Turku disembarks to the small-scale experiment pilot area

One of the most difficult things in ensuring the switch to sustainable mobility modes is engaging citizens and providing them with information that leads to behavioural change. To get to know the citizens better and to promote active travel, the City of Turku attended a local event in Pääskyvuori district of the city and organised a reflector campaign.

Participating in Pääskyvuori Day

Pääskyvuoriseura is a local association in the Pääskyvuori area that organises recreational activities in the community, and for several decades they have arranged a traditional Pääskyvuori day event to engage the community. City of Turku got the chance to participate in the event in 2025 to promote two mobility projects, InterregBSR SUMPs for BSR and Urbact IV Schoolhoods projects. Both projects are piloting measures supporting the shift to active and sustainable modes of mobility in the area.

City of Turku has been piloting its first mobility hub in the area that has brought together a bus stop on a heavily operated trunk line, Fölläri city bikes and rentable e-cargo bikes. To boost the collection of feedback on the user experience and needs of the locals related to shared vehicles and public transport, the City of Turku participated in the Pääskyvuori Day.

The mobility hub has a large sign and room for several e-cargo bikes and Fölläri city bikes. A bus stop can be found right next to it.

On the Pääskyvuori Day, the City of Turku shared a questionnaire on the mobility hub and had conversations with the inhabitants of the area. The event area had posters explaining the project and flyers equipped with a QR code for a questionnaire. A similar approach was taken for both SUMPs for BSR and Schoolhoods projects. The possibility of discussing the pilots of the area and answering the questionnaires was promoted throughout the event by the organisers through announcements, and flyers were offered to people.

Several posters and photos of the pilot site were visible in the area, allowing giving feedback without having to come to speak in person with the project representative.

To further support sustainable active travel, the city had organised two bicycle repair workshops at the event. Turku Bike Kitchen organised a bike repair workshop where participants were able to learn to fix their own bikes with the help of volunteers and tools and spare parts provided by Turku Bike Kitchen. They also arranged a bike repair show where they demonstrated how to, for example, change the chains on a bike. The show was followed closely by several participants, and especially children were very interested in seeing the process while the volunteers explained why everything is done and how.

Turku Bike Kitchen’s bike repair show caught the eyes of the participants, and several families learned bike repair tricks

Fillaritalli organised a bike repair point where people could leave their bikes for a quick repair. They ended up having bikes to fix throughout the five-hour span of the event, which led to approximately 60 bicycles being fixed in total by two professionals. The participants were very excited by both bicycle repair concepts, as both organisations were very local, their headquarters being in the neighbouring district to Pääskyvuori.

The event attracted a lot of locals, and dozens of bikes were repaired during it.

At the end of the event, a raffle was arranged, and Turku’s representative took the role of Lady Fortune. City of Turku donated some reflectors and a thermos bottle with project logos to be drawn in the raffle.

National Reflector Day 2025

Finnish Road Safety Council Liikenneturva launched a National Reflector Day in 2013, and since then it has been celebrated on the first of October. City of Turku partook in the celebration this year by spreading reflectors provided by the project, the city and Turku Region Traffic around Pääskyvuori. Reflectors were hung on the mobility point sign, roadblocks and along pedestrian and cycling paths. Each reflector had a cover letter explaining the campaign and promoting the project.
Social media posts were made to raise awareness of the reflector campaign and the project on the city’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Turku Region Traffic Föli also shared the Instagram post on their Instagram story.

The Kotkankatu mobility hub had reflectors taped to the sides and bottom of the info sign. Reflectors were also attached to the Fölläri bikes on the mobility hub.

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