Coimbra is a city and a municipality in Portugal, former capital of the country during the first dynasty period (12th century) offers a thousand years of history, countless artistic treasures and one of the world's oldest universities.
The city proper has a population of around 101,069 and the municipality a population of 148,443 inhabitants in a 319.4 km˛ land area. Over 430,000 inhabitants live in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Coimbra made of 16 municipalities comprising a 3,372 km˛ territory.
The wealth of the city relies mostly on its University of Coimbra with about 23,000 students - the city has a total of 35,000 higher education students considering the other higher education institutions based there - but also in shopping, technology and health sciences industry, administrative offices, financial services, law firms and specialized medical care.
The city is also the seat of many regional administrative offices, attracting people from different areas of the country and contributing to the steady growth of population. Therefore it is vital that the city is accessible to all who visit.
Coimbra is already implementing the re-organisation of the public transport system, which takes into account the following set of basic strategies:
- Improve of the public transport system and positive discrimination of the most sustainable methods
- Rationalise the segmentation of the offer, with particular focus on collective public transport, in the connections where this is competitive and offering minimal services of collective transport in other areas
-Interact between the organisation of the transport network and the re-arrangement of the territory
-Promote "ecological" procedures.
In central areas, where there is proof of widespread traffic-jams or congestions, greater means of transport -some, already in use- will be used. If necessary, others will be put in circulation to help reduce traffic congestion. More ecological systems, for most sensitive areas, as well as other specialised methods should be used, namely mechanic lifting systems for those who have less or reduced physical mobility capacities. A clear step regarding multimodal solutions is also something we consider to put in practice.
The global solution of mobility anticipates the integrated functioning of the following basic services:
-Pedestrian ways
-Personal motorways
-Public collective urban and suburban facilities
-Public urban and suburban railways facilities
-Mechanic lifting public facilities
-Other special systems
-Multimodal solutions
-Systems of regional, interurban and international means of transport.
CIVITAS MODERN is a golden opportunity to expand the Global Strategic Plan of Sustainable Urban Mobility of Coimbra and to exchange experiences and good practices within Modern Consortium and CIVITAS cities. The set of measures of MODERN will allow Coimbra to increase the quality and the effectiveness of the public transport system, multiplying the number of users and reducing the circulation of private cars. Public transports will be “ smarter” , more accessible, and safer to Coimbra’ s population and visitors. It is also expected to limit the waste of energy, increasing the use levels of biodiesel and electric energy locally produced, diffusing as much as possible the culture of an environmental sustainable mobility among citizens, stakeholders and transports operators. |
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