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ReportCore resource
BATS Impact Report: Results and Lessons from Year-Round Active Mobility Pilots
Jacek Oskarbski, Konrad Biszko, Daniel Kaszubowski · 2026 · Baltic Sea Region
The BATS Impact Report (Deliverable D2.2), prepared by Gdańsk University of Technology, examines the observed outcomes, implementation experiences and operational lessons from Year-Round Active Mobility (YRAM) experiments in seven Baltic Sea Region pilot areas: Hamburg-Altona (Germany), Gdynia (Poland), Umeå (Sweden), Porvoo (Finland), Kalundborg (Denmark), Klaipėda (Lithuania) and Kiili/Harju County (Estonia). The report evaluates interventions across four thematic areas: infrastructure, traffic management, winter maintenance and citizen activation. Practical examples include physically protected cycling infrastructure and illuminated underpasses in Hamburg-Altona; weather-adaptive traffic signal control and school travel campaigns in Gdynia; citizen-based winter maintenance monitoring, projected markings and winter e-bike initiatives in Umeå; coordinated winter maintenance and user feedback systems in Porvoo; cycling route visibility improvements and commuter engagement in Kalundborg; projected guidance for shared bus-cycle environments in Klaipėda; and school-based winter cycling promotion and winter maintenance bottleneck mapping in Kiili and Harju County. For each pilot area, the report describes intervention objectives, monitoring methods, observed results, implementation barriers, enabling factors and recommendations for replication. The cross-city synthesis highlights the importance of reliable winter maintenance, route visibility, understandable information about travel conditions and citizen activation measures linked to practical support. A central finding is that year-round active mobility depends on the combined performance of infrastructure, maintenance, traffic management and user-oriented services. Communication campaigns alone cannot compensate for unusable or unsafe routes, while technical solutions require appropriate maintenance arrangements, institutional coordination and monitoring. Because the experiments differed substantially in scale, baseline conditions, monitoring methods and data availability, the report does not provide a statistically comparable ranking of intervention effectiveness. Instead, it offers operational evidence and transferable implementation lessons to help municipalities select, adapt and evaluate interventions suited to their local conditions.
- Maintenance & Operations
- Data & Monitoring
- Behaviour & Mobility Management
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
ReportCore resource
From Concept to Policy: Recommendations for Introducing Year-Round Active Mobility in European Municipalities
Tiina Beldinsky, Terje Schmidt, Juliette Ténart, Dennis Martinez, Camilla Sandberg · 2026 · Baltic Sea Region
From Concept to Policy: Recommendations for Introducing Year-Round Active Mobility in European Municipalities is a policy brief developed within the BATS project to help European municipalities and higher levels of government integrate year-round walking and cycling into transport strategies, infrastructure planning, maintenance practices and public services. Drawing on experiences from seven Baltic Sea Region pilot areas, the publication argues that year-round active mobility is a policy and governance choice rather than simply a consequence of climate. It reviews the European policy landscape, identifying growing recognition of walking and cycling in EU transport strategies but insufficient attention to seasonal conditions such as snow, ice, rain, darkness and extreme weather. The recommendations are organised around four drivers of change: Strategic Prioritisation, which calls for treating active mobility as a year-round public service; Collaboration, which addresses fragmented responsibilities across municipal departments, road authorities and other stakeholders; Caring, which emphasises the different needs of residents and the importance of user-centred planning; and Knowledge, which calls for improved seasonal monitoring, analytical capacity and reporting of pedestrian and cyclist incidents. Practical examples include Porvoo's efforts to coordinate winter maintenance across road ownership boundaries, Umeå's dedicated winter travel survey and citizen-based maintenance monitoring, Estonia's integration of year-round cycling into national strategy development, and cooperation on lighting, visibility and accessibility measures in Hamburg-Altona, Kalundborg and Klaipėda. A particularly useful feature is the two-page action matrix that distinguishes three levels of municipal readiness: YRAM Starter, YRAM Enabler and YRAM Champion. It provides differentiated recommendations for strategic planning, maintenance responsibilities, cross-departmental cooperation, user engagement, infrastructure design and year-round data collection. The policy brief also recommends dedicated funding for research and experimentation, formal inclusion of year-round requirements in Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans and cycling and walking strategies, and the integration of seasonal mobility indicators into relevant national and European reporting frameworks. The publication offers a concise framework for policymakers and municipal leaders seeking to move from isolated winter mobility measures towards systematic, inclusive and evidence-informed year-round active mobility policies.
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
ReportCore resource
Year-Round Active Mobility: Insights into Mobility Management Approaches
Ida Lundström, Josefine Wigström, Naomi Zerai, Zein Anani, Camilla Sandberg, Dennis Martínez-Moro, Juliette Ténart · 2026 · Baltic Sea Region
Year-Round Active Mobility: Insights into Mobility Management Approaches is a collection of eight thematic insight sheets developed by Umeå Municipality and Bax Innovation within the BATS project. The publication explores practical approaches to making walking and cycling safer, more accessible and more attractive throughout the year, particularly during periods of snow, ice, darkness and challenging weather conditions. The insight sheets cover winter maintenance, citizen participation in monitoring maintenance quality, intelligent transport systems, projected traffic signage, perceived security in dark environments, campaigns in educational institutions and services supporting year-round cycling. Concrete examples from BATS partner cities include Winter Scouts and Winter Agents programmes in Umeå and Porvoo, where residents help monitor winter maintenance conditions; weather-adaptive traffic signal control in Gdynia; Gobo light projections in Umeå and Hamburg-Altona to improve visibility and guidance; and solar-powered lighting solutions for cycling routes in Kalundborg. Other examples include winter e-bike lending, winter tyre services, secure bicycle storage and school-based campaigns encouraging active mobility. Each thematic sheet combines an introduction to the approach with practical implementation examples, considerations and lessons learned. The sheets are designed to be used independently or together as planning and workshop materials. The publication serves as a practical reference and source of transferable ideas for municipalities, transport planners and mobility practitioners. It illustrates how different cities have tested solutions to seasonal mobility challenges, while recognising that the examples do not necessarily provide conclusive evidence of long-term effectiveness or represent entirely new innovations.
- Planning & Design
- Maintenance & Operations
- Data & Monitoring
- Behaviour & Mobility Management
- Communication & Engagement
- Health, Safety & Wellbeing
GuidelineCore resource
Citizen Activation Guide: Promoting Year-Round Active Mobility (YRAM)
Tallinn University of Technology · 2025 · Baltic Sea Region
The Citizen Activation Guide (CAG), developed by Tallinn University of Technology as part of the BATS project, provides a practical framework for municipalities and mobility planners to engage residents and encourage year-round active mobility, particularly during colder and darker seasons. The guide is structured around three questions: WHY citizen engagement is needed, TO WHOM activities should be targeted, and HOW participation and behaviour change can be supported. It explains how to assess local mobility conditions, identify residents' needs, motivations and barriers, develop user personas, and select appropriate participatory or behavioural approaches. Practical guidance covers communication campaigns, focus groups, workshops, digital mapping, public meetings, walking and cycling field visits, citizen advisory committees, and nudging techniques. The accompanying CAG Canvas supports systematic planning, while templates for resident surveys, focus groups and campaign checklists help practitioners implement and evaluate engagement activities. The guide also includes examples from seven BATS pilot areas across the Baltic Sea Region and links citizen engagement activities to monitoring and evaluation. It is particularly useful for cities seeking to move beyond generic awareness campaigns towards targeted, evidence-informed approaches that address the specific barriers preventing people from walking and cycling throughout the year.
- Behaviour & Mobility Management
- Communication & Engagement
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
GuidelineCore resource
Fix the maintenance - Promoting the safety of year-round bicycle and pedestrian route usage in Finnish cities
Timo Perälä, Matti Hirvonen, Martti Tulenheimo, Pekka Tahkola · 2024 · Finland
A practical guide for Finnish municipalities on improving year-round maintenance of walking and cycling infrastructure. It highlights the safety, health and economic benefits of high-quality winter maintenance and provides recommendations for winter-resilient infrastructure design, maintenance prioritisation, service procurement, quality management and winter maintenance methods.
- Maintenance & Operations
- Health, Safety & Wellbeing
GuidelineCore resource
Snow Space Guide – guidelines for a better winter
Eeva Huuhtanen, Timo Perälä · 2024 · Finland
A comprehensive guide to handling snow and dimensioning snow storage space in the urban environment. It explains why year-round planning matters and how it supports municipalities' strategic goals, and walks through every stage of the built-environment process, from legislation and strategic planning to street-space supervision. Intended for commissioners, planners, builders and maintenance operators in both the public and private sectors.
- Planning & Design
- Maintenance & Operations
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
ResearchReportCore resource
Sustainable Promotion of Cycling in Winter through Optimised Winter Road Maintenance (WinRad)
Christian Holldorb, Jan Riel, Tim Wiesler, Thorsten Cypra, Niklas März · 2024 · Germany
A comprehensive German research report examining how optimised winter maintenance can support year-round cycling. Based on field studies in Karlsruhe, Cologne and Munich, cyclist surveys, de-icing material experiments and cost-benefit assessments, it provides evidence-based recommendations for winter maintenance operations, cycling infrastructure design and service prioritisation. Short version to be dowloaded: https://fops.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BASt-FK-04-2024-WinRad.pdf
- Planning & Design
- Maintenance & Operations
- Data & Monitoring
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
ReportStrategyMethodCore resource
Winter maintenance strategy and implementation study and tracking, Minneapolis
City of Minneapolis, Department of Public Works · 2024 · United States
The City of Minneapolis' 2024 Winter Walking and Biking Study evaluates winter maintenance policies, operational responsibilities, costs and opportunities to improve pedestrian accessibility and year-round cycling through 2030. It presents eight recommended actions for winter walking and five for winter cycling, including four sidewalk assistance pilots supported by a $595,000 budget allocation. The proposals address snow clearance, support for older residents and people with limited mobility, targeted maintenance services, improved cycling route maintenance and public information on snow-clearing operations. A particularly valuable feature is the city's publicly accessible Transportation Action Plan progress tracking system, which connects strategic objectives to individual actions, implementation schedules, status updates and documented milestones. This allows residents, practitioners and decision-makers to follow how winter mobility policies are translated into operational improvements. The online monitoring system documents continued implementation beyond the original study. For winter 2025–2026, Minneapolis funded four sidewalk snow and ice removal pilots, building on the previous season's experiments. Participation in the neighborhood snow patrol pilot increased from four neighborhoods in 2024–2025 to eight in 2025–2026. Other publicly reported measures include revised sidewalk enforcement fees, improved complaint-handling procedures and ongoing accessibility improvements. Link: https://go.minneapolismn.gov/final-plan/walking/strategy-4 Together, the study and its public implementation tracking offer a practical example of evidence-informed winter mobility governance, combining costed interventions, pilot programmes, measurable milestones and transparent reporting. The tracking system documents implementation progress, although it does not by itself establish the effects of these measures on walking and cycling activity or safety.
- Planning & Design
- Maintenance & Operations
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
ToolkitCore resource
YRAM - Diagnostics and intervention toolkit
Milos Mladenovic · 2024 · Baltic Sea Region
This toolkit is a collaborative workspace for developing innovative solutions for Year-Round Active Mobility in darkness and all-weather conditions. It offers a systematic method for mobility planners and managers to go from a wish to improve active mobility to develop a systematic plan for implementation. The toolkit consists of 8 modules, each presented on a canvas that helps stakeholders explore challenges, structure ideas and co-create solutions together. There are three flexible ways to use the canvases tailored to different levels of time, ambition, team-size and data: 1) Solo sprint, 2) Starter workshop and 3) Deep dive. The canvases can viewed on Miro and used as digital PDFs or printed to paper (A1or A2 format suggested). You find detailed instructions on how to use the materials from the Toolkit pdf-file. This toolkit is part of Output 2.3 of the BATS project.
- Behaviour & Mobility Management
- Communication & Engagement
- Policy, Strategy & Governance
GuidelineCore resource
YRAM Monitoring Guidance: A User Manual for Year-Round Active Mobility Monitoring
Jacek Oskarbski, Konrad Biszko, Daniel Kaszubowski · 2024 · Baltic Sea Region
The YRAM Monitoring Guidance is a comprehensive methodological manual developed within the BATS project to help local authorities monitor year-round active mobility and evaluate the effectiveness of walking and cycling interventions. It complements the BATS Diagnostics-Interventions Toolkit by providing a structured approach to defining performance indicators, identifying data requirements, collecting and managing information, analysing results and refining interventions over time. A central feature is its Key Performance Indicator (KPI) selection framework, which considers the relevance of indicators to local conditions, transport management, infrastructure and maintenance, as well as their sensitivity to weather and lighting. Two alternative indicator selection methods are presented, including an approach specifically organised around weather- and lighting-dependent indicators. This helps municipalities design monitoring systems that account for seasonal variation rather than evaluating active mobility measures only under favourable conditions. The manual describes a monitoring process covering intervention definition, KPI selection, data acquisition and management, indicator calculation, analysis, scheduling and iterative improvement. It provides recommendations for using existing municipal datasets, GIS information, transport models, surveys and other data sources, including approaches to identifying data gaps, combining datasets and selecting feasible alternatives when information is unavailable. Supporting materials include a structured indicator selection table, findings from surveys of partner cities, data collection recommendations and monitoring process diagrams. A local experiment in Gdynia, Poland, is used to illustrate the application of the guidance. The publication is particularly valuable for transport planners, mobility managers and public authorities seeking to establish evidence-based monitoring systems, compare intervention outcomes under different seasonal conditions and use evaluation results to support future year-round active mobility policies and investments.
- Data & Monitoring
- Policy, Strategy & Governance

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