Filenews 21 September 2024 - by Angelos Nicolaou
Over the past 30 years there has been a continuous steady increase in the number of private cars and the use of motor vehicles at national level and any efforts made to upgrade public transport and promote sustainable mobility are not having the desired effect. Besides, the road network as it is built gives priority to private motorized means.
These issues are addressed by the Nicosia Sustainable Mobility Plan (SUMP), which was developed in order to improve mobility and quality of life in the wider urban area of the city of Nicosia.
SUMP aims to address the problems caused by the excessive use of private vehicles and promote sustainable forms of transport, such as walking, cycling and public transport.
The Department of Public Works has submitted to the Department of Environment for examination the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) for the wider urban area of the city of Nicosia, including the city centre and the wider urban area. The study is under public consultation until 9 October 2024.
In the commercial center of Nicosia, there is a high supply of parking spaces, controlled or not. The study refers to the implementation of a low-fee parking pricing policy, while it is stressed that parking conditions do not discourage the use of private motor means of transport.
The Policy Instruments for Road Network Management propose One-Routes/Reversals/Bidirections in 3 out of 10 Traffic Calm Areas within the 30km/h Zones. These are: 1) Nicosia Historical Centre (Old Town), 2) Nicosia Shopping Centre, 3) Old Strovolos Core.
Furthermore, a change in the hierarchy of road sections in all 10 RCPs is proposed.
Specifically, the following categories of roads are implemented within the CCPs with vertical and horizontal signage and renovation works: ● Traffic calm road with bus passage ● Residential communal road ● Commercial public road ● Pedestrian street ● Pedestrian street with bus transit ● Pedestrian street with fixed opening hours.
Another 6 Maximum speed zones of 30km/h are proposed. 1) Historical/commercial centre of Nicosia and historical centres of Agioi Omologites and Pallouriotissa. 2) Old core of Strovolos – Slow City, 3) historical/ commercial centers of Agios Dometios and Engomi, 4) historical/ commercial center of Aglantzia, 5) historical/ commercial center of Lakatamia, 6) historical center of Kaimakli.
In Nicosia, the use of public transport is low (about 2-4%) and the same applies to cycling and walking (about 4%), while car use currently exceeds 85% of trips and has consequences on travel costs, air pollution, noise, road accidents, problems caused by illegal parking and overall degradation of the quality of the urban environment.
It is also obvious that the development of additional road infrastructure would be neither possible (due to the structure and form of the urban environment) nor beneficial (as this means increasing all the negative effects of private cars, without really solving any problems), at least not as a main solution to the city's transport problems.
The aim of this project is to develop and deliver a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, based on the internationally adopted SUMP principles, which have been successfully implemented in many European cities in recent years. The SUMP, unlike other previous traditional transport master plan approaches, institutionalises both methodological and social aspects of transport planning taking into account common sense regarding existing shortcomings of transport systems in urban areas.
A strong feature of a SUMP refers to the great efforts made and channelled to create awareness, understanding and consensus among all stakeholders/stakeholders and in this regard, it seeks to promote the active participation of citizens and stakeholders in the process of problem analysis, problem development, goal setting and choice of solutions, which will ultimately greatly affect the success of the project. The adoption of the plan is a prerequisite for success.
After Nicosia, Park & Ride in Limassol and Larnaca
A particularly important infrastructure is the public Park & Ride (P&R) facilities. Today, two P&R facilities operate at GSP Stadium and Alhambra Bus Station (Nicosia District). The stops are strategically located in both urban and peripheral areas. In addition, the Department of Public Works is exploring the creation of four additional P&R sites, two in Limassol and two in Larnaca.
As far as Limassol is concerned, two spaces have already been found for the parking of private vehicles for the use of P&R. This is one point in the area of Havouza in Kato Polemidia and another in Agios Tychonas.
For Larnaca, the design for P&R provides for a parking space in the area of Rizoelia in Aradippou and another in Kalo Chorio.
Public Transport
Regarding public transport in Cyprus and the SUMP study area, the only means of public transport is the bus. Existing bus routes cover both urban and rural areas well. There are intercity bus routes connecting urban areas and bus routes connecting urban to rural areas. Also, the two international airports of Cyprus (Larnaca and Paphos) are well connected to urban areas.
Possibly leading to a solution in the future... tram
In 2010 the study of the Integrated Mobility Master Plan (IMMP) recommended the operation of a tram system in Nicosia. The IMMP study proposed three possible tram lines, which essentially formed a triangle between the city center and the new General Hospital and the area of the State Fair and Makarios Stadium in Makedonitissa.
The Department of Public Works asked JASPERS to carry out an independent evaluation of the tramway project. Alongside the redefinition of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) solution, consideration was given to creating a short-term plan to develop a bus-based solution that would provide high-quality facilities for passengers and significantly improved service levels. This plan aims to achieve strong growth in bus demand through appropriate operational solutions, policies and infrastructure and to monitor this growth towards a defined target that may lead to a future tramway upgrade.
This could ideally be addressed through an update of the existing integrated mobility master plan for Nicosia, which would set out a long-term strategy for public transport development, infrastructure investments, spatial development policies and transport support policies for the next 15 to 20 years.
In this regard and taking into account that the implementation of the Tramway project in Nicosia is included in the actions proposed in the National Energy and Climate Plan, it was deemed necessary to create the Tramway corridors, initially as priority corridors for buses and public transport, which can then be easily converted into bus-BRT or Tramway rapid transit corridors.
