Recap: Improve European Planning with Effective Stakeholder Collaboration
In this first European webinar, Remix project manager Keita Hill hosts a conversation with Leena Huhtala, planner in Tampere, Finland and Edmund Salt, Network Development Manager at Transport for West Midlands. Here’s a sneak peak at the discussion:
Building consensus on network changes in Finland
When the city of Tampere, Finland asked residents what color to paint their new tram, the poll had three options: red, blue and light blue. Surprisingly, residents voted overwhelmingly for a color not on the list: pink. This outcome shows the importance of broad public input to ensure that the ideas of citizens are truly heard. Can online discussions help to build consensus rather than erode it?
The team at Tampere wanted to try. To do so, they placed three Remix maps on their website and gave the community an opportunity to comment. Any civil discourse on the proposal was fair game. This was an unconventional move and it paid off: they received over 1000 comments which have shaped the plan in new ways.
“It’s really easy to get people (the public) to really comment because it’s such a simple way to collect feedback. We also had really good calculations about the project costs — it’s an easy way to calculate cost differences between Plan A vs Plan B when communicating with our board.”
— Leena Huhtala, Transit Planner
During the webinar, Leena speaks to how the team is using the online discussion to listen to and build consensus with the public on developing the best possible bus network proposal.
Collaborating around a single source of truth in West Midlands
Across public transport organizations, data is everywhere: timetables, route shapes, population projections. Unfortunately, it is often siloed between organizations and data platforms.
Edmund Salt leads the Bus Alliance at Transport for West Midlands, which serves to bridge these gaps and improve collaboration between operators, the combined authority, and local councils.
When the teams at National Express West Midlands and Transport for West Midlands set out to design bus network changes in South Birmingham, they shared network proposals in Remix. For the first time, both teams saw the same base case and future scenarios of bus service during proposal development.
“What Remix has really opened the doors for us, is really sharing proactively, and really shaping the network. So, we get a consistent network at the end, which has been properly thought about, and also communicated with our local councilors and politicians. Remix has streamlined that process which has been fantastic.”
— Edmund Salt
The two teams used Remix to understand changes in census populations served by reviewing the impact of mainline routes on specific households’ access to bus services.
During the webinar, Edmund speaks to the benefits of collaborating in Remix and shares some of the unexpected ways planners have received value.
To learn more, catch the whole webinar below. If you’re interested in learning more about Remix and our transport planning work across Europe, contact us.
