, the model student of intermodality

Soft mobility with a nordic touch

INTERMODES For its tenth study visit, the European Club of Intermodal Regions and Cities went to Stockholm. There, the Swedish network builds on soft modes and the development of new hubs.

∞ CAPUCINE MOULAS This year, Stockholm was 25% by 2030. Further- and pedestrian space, in the spotlight. Indeed, in more, the region situated while walking and June, the city was awarded in a particularly cold part represents nearly 40% of the European Intermodes of Europe, is an archipelago modal share, followed by Prize in recognition of which counts about 25 000 (31%) and public trans- the development of a tru- islands and the city itself is port (30%). ly intermodal transport built on 14 pieces of land Stockholm has taken dras- network system. Later this connected by 56 bridges. tic steps: in 2012, the city year, the European Club In addition, environmental adopted a program dedica- of Intermodal Regions challenges have to be taken ted to the development of and Cities chose the Swe- into account. cycle lanes, part of a larger dish capital to organize its A brain-teaser for the or- urban mobility plan. One tenth network study visit. ganization of public trans- of the main objectives, Why all this recognition? port. among thirty projects, is «For the quality of its trans- to promote biking instead port network, which is highly Pedestrians and cyclists of car riding and eventually efficient and intuitive», ar- first replace by bikes. «To gued Nathalie Leclerc, co- Stockholm gives promi- include all the modes - car, creator of the organizing nence to soft modes. The bike, bus or truck - roadways company, Intermodes. wide streets, remarkable should be 45 meters wide, The city has to face several for their cleanliness and says Joakim Boberg, Head challenges: Stockholm and quietness, are - if not for of the bicycle program in the Stockholm County are pedestrian - made for wal- the city of Stockholm. Here, experiencing a very strong king and cycling. According the streets are between 20 growth. According to city to Intermodes, about a to 30 meters wide». An ex- officials, Stockholm will see third of stockholm’s - periment is conducted in its population increase by ways is used as sidewalk Götgatan (the central Stockholm, the model student of intermodality

To empty the streets from its cars, it is necessary to have wide streets to allow all alternative modes to coexist.

island in the heart of the is based on the traffic le- Stockholm to meet its city): a cycle lane which vel in and out of the peri- target for mobility, public partly replaces the car meter. This measure has transport should repre- lane has been created. reduced by 30% the num- sent at least 80% of mo- «The implementation was ber of vehicles entering torized trips. In order quick and did not cost a and leaving downtown to make pedestrians, lot of money», he insists. Stockholm. cyclists, tram, bus or me- Another proven tech- tro coexist, the city pro- nique is the prioritization The city’s bet on public motes the development of bicycle traffic in one transit of intermodal hubs on its direction of the street, Users give public trans- territory. These strategic car traffic in the opposite port an overwhelming points must form a really direction being permit- support even though interconnected network ted. Stockholm also star- they are rather expen- and enable users to reach ted to replace car parking sive (€ 3.80 for a single as quickly and directly as spaces by bike lanes. journey in zone A, one possible their destination. In order to take the car hour validity). Also, pu- With seven new hubs on out of the city centre, the blic transport modal the network, Stockholm city has implemented an share ranks second after city and the Stockholm extremely effective tool: the soft modes. On the County want to develop the congestion charge. whole region (Stockholm the sys- trips per day (2.8 million Since 2006, automatic County), which encom- tem’s accessibility. Agreed trips per day at present) toll gates positioned at all passes 26 municipalities, in 2013, a vast urban de- by 2030. 78 000 housing Stockholm entrances scan the transport organizing velopment plan provides units and four new metro registration plates of cars authority has deployed a for 26 billion SEK (€ 2.6 branches are Included between 6 am and 18.30 single pass. The pass can billion), invested by the in this plan. Sara Malm, pm. Though, clean cars are be credited with only a government, the munici- transportation Planner exempted. A 10-60 SEK few trips without having palities and the operator. for the municipality, sum- (from 1 to 6 €) fee is then to subscribe for weekly The objective of public marizes: «Stockholm is a automatically charged to or monthly periods. transport is to increase walking and public trans- the car owner. The fee amount By 2030, the deadline for by 1 million the number of port city». • New signage

FACELIFT To allow customers to travel on Stockholm’s Network, SL renews its signage, simplifies the information and adopts a sober visual identity. ∞ CAPUCINE MOULAS

The devil is in the details, we have brightness problems they say. To develop in the metro», says Susanne intermodal hubs, travellers Sifvert. «Stockholm is bleak must still find their ways. most of the time, and we had For SLL, the transport to find solutions so that the organizing authority, the information clearly comes deployment of a large out: so we have chosen light signage renewal program colour characters on a dark is therefore a priority. background». «There are signs in the subway that were designed A new graphic code was identified by «T». SLL however chose to retain in 1952 and they are still Regarding typographi- chose to replace these the «T» for the subway, there», says Susanne Sifvert, cal signs, SLL has chosen symbols, too obscure, with a blue letter on a white Communications manager to standardize the font pictograms. «Even children background. «This is a histo- at the public transport by building on simple, can understand» insists ric sign, here, for public trans- administration of the bars and bold characters. the director of communi- port, we could not part with Stockholm County (SLL). Before this program, the cations. These images, on it» she explains. Finally, for Indeed, four generations information symbols refer- a pale blue background, added visibility to foreign of visual identities can be red to Swedish words. For distinctly represent a train, travellers, a very large part found in the Stockholm example, the subway, Tun- a bicycle, a pedestrian, a of information on signs is underground network. nelbana in Stockholm, boat, an airplane, etc. SLL translated into English. • A new colour code Based on the observation that travellers find their ways in accordance with the line they travel on, their destination and the colour, SLL has reconsidered the logic of way finding on its network. Three lines, red, blue and green, help distin- guish the subway network. The metro network crosses the tramlines, brown and orange colour, the light rail lines, blue, green and purple colour and the commuter train lines, pink and light green colour. The whole is pre- sented to the public on a dark background, «because Preferred Hybrid technology

ENERGY By 2050, Stockholm will have removed any vehicle running on fossil fuel from its bus fleet. First step: the city bet on hybrid technology and recently added eight Volvo vehicles to its network. ∞ CAPUCINE MOULAS

Biogas, ethanol, electric, Hybrid flexibility Övergaard, responsible etc. Nothing frightens As part of the ZeEUS for buses development Stockholm when it comes (Zero Emission Urban Bus strategy at SLL. to hybrid buses. By 2050, System) European project, Why have hybrid electric the city will no longer Volvo has given the vehi- rather than all-electric have vehicles running on cles to the city of Stoc- vehicles? «If you have an fossil fuel. The newness on kholm and will let the city all-electric vehicle, expe- the network: the hybrid have them at the end of rience has shown that you electric. Since March, in the experiment. need diesel buses in back- partnership with Volvo, These 12 meters buses are up, just in case», she re- the city has integrated recharged in 7 minutes and plies. So, best is to go for eight diesel-electric buses have 8 kilometres auto- the hybrid, in case of pro- to its network. These nomy. Vattenfall, the local blems. She adds: «the line vehicles will roll until next electricity provider, built is 7 km long. A good driver year, ensuring a normal the infrastructure consis- can therefore manage to commercial service. The ting of two charging posts drive all-electric all the way buses are operated by at both ends of the line. long». • Keolis, which runs part The electricity supplied of the Stockholm bus being from wind power network. origin, «the buses really are green», says Maria

A simple and clear bar typography for increased legibility. Much of the information is trans- lated into English (in yellow). Only the old «T» (subway name) was retained.

A hybrid bus is recharged with electricity coming from wind power source, for a greener Stockholm... Three generations of hubs Historical 1 T-Centralen 2 The new face of Liljeholmen

True point of departure and arrival in the heart of the city, Central Station at present unfolds on three underground levels and offers the traveller all of the city’s modal options.

Central Station or T-Cen- commuter trains, to the Arlan- place tourists discover when tralen, is appropriately na- da airport express train and arriving in Stockholm. med. Located in the heart to the airport bus shuttles. The The metro is operated by of Stockholm, it is the capi- three lines of the subway the operator The Liljeholmen tal’s most important inter- system that converge to MTR since 2009 in the metro station is directly modal hub. Built in 1871, it this strategic point lie in frame of a contract running connected to the bus spans three underground the basement while the in- until 2023. As part of a plan terminal on the same platform. floors. termediate level is a transit initiated in 2009, the sta- On the ground level, travellers hall with shops. tion is under construction. can connect to regional and Central station is the first place «The goal is to put all modes Liljeholmen together - rail, metro - on intermodal hub several levels» says Futsum Weldemichel, MTR Chief in the southeast of the station. The fourth of Stockholm has level will host a Stockholm been completely City Line station. A railway redesigned, starting tunnel is under construc- tion beneath central Stoc- from signage to kholm and will be used by access routes and the Stockholm Commu- exterior renovation. ter Rail. The line will be 6 The city raises the kilometres long, double track and electrified and is schedu- curtain on this area led to enter service in 2017. • once unattractive. Three generations of hubs ∞ CAPUCINE MOULAS

2 The new face of Liljeholmen

A relief map shows a complete reshaping of the Slussen interchange in 2025.

3 Men at work in Slussen!

The Slussen district or place of the intricate foot- the «plate of spaghetti» as bridges and flyovers. described by Anders Falk, A main road, slightly eleva- landscape architect for ted, will be shared by cars the city of Stockholm, is a and soft modes. Two foot- veritable imbroglio of lanes bridges on a lower level and In Stockholm, the Liljehol- platform, users only need passing over each other. interconnected between men interchange was an in- to walk a few steps and Despite the wide foot- them, will be exclusively termodal experimentation. push a glass door. They paths that make the iden- reserved for pedestrians Crossed by tram, metro then access a waiting hall tity of Stockholm, the spot and cyclists. A third bridge and several bus lines, this with all bus schedules. remains fairly unpleasant will be dedicated to rail; it station was among the first Buses are parked in an for walking. will also feature a parallel to know the SLL extensive underground parking on In order to undo these lane reserved for walking. renovation plan. Liljehol- the opposite side of the knots, the city has planned This project was initiated men became an intermodal waiting hall. a large reconstruction pro- in 2012. Work began last hub model for the city. Lar- The metro station also ject. The purpose is to dis- summer and should be gely redesigned, the station offers direct access to the mantle and to redo better. completed in 2025, for a has new signage elements mall. «The transformation of Hidden in a corner of Slus- total investment of SEK 12 provided by the city, a pa- this area is truly impressive» sen, a small museum shows billion (€ 1,3 Bn). ved esplanade giving access says Marcus Andersson, the evolution of the area, However, the city must to the area, to the tram or Head of Section for SLL from its origin up to the deal with the discontent- to the underground sta- pointing at a photograph relief map that shows Slus- ment of people. Indeed, the tions, and it is connected of the place taken in the sen in a couple of years. inhabitants have become to a vast mall. eighties showing large To simplify mobility, the attached to this historic The metro station is di- asphalted car parks domi- city has planned to build area even though they are rectly connected to the nated by concrete housing straight bridges from one experiencing a complica- bus station. On the subway blocks. • bank to the other in the ted mobility. •