We have often said that new mobility is a strategy which is ultimately made up of a very large number of often very small things. Here is one example of the latter for your consideration: the Basel Mobility Ticket. Do you have one in your city? Should you?
It could not be simpler, so much so that you will wonder why you or your city had not thought of it before. It works like this.
Every visitor who stays in a hotel in the City of Bale in Switzerland is immediately handed a Basel Mobility ticket. It looks like this:
The ticket offers the visitor free transport on the city's public transport system, the TNW Tarifverbund Nordwestschweiz, good for unlimited travel on the city's buses and tramways. It is thus a partnership between the transporter and the city, with the cooperation of the city's tourist office and all the local hotels. The service is paid for by the general visitor's tax which is added to all hotel bills.
It's interesting to us that while the great idea has been around since start-up in 1999, it is the only city we know that has adopted this measure. Surely there must be others, but surely too it has the makings of what should be a universal New Mobility measure, one more small step in the direction of sustainable transportation, sustainable cities and sustainable lives.
Now what about a Mobility Ticket for your city? One small good idea that will surely lead to others. New Mobility is viral.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Honk! Basel Mobility Ticket (For visitors)
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The Inter-City Hotel chain in Germany offers free local transport passes to its
ReplyDeletevisitors. Presumably by selling in bulk in this way they get a significant
discount on what the visitors would have to pay if they bought them for
themselves. But perhaps of greater importance is to ensure that visitors
actually have the information enabling them to plan journeys, and this should
also apply to journeys to points outside the city where they are staying (if
they are staying in a city).
Simon Norton
Cambridge, UK
I was in Basel in 1995 and found the trams in particular were very easily understood ... despite a language problem ... the ticket system was not so easy .. but with a little patience we quickly found out how it worked.
ReplyDeleteFree tickets would have been magic ... another "barrier" removed ...!
Bring it on internationally ...!
Michael Yeates
Brisbane Australia
Sometimes, when attending conferences, I seem to recall a transit pass occasionally being included as part of the kit of materials. I don't recall an unlimited pass, but at least a day pass.
ReplyDelete