In English

Our vision

Inhabitants of the Umeå Region understand the advantages of traveling smartly and are aware of the importance of making wise choices when it comes to transportation. As a result, residents are regularly and as often as possible choosing the most sustainable travel options.

Background

Today, the Umeå Region is composed of six municipalities working together in one joint functional region i.e. it is one labour market. The Umeå Region’s population concentration is situated in the Umeå Municipality with a population of 111 000 inhabitants (of which around 75 000 live in urban areas). The Umeå Region counts a total of 144 000 households spread over an area of 9370 km2.

The Transportation Research Unit at Umeå University (TRUM) initially mapped out the public transportation possibilities and implications for sparsely populated areas in the Umeå Region. One conclusion of this report states that the region’s typical city and country characteristics need new suitable and innovative solutions to enable the development of sustainable travel in the region.

Presently, road traffic in the Umeå’s population center is causing undesirable air conditions. The Municipality of Umeå in collaboration with several national organizations have been developing an action programme to reduce road traffic and air emissions as well as to adequately redistribute the traffic flow. One of the propositions to solve those issues was to establish an agency for sustainable travel in Umeå.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to promote sustainable travel through new and expanded mobility and accessibility schemes in the Umeå Region. It also wishes to create an organization for the support and promotion of its activities.

Improving mobility and accessibility do not necessarily entails the increase of the number of trips. The project aims to broaden knowledge on sustainable travel and designs better conditions to support and facilitate sustainable travel.

The project seeks to enhance people’s engagement and to develop a positive attitude towards sustainable travel.