WP.T1 “Understanding” creates solid basis for the SMACKER project activities and for any potential follow up and upscale of its
findings and methodologies.

WP.T2 “Participation and actions” implement concrete actions within SMACKER project activities by formalizing the participation
to the project processes and by acting in involved regions.

WP.T3 “Growth and Expand” creates solid basis for the propagation of the SMACKER effects to a deeper level and to a wider
audience.

WP.C is mainly focussed on communicating SMACKER results to external stakeholders in order to capitalize on them,
thus complementing the management and process-related communication.

The call of the Enlarged Transfer Program (ETP) will soon be online! The ETP will involve  external stakeholders interested in working on the definition of new DRT services and/or the improvement of existing ones, they will have the opportunity to learn from SMACKER results and to be involved in SMACKER events and webinars: STAY TUNED!

MCPS organized an online Local to Global training on May 26, around 25 key stakeholders took part and the main focus was on sustainable mobility and public transport from the local and global perspective, user needs, nudging activities and the expected impact of the pilot action in north-western part of Prague metropolitan area.

The SMACKER Project Partners met virtually on 14 May for the 3rd project Plenary Meeting and Steering Committee. The Project Officer and the Financial Officer joined as representatives of the Joint Secretariat. An intense working day to review the activities and results and to mutually update on consequences of COVID-19 emergency. Next meeting will be in Maribor (SI) in November!

Multimodal mobility is a key for better framework conditions in the Osttirol region in Austria. The development of 5 new e-carsharing stations in 4 municipalities is ongoing and start operating in autumn 2020. Residents and tourists will gain experiences on how the combination of e-carsharing and public transport can enhance mobility in rural areas. 

In February, 200 users of DRT lines in Budapest were interviewed about their travel habits, satisfaction, preferences and needs.Came out that users are satisfied with the service, but do not like the call based service request. On the joint LMF and LTG training, results were discussed with experts and the importance of an online service request was confirmed.

Visitors to the Pomurje region, Slovenia, mostly reach their destination by car and use it as their primary mean of transport, mainly because tourist attractions and spa resorts are not easily accessible with public transport. The Slovenian pilot aims at establishing a sustainable connection between the spa town of Moravske Toplice and Expano, by the Sobota Lake.

Building competences of stakeholders on public transport accessibility with special emphasis on Demand Responsive Transport is at the core of Local to Global Trainings. The trainings bring global best practices and initiatives to regional level where they are coupled with specific circumstances of each pilot area. 

The city district Prague-Suchdol started cooperation with students of the University of Life Sciences on SMACKER. The team visited a class at the Faculty of Engineering  to present its pilot activities and provide instructions for conducting surveys on users mobility needs in Suchdol area, whose results will serve as input for MCPS pilot action. 

On February 6, Gdynia held a meeting with Chwarzno-Wiczlino District Council on SMACKER; data collected on mobility preferences and behavior of residents of Gdynia’s pilot area were discussed, as well as a catalogue of possible pilot solutions with focus on optimisation of existing PT, better passenger information and possible implemetation of DRT in pilot area. 

Bologna pilot will run from June 2020. The DRT service network in the Apennine area was designed involving the stakeholders through the Local Mobility Forum (LMF), which is participated by local authorities and touristic and economic operators. LMF ensures a constant support providing ideas and suggestions for developing the pilot action, guaranteeing the contribution of non-experts (Community of Interest), practitioners (Community of Practice) and policy makers during all the pilot phases.

SMACKER released a “Review of service level and technical level for rural and peripheral areas”, an analysis of the literature on existing Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) services in the Central Europe area, taking in account the lessons learned from previous and ongoing European projects and last implementations. Good and bad practices are analyzed, with a particular attention to technical developments and solutions, including possible adaptation of technologies planned for other purposes.

The first SMACKER Transnational Newsletter was released. The contents are: 

• Overview of the project
• Pilots description
• Budapest meeting
• What's next?
  

Find more information on the dedicated page.

SMACKER officially started on 1st of April 2019 and will be kicked off on 7th-8th of May in Bologna, Italy.