility advisor for the city of Leuven Tim Asperges asks questions after the announcement that a candidate for the operation of the mobility center has submitted a claim for suspension in case of extreme urgency. According to Asparagus, it is horrifying that everyone knew well enough that these legal proceedings were coming because of the story of the mobility center rattles from all sides. Why the Flemish government wanted to continue this kamikaze tender at any cost is a mystery to him.
The line dropped out earlier, after which four interested people remained. The government assigned the operation to one of those candidates on April 2. At least one of them has made use of a suspension procedure with the Council of State. As a result, the launch date of January 1 is no longer feasible.
basic accessibility
De mobility center is an important part of the new Flemish basic accessibility. It starts from a demand-driven mobility offer and focuses on combining different means of transport, or combi-mobility. In a response, it is suggested that it might be better to put the entire basic accessibility 'on hold' for a while, because without a mobility center you cannot properly organize Customized Transport and without VoM there are far too big holes in the new network.
Flemish Minister of Mobility and Public Works and title-holding mayor Dilsen-Stokkem announced that the start of the mobility center on 1 January 2022 is no longer feasible due to this procedure. On April 21, the official notification was received from the Council that the meeting on this file will take place on May 4. It is expected that the Council will signify the decision a week later.
GTL-Taxi, the National Group of Companies with Taxi and Location Vehicles with driver, thinks the request for suspension is a particular shame. In a tweet they write that it is not good news for the user of public transport, that the supply of new demand-dependent customized public transport transport is being postponed again. "Hopefully it will only be a short delay and the procedure will be completed soon."
Tim Asparagus
Tim Asperges is a spatial planner and mobility expert and has been working as a mobility consultant for the city of Leuven since 2014. Before that, he was a mobility adviser for the Brussels Region, started the consultancy firm TIMENCO (currently Tridée advisers) and worked at the Institute for Mobility of Hasselt University. He started his career at Slow Traffic (currently Mobiel21).
Tim is a passionate pacemaker in the transition to sustainable mobility and has been one for more than 20 years pivotal figure in numerous mobility plans and projects. He always pays attention to the interplay between sustainable accessibility, spatial developments and the upgrading of the public domain and looks for ways in which technological innovation can offer added value. Tim is seen as a bridge builder who sees the involvement of citizens and other actors as a foundation and his motto 'Mobility connects people' is one of his most important motives.
Also read: VVSG asks to postpone the launch date for basic availability
