African and Latin American cities commit to improving urban mobility under MobiliseYourCity principles
After their application in late 2022, Thiès and Mbour in Senegal and Puebla in Mexico became official partners of MobiliseYourCity, joining the worldwide network of members working to improve and decarbonise urban mobility. Local authorities from the three cities declared their intention to develop sustainable urban mobility under MobiliseYourCity principles.
The challenges that these cities face and their circumstances are diverse. However, the three cities have highlighted the importance of effectively acting on urban mobility issues to reduce congestion and traffic violence and close the financial gap on sustainable mobility infrastructure to reduce GHG emissions and improve citizens’ quality of life.
Dakar mobilised other cities in Senegal
The Mayor of Thiès and the Deputy Mayor of Mbour expressed their interest in joining the Partnership at the MobiliseYourCity African Community of Practice meeting held in Dakar, Senegal in the framework of the Sustainable Mobility and Climate Week 2022.
The Executive Council of Urban Transport of Dakar (CETUD, for its acronym in French) facilitated the membership process for the two Senegalese cities by sharing their experience in the preparation of Dakar’s Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. The close relationship between the three cities strengthens the collaboration among urban areas for sustainable mobility in the Thiès region, the second most populated in the country after Dakar.
Puebla joined as a member after collaborating with EUROCLIMA+
Puebla is one of the cities that receive technical assistance in the framework of the urban mobility component of EUROCLIMA+. Within the framework of the "Pilot project for the integration of bicycles into the Puebla Bus Rapid Transit system" of the EUROCLIMA+ programme and through a grant agreement signed between the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the Municipality of Puebla, different actions have been conducted and developed. For instance, the project included technical studies and urban and architectural designs for the construction of a mass bicycle parking integrated into the Margaritas terminal of line 2 of the Puebla Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) public transport system and the construction of cycle infrastructure in the area surrounding the terminal, which is currently ongoing.
With the construction of this bike park, Puebla seeks to promote intermodal travel while encouraging the use of sustainable modes to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing public transport demand and decreasing individual motorised trips. Thanks to the bicycle parking and the construction of cycle infrastructure in the area, people will be able to access the Margaritas Terminal by bicycle and complete their trips on the public transport system.
For the city, the development of this type of project reinforces the existing institutional will to provide viable and sustainable alternatives to car trips and to potentiate the growth of cycling trips in the city, which by 2021 positioned Puebla as the third city in Mexico with more bicycle trips with 70 thousand cyclists travelling daily.
After this fruitful experience in implementing the EUROCLIMA+ programme, AFD facilitated the MobiliseYourCity membership process for Puebla. Puebla’s Secretariat of Mobility (Semovi, for its acronym in Spanish) committed to continue working on sustainable urban mobility in the long term, by both scaling up the pilot project currently in execution and other actions around active modes and public transport.
Together with Ankara, Türkiye, these three cities complete 69 city- and 15 country members of the MobiliseYourCity Partnership, all committed to the development of more low-carbon, inclusive, and resilient urban mobility.