The second edition of Mobility Week in the province of Utrecht will take place from Friday 16 to Thursday 22 September 2022. The Mobility Week kicks off this year in Amersfoort, during the PITSTOP event. The municipality of Amersfoort will close part of the Stadsring on Friday evening, September 16 at 20.00 p.m. to provide space for initiatives by residents for an entire weekend. With these car-free days Amersfoort follows in the footsteps of other cities, such as Bogotá and Mexico City.
On the busy asphalt of the Amersfoortse Stadsring, which tens of thousands of cars drive over every day, there is room for music, exercise, sports, games and the testing of partial transport during the starting weekend of Mobility Week Utrecht. By banning the car, space is created for other activities and alternative forms of transport.
“Our region will continue to grow rapidly in the coming years. At the same time, we want to keep our province beautiful, green and healthy. Being able to live there comfortably. How do we keep the province accessible, by public transport, bicycle and car, how are we going to do that? That is why I am curious about the outcome of this weekend.”
Creating space through sustainable mobility
But how do you create space in an increasingly crowded region? By focusing on sustainable mobility. With the campaign On the green tour the province of Utrecht calls on residents to travel differently from 16 to 22 September: sustainable, green and healthy. Sustainable mobility is a win-win situation for everyone, where every little bit helps, whether you skate to work, travel by tram, walk or use shared transport. It seems obvious, but in the end it makes a lot of difference to health and the environment. Sustainable mobility takes up less space in our busy cities and the province. And citizens know what to do with the spaces created. For example, the citizens' initiative Van Ring naar Park is committed to transforming the Amersfoort City Ring into a city park.
Citizens' initiative From Ring to Park on PITSTOP
The Stadsring in Amersfoort is a busy motorway, adjacent to the historic center of Amersfoort. Many residents avoid the Stadsring. They see the Stadsring as a given and cannot imagine that a green city park is possible in this location. However, experience at home and abroad shows that unpleasant places can be transformed into lively, green areas that add great qualities to a city. Amersfoort also has several transformed places. The Oliemolenhof, the Zonnehof and Elisabeth Groen were petrified for a long time and dominated by buildings and cars. They now function as hospitable oases of greenery.
“Over the past decades, the car has been given a lot of space, both in the form of roads and parking. Often at the expense of other values, such as nature, landscape and the environment, but also of connection, movement and vitality. The car seems to be an integral part of our lives. But that's not true. It is based on choices. Space becomes scarcer. That means we have to make different choices. For vibrant, liveable and climate-friendly cities".
With PITSTOP, the municipality of Amersfoort shows that the Stadsring can be used better.
Measuring air quality and environment
During the PITSTOP event, two investigations will take place by the province of Utrecht and the Amersfoort research bureau Ideate. In this way, PITSTOP not only provides a fun weekend, but also offers inspiration and provides lessons for the future of mobility. Ideate wants to use the measurements to learn what influence the changed situation has on the use and perception of the spatial environment. The Snuffelfiets, an initiative of the province of Utrecht, collects mobile data by participating citizens. The bicycle contains mobile sensors that measure the outside temperature and the amount of particulate matter in the air. The Snuffelfiets community has called on its more than 500 volunteers to cycle as much as possible before, during and after the PITSTOP. Together they provide insight into which bicycle routes are clean and which are less clean. This gives cyclists more insight into their own living environment and they choose the healthiest route through the province of Utrecht themselves.
Opening pop-up mobility hub by Deputy Schaddelee
The Mobility Week Utrecht will be festively opened during the PITSTOP on Saturday 17 September by Deputy Arne Schaddelee, Alderman Tyas Bijlholt of the Municipality of Amersfoort and President of the citizens' initiative Johanna van der Werff. The opening will take place at the pop-up mobility hub. This hub consists of a distribution point for partial transport, a bicycle repair bus and the EcoRunner – a hydrogen-powered car. In addition, there are also activities such as decorating bicycles and you can literally cycle yourself to the top with the vertical bicycle.
