Within the scope of the BITS project recommendation workshops were organised with external local stakeholders over the past weeks. The aim of these recommendation workshops is to bring BITS partners and external stakeholders together to present the ITS implementations and their evaluations and to gather recommendations and reflections from the participants.

By Griet Vanwynsberghe, VIVES University of Applied Sciences.

Over the past weeks, several recommendation workshops were organised in different cities. The workshops are organised by VIVES together with the involved partners from that city or region. All workshops followed a comparable pattern: first the ITS implementations of involved partners are presented followed by a presentation of the evaluation of these implementations (if already available). In the second part of the workshop, a discussion with the participants took place with the aim to collect recommendations and reflections on the ITS implementations.  

The first recommendation workshop was organised on September 8^th by Baron Mobility and the University Oldenburg. The workshop was an online event and focused on the one hand on gamification apps and on the other hand on cycling data. Using specific questions concerning the ITS implementations useful input on both topics was given by the attendees.

On September 15^th a live workshop was organised in Bruges. Participants with a diverse background (mobility experts of cities in the region, an advisor from the local police and a representative from the local Fietsersbond – an interest group for cycling) discussed the ITS implementations of the city of Bruges. Amongst others, critical remarks were made on the LED warning systems and useful tips and conditions were given concerning the parking referral system. The input was both useful for the city of Bruges and VIVES for the BITS project, as for the participants.

The province of Antwerp organised their recommendation workshop on September 22^nd. The workshop was an online event and focused on the 3D camera pilot. More than 30 external participants with diverse backgrounds (policy, mobility experts from cities, local police etc.) attended the event. Advantages and critical remarks on the smart camera system were discussed.

The fourth workshop was organised on October 17^th by the city of Zwolle, the Province of Overijssel and Deelfiets Nederland. The workshop was a live event with nearly 20 participants, mainly with a background in policy or business. Due to the many ITS implementations within this region, the pilots were clustered and discussions took place on thematic clusters (i.e. traffic lights and traffic management, measuring air quality, stimulating cycling and safety). The participants had many additional questions for the BITS partners and interesting discussions on the added value, usefulness, conditions and barriers of the ITS implementations took place.

Next month a recommendation workshop will be organised in East Riding to discuss recommendations on their ITS implementations, specifically focusing on the bike library. We look forward to the recommendations and reflections that will be given during that session. All input collected during the recommendation workshops will be integrated in a recommendation report which will be delivered at the end of the BITS project and which will be available on the BITS website.