NICHES+

NICHES+ (New and Innovative Concepts for Helping European Transport Sustainability - Towards Implementation) builds further on the NICHES project. Its mission is to promote innovative measures for making urban transport more efficient and sustainable and to move them from their current ‘niche’ position into a mainstream urban transport application.

NICHES+ was funded by DG Research under the 7FP. It ran from May 2008 until April 2011. The NICHES+ final conference took place on 7 April 2011 in London.

Guidelines for Implementers

NICHES+ looked into the details of 12 innovative measures, structured in 4 thematic areas. For each of the 12 measures guidelines for implementers have been published:

Innovative concepts to enhance accessibility:

• Travel training for public transport
• Neighbourhood accessibility planning
• Tailored traveller information for users with reduced mobility

Concepts for Efficient Planning and Use of Infrastructure and Interchanges:

• Passenger friendly intermodal interchanges
• Innovative cycling facilities for intermodal interchanges
• Infrastructure for innovative bus systems

Traffic Management Centres:

• Financing and implementing traffic management centres
• Mobile travel information services for the public
• Using environmental pollution data in traffic management

Automated and Space Efficient Transport Systems:

• Group Rapid Transit
• Personal Rapid Transit
• Using electric vehicels in city car share schemes

Research and Policy Recommendations

Summaries of the research and policy recommendations for each of the 4 thematic areas have been published:

• Innovative concepts to enhance accessibility
• Concepts for Efficient Planning and Use of Infrastructure and Interchanges
• Traffic Management Centres
• Automated and Space Efficient Transport Systems

NICHES+ Study Tour Catalogue

NICHES+ Study Tour Catalogue is a guide to urban transport innovation. Its aim is to provide urban transport professionals and local decision makers an overview of European towns and cities that successfully implemented innovative strategies which have the potential to become mainstream transport solutions. The featured cities have been selected by urban transport experts within the scope of the EU funded projects NICHES and NICHES+, which studied and promoted a range of innovative approaches within a number of thematic areas, such as accessibility, infrastructure and interchanges, traffic management, automated and space-efficient transport systems, urban freight, etc.

Download the NICHES+ Study Tour Catalogue.

OSMOSE Awards

During its project lifetime, NICHES+ presented the OSMOSE Awards twice. The OSMOSE Awards honour local and regional authorities that have shown the courage to introduce innovative and daring measures in order to meet today’s challenges in urban transport in a sustainable and effective way.

• The first OSMOSE awards were presented in 2007 to Barcelona (ES), Bremen (DE), Freiburg (DE), Graz (AU), Emilia Romagna (IT) and Stockholm (SE).
• The second edition was presented to the winners at the project's final conference in April 2011 in London. The winners were Madrid (ES), Essex (UK), Barcelona (ES), Aalborg (DK) and San Sebastian (ES). Read the press release here.

More Information

Project Coordinator: Ivo Créhttp://www.niches-transport.org/