BATS

BATS - Baltic Sea region Active mobiliTy Solutions is a collaborative project aiming to ensure active mobility remains a feasible transport mode during the long period of colder and darker weather in the Baltic Sea Region. We promote the concept of Year-round Active Mobility (YRAM).

Active mobility, which includes cycling and walking, is an accessible, healthy, and green mode of transport that contributes to the transition to a more sustainable mobility system. However, across the Baltic Sea Region, the proportion of pedestrians and cyclists decreases sharply during the region’s dark, wet, snowy, cold and increasingly unpredictable winter months.

By tradition, mobility and road planning is still largely designed for cars, and planning for cyclists and pedestrians is usually geared towards daylight and warmer weather conditions. For cycling and walking to remain an option for the whole year, it must be and feel safe and attractive in all seasons. This requires Public Authorities responsible for urban design, mobility planning and road maintenance to give specific attention to suitable infrastructure, optimal traffic systems, and effective procedures for removal of snow, ice, and leaves from roads and paths.

The BATS project brings together 7 urban authorities and 5 knowledge organisations to learn and experiment with policies, infrastructure and campaigns that are effective for encouraging Year-round Active Mobility. Our experiences from varied climate conditions and planning cultures across the region are brought together into comprehensive materials that aim to support urban and rural stakeholders to systematically address YRAM.

Find out more in our key resources:

• Year-Round Active Mobility Diagnostics and Interventions Toolkit: Templates and guidance to support public authorities with how to diagnose barriers and plan physical interventions.
• YRAM Monitoring Guidance: Instructions on how to monitor and evaluate the success of local actions.
• Citizen Activation Guide: A manual designed to help mobility managers engage the general public and change local travel habits.
• Interactive tools: Practical thematic insights, recorded webinars, video highlights, and collaborative Miro-templates for developing YRAM strategies in local workshops.
• Impact report: Deliverable summarising the the observed outcomes, implementation experiences, and operational lessons from the local experiments conducted within the BATS project.
• Policy recommendations (coming soon)