BATS Partners Showcase YRAM during European Mobility Week 2025!

Last month saw the return of the European Mobility Week, the European Commission’s annual awareness-raising campaign on sustainable urban mobility. The campaign promotes behavioural change in favour of clean, intelligent transport solutions, including active mobility.

With a new theme each year, the European Mobility Week offers an opportunity for cities, municipalities, organisations and governments to run innovative activities aimed at promoting sustainable transport options among local citizens and stakeholders. The theme for 2025 was Mobility For Everyone, which focused on ensuring all people can access sustainable transport, no matter their income, gender or abilities. This year, European Mobility Week invited us to envision and build towards a society where transport is available, accessible, affordable, inclusive, and safe, ensuring that walking and cycling, as well as public transport, are fair options for everyone.

Across the Baltic Sea Region, harsh weather conditions and under-investment in suitable infrastructure result in a huge drop in the number of pedestrians and cyclists during winter months. Through the BATS project, our partners are aiming to reduce this drop-off and create a network of safe, accessible cities for citizens to see active mobility as a year-round transport option.

During European Mobility Week 2025, several of the BATS city partners ran a series of engaging activities to mark the campaign and promote year-round active mobility amongst local citizens.

Umeå, Sweden

BATS partner Umea Kommun facilitated a range of exciting activities across the city, with the objective of encouraging more citizens to take an interest and become involved in year-round active mobility across the city.

One of the activities run in Umeå saw bus cards hidden around different bus stops throughout the week. The team then released clues on social media each day to guide local commuters and followers to find their free card. Participation was tracked by asking each successful individual to contact the team to let them know the card had been found. By the end of the week, all cards had been successfully found, marking a great level of engagement from local people and a successful activity overall.

The Umeå team also took the opportunity to promote safe cycling and provide information on the importance of using bike lights during the dark winter months. A total of six representatives from Umeå Kommun collaborated with two local police officers to spend time in the city centre, informing citizens about traffic safety and handing out free bike lights and reflectors!

During the week, e-bike lending and the local winter agents programme were promoted on social media. The winter agents programme is a continuation of a successful campaign last year, during which citizens acted as winter agents to inform the municipality of winter maintenance requirements across the city. Following the European Mobility Week activities, 76 citizens have registered to become winter agents, while the e-bike lending campaign has been fully booked.

Reflecting on the experience of the European Mobility Week 2025 activities, the Umeå Municipality team commented:

“We were really happy to see how engaged people were during the week. All the hidden bus cards were found, which was great fun to follow, and many stopped to talk to us about safe cycling and the importance of bike lights.”

Klaipėda, Lithuania

In the Lithuanian city of Klaipėda, European Mobility Week 2025 marked the perfect time for the 17^th edition of the local cross-city transport race. This experiment is run to determine which mode of transport allows one to travel from the southern part of the city to the Klaipėda University campus the fastest during the morning rush hour. This is undoubtedly the most anticipated event of Mobility Week each year.

Students travelled almost 8 kilometres from the Smiltelė bus stop to the KU Rectorate. There were seven modes of transportation in the race: route taxi, express bus, scooter, car, electric car, bicycle, and running.

This race is not intended to set any records – it simply assesses the convenience of the city’s infrastructure and traffic conditions for various modes of transport under real conditions.

This year, the race leaders moved faster than last year, with the team attributing this to the improved discipline of other road users in observing the A lane marked on Taikos Avenue. Both the express bus and electric car traveled fast in this lane, with only seconds separating their results.

Third place went to a route taxi. During the morning rush hour, it is not very fast because it stops frequently to pick up and drop off passengers. A car with an internal combustion engine and a scooter showed similar results.

This time, the cyclist was unlucky: the frame of his bicycle broke while riding, so he finished the race in an evacuation vehicle. Thankfully the cyclist was not injured! The race is designed to be as close as possible to real student travel: the best means of transport are not specially selected, but rather whatever is available is used. Before each race, participants are instructed to follow traffic safety requirements.

The race was broadcast from start to finish, with city officials, police chiefs, and traffic participants commenting on general traffic concerns including traffic jams, traffic participant habits, and infrastructure development. This kind of event allows for informal, but substantive discussion of transport issues in the city.

BATS was well represented during the event, with our project roll-up displayed proudly, and Julius Paulikas presenting the project during the live feed.

Kiili Municipality – HOL, Estonia

In Estonia, BATS partner Union of Harju County Municipalities (HOL) are supporting Kiili Gymnasium and the Municipality of Kiili to encourage and support healthy movement habits, not only among children and youths, but throughout the entire community.

During European Mobility Week 2025, an autumn family cycling event was organised in the area. The event; “Kiili Vänt” attracted over 50 participants, with cyclists exploring local sights, opening a new joint border point with the neighbouring Rae Municipality, and meeting village representatives along the way. At the finish line, the school’s young singers performed, while everyone enjoyed warm soup and pastries.

Kiili Vänt marked a proud achievement for Kiili, as the town was one of 2,497 across 46 countries to be represented on the European Mobility Week 2025 map.

This is another example of the fantastic support being provided in Kiili by the Union of Harju County Municipalities (HOL) throughout the BATS project. The opportunity is being taken to promote active school travel, encouraging Kiili’s young people to walk, cycle, or take public transport to school, even in challenging weather conditions. Together with the municipality, HOL is exploring ways to make these routes even safer and to improve local infrastructure and winter maintenance.

Porvoo, Finland

During this year’s European Mobility Week, the city of Porvoo in Finland seized the opportunity to reach out to citizens in the town square, encouraging local residents to continue walking and cycling during the winter by giving away prizes such as reflectors and bike seat covers during the morning rush hour of the car-free day.

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