Mobilizing Europe's Green Ambitions through Bicycles and Intelligent Transport Systems (MegaBITS) will fast track the deployment of ITS technologies to improve rider safety, comfort and convenience in the North Sea Region. BITS (the predecessor project to MegaBITS) has demonstrated that there is a vibrant and exciting cycling technology sector in Europe, where governments, research institutes and world leading companies that have the enthusiasm, motivation and ambition to implement change. MegaBITS will take this one step further.
Below is further information about the MegaBITS project.
Bicycle Pyramid
Derived from the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow Pyramid) and Herzberg’s Two-factor theory, the Province of Overijssel has developed a similar hierarchy of needs for cyclists, showing the factors influencing modal shift from car to bike (figure below).
Firstly, cycling has to be safe and reliable, secondly it should be (relatively) fast and convenient (clear routes, easy bicycle parking, etc). Once these levels have been matched, comfort and user experience become important.
The Bicycle Pyramid forms the basis of the MegaBITS proposal, where the seven cities and regions have different levels of bicycle infrastructure, bicycle use and bicycle policy. Each demonstration site will have different priorities on the Bicycle Pyramid and therefore a different focus of their flagship.
Flagships
The MegaBITS project has defined 5 flagships, divided across 7 cities/regions. Each flagship has its own flagship theme, i.e.
- Smart cycling corridor (Province of Overijssel, City of Zwolle, City of Enschede)
- Smart traffic management for cyclists (City of Copenhagen)
- Digitizing urban cycling (City of Hamburg)
- Smart data fusion (Province of Antwerp)
- Smart cycling management (Le Havre Seine Métropole).
Each flagship consists of a number of coherent ITS projects focused on improving the cycling conditions with respect to i) safety & reliability, ii) speed & ease of use, iii) comfort & experience. At the same time these ITS implementations for cyclists provide iv) data to the CycleDataHub and v) products, services and knowledge to the Bicycles and ITS Directory. This is shown graphically in the figure below.
Each flagship consists of a number of coherent ITS implementations for cyclists, which jointly will create an ecosystem that contributes to the overall flagship theme. As such the flagships will be real ‘champions’ in cycling ITS, not only in the North Sea Region but Europe-wide.
CycleDataHub (CDH)
The new CDH will be in line with the EU data space initiatives and will allow for expansion and collaboration with other mobility subdomains and other fields. The MegaBITS flagships (WP1) will provide cycle counting data that will be linked to the CDH, aggregated, integrated, analysed and visualised. The CDH itself serves as an open platform for all partners and stakeholders that enables exchanging data. The current version of the CDH can be found here.
Bicycles and ITS Directory
The Bicycles and ITS Directory (BID) is a unique asset in the bicycle and ITS community, as there is currently no other online platform which connects the developers of cycle-specific ITS technologies (products and services) with public authorities or other businesses. The BID is a one-of-a-kind tool for the cycling industry, serving to develop a full ecosystem for connected cycling. It does so by connecting the developers and innovators of cycling-specific technology with public authorities or other businesses.
For businesses, the BID provides a showcase for pioneering technology, enabling greater visibility for procurement and tendering opportunities by public authorities. For cities and governments, the BID is a procurement tool kit that facilitates a clearer picture of exactly what is currently available in the connected cycling market. Furthermore the BID provides access to ITS and cycling knowledge, for example on best practices and (EU) regulation. The current version of the BID can be found here.
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