[3.6] Serres
Serres, Greece
Nikos Papadikis, Supervisor of Traffic Planning Department, Municipality of Serres
" Greeks love their cars! People of Serres use them even for small distances (300m). And in a small town like Serres it is not easy to provide an effective and economic alternative. Of course in a small city like Serres (diameter about 2km) cycling and walking should be the most appropriate way of transport.
The excessive use of car causes parking problems, since there isn’t enough space for parking inside the city centre, which attracts the most of the cars, reduction of traffic capacity due to illegal parking and a downgrading of city aesthetics.
So we want to improve our knowledge about Travel Plans, Road Safety and Mobility Education. Our challenge is to learn from the practices and the experiences of the big towns, and make them relevant to a small town and a car-based culture. We also need to change people attitude towards car use, to promote walking and cycling for regular movements, to promote traffic education so as to have “gentle” drivers and careful pedestrians who share equally the road network of the city. "
| • To learn about effective traffic systems and strategies. To receive best practice methods in traffic planning and mobility management. • Implementation of the best traffic systems with the aim of improving traffic conditions. • Equal use of road network by all users (cars, pedestrians, buses, bicycles). • Promotion of public transport, walking, cycling • Road safety • Improvement of the city centre (environment, functionalism and aesthetics). • Awareness raising amongst citizens and politicians; Improvement of traffic attitude. |
1. Main characteristics of the city/region
| • Small town, capital of Serres Prefecture • About 56,000 inhabitants, but estimates are much higher. • Traffic conditions are better since the introduction of a one-way traffic system in the city centre. • The municipality is responsible for all the road network inside its administrative limits (except for the national and the provincial road network) • The Ministry for National Education and religious affairs is planning the programmes of education. |
2. Main transport issues
| • Road network is in a bad condition due to works for water supply • Small but important parts of the network aren’t formed • Public transport isn’t cheap enough and doesn’t cover the whole city • Pavements in bad condition • Excessive use of cars, even for distances of 400m • Illegal parking • Terminals of urban and interurban public transportation near the centre |
3. Mobility management domains of special interest
| What others might want to learn from us | |
CLEAN VEHICLES |
Bikeway outside the centre. |
INDIVIDUALISED TRAVEL MARKETING |
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MOBILITY & EDUCATION |
Structure of Traffic Education Park (a micrography of traffic conditions for pupils); Lesson at schools “Education of Health” which includes traffic education; Visit at schools (informing about the use of traffic lights). |
POLICY & INTEGRATION |
Cooperation with public transport authority, Police department, prefectural and regional departments of transportation, taxi driver association, association of heavy vehicle owners. |
ROAD PRICING |
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ROAD SAFETY |
Pavements, pedestrian roads, ramps for people with special needs; Signs, speed humps and neck downs to reduce the speed of cars; Interactive traffic lights (pelican) and normal traffic lights, signs, lining; School traffic wardens (volunteers that help pupils to cross roads); Studies about serious accidents (detecting dangerous spots). |
TRAVEL AWARENESS |
Informative Brochures. |
TRAVEL PLANS |
Traffic studies and changes, Measurements of traffic volume; Studies for traffic signs and for informative signs; Studies for parking garages, Parking facilities for heavy vehicles; Working on mini bus routes and transfer of bus terminal. |