NICHES+

New and Innovative Concepts for Helping European Transport Sustainability – Towards Implementation

Project Leader(s): Simon Edwards

Sponsors: European Union (FP7)

Partners: Polis, Eurocities, Rupprecht Consult, Transman, University of Southampton

External Website: http://www.niches-transport.org/
Start/end dates: May 2008 to April 2011
Contact: simon.edwards@ncl.ac.uk

Project Details

NICHES+ brought together stakeholders engaged in developing innovative urban transport concepts across four thematic areas:

  • Innovative Concepts to Enhance Accessibility
  • Efficient Planning and Use of Infrastructure and Interchanges
  • Traffic Management Centres
  • Automated and Space Efficient Transport Systems

The main aim was to promote the most promising new concepts from their current ‘niche’ position to a mainstream urban transport policy application. Six ‘Champion’ cities/regions participated: Artois-Gohelle, Daventry, Cork, Trondheim, Burgos and Worcestershire. Recommendations were that technologies be combined into concrete measures; service provision is more important than hardware; smart combinations of concepts lead to strong local transport strategies; and ‘transferability’ of innovation can shorten the implementation process.

The main output of the project includes: 6 local implementation scenarios; an “Urban Transport Innovation Box” (12 Guidelines for Implementers and a Study Tour Catalogue); 6 national events in champion cities and a national seminar in Warsaw; E-learning modules; 7 newsletters; Research and Policy Recommendations.

Researchers

  • Simon Edwards
  • Dr Gareth Evans
  • Dr Amy Guo

Publications

Edwards SJF, Evans GD. Successful Implementation of Mobile Travel Information Services in Urban Areas. In: ITS Europe. 2011, Lyon, France.

Edwards SJF, Guo AW, Evans GD. NICHES+: Guidelines for Implementers of Mobile Travel Information Services for the Public. Brussels, Belgium: niches, 2010. NICHES+ Guidelines for Implementers.

Edwards SJF, Evans GD, Guo AW. NICHES+: Guidelines for Implementers of Using Environmental Pollution Data in Traffic Management Centres. Brussels, Belgium: niches, 2010. NICHES+ Guidelines for Implementers.

Edwards SJF, Winning I. Innovative Concepts for Sustainable Transport in Cork City: the NICHES+ Project. In: Polis International Conference. 2009, Brussels, Belgium.