SUMP TIRANA: LIMITED PUBLIC INPUT ON MEASURES REPORT BY SEE CHANGE NET & EDEN CENTER 2020 1 This report is part of the activities of SEE Change Net and EDEN Center within the development process of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) for the City of Tirana. This takes place as part of the regional project “Sustainable Urban Mobility in SEE Countries II” (SUMSEEC II) under the Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE). The project is implemented by GIZ and funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This work is licenseD unDer the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License. To view a coPy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-sa/4.0/. 2 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 4 2 Methodological Approach ..................................................................................... 5 3 Results .................................................................................................................... 7 4 Annex .................................................................................................................... 12 3 1 Introduction The City of Tirana is currently in the Process of DeveloPing its first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP). A SUMP is a strategic Plan DesigneD to satisfy the mobility neeDs of PeoPle anD businesses in cities anD their surrounDings for a better quality of life. The SUMP Tirana is guiDeD by the following vision for the city in 2030: "A smart Tirana, responding to community needs as a liveable, clean, healthy, attractive city, offering innovative, multi-modal and wide-ranging mobility, available, affordable and equal for everyone." A key element of the SUMP DeveloPment is the involvement of the Public in the Planning Process. SEE Change Net anD EDEN Center suPPort this Process through Different activities like a Visioning WorkshoP with key stakeholDers (SePtember 30th 2019, Tirana Hotel International) anD a rePresentative AttituDinal Survey with citizens in December 2019, imPlementeD by IPsos1. ComPlementary to these activities anD to the comPrehensive analysis of the technical consultant team TRT, a series of Focus GrouPs was PlanneD in March 2020 to collect Public inPut from emPloyees of the transport sector anD transport users regarDing DesireD measures for sustainable mobility. Due to the lockdown in Tirana During the COVID- 19 PanDemic, these Focus GrouPs haD to be cancelleD. InsteaD, an online questionnaire was DeveloPeD to gather limiteD inPut from these target grouPs. The results are summariseD in this rePort. However, they are not rePresentative of the overall Public oPinion anD Do not necessarily reflect the Position of any of the Project Partners. The SUMP DeveloPment in Tirana takes Place as Part of the Project “Sustainable Urban Mobility in South-East EuroPean Countries II” (SUMSEEC II) unDer the Open Regional FunD for South-East EuroPe - Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE). The Project is imPlementeD by GIZ anD financeD by the German Government. 1 Full rePorts can be founD here: httP://seechangenetwork.org/sustainable-urban-mobility-plans-sumPs/ 4 2 Methodological Approach Original Concept: Focus Groups As Part of the DeveloPment of Tirana’s first Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP), a series of five Focus GrouPs was PlanneD for March 10th anD 11th, 2020 at the Premises of the MuniciPality of Tirana. To each session, 8-12 ParticiPants from the following grouPs were inviteD: Bus Drivers, taxi Drivers, ambulance Drivers, traffic Police, transport users. Each session was scheDuleD to last 90 minutes anD was intenDeD to give the ParticiPants the oPPortunity to freely share their thoughts in in-DePth, semi-structureD Discussions guiDeD by a professional facilitator. The Discussion was suPPoseD to center arounD the most Pressing transPortation issues in Tirana anD - most imPortantly - the iDeas of the ParticiPants how to solve the iDentifieD Problems. Focus GrouPs are a well-establisheD qualitative research methoD, which collects Data on the Personal oPinions of the ParticiPants baseD on their Professional anD/or Practical experience. Due to the COVID-19 PanDemic, the Albanian Government announceD on March 9th the cancellation of all Public events, which also affecteD the PlanneD Focus GrouPs. Alternative Concept: Online Questionnaire Because it was not Possible to comPlete the Focus GrouPs as PlanneD, an online questionnaire was imPlementeD using the SurveyMonkey Platform (active APril 9th - 27th, 2020). In comParison to an online workshoP/focus grouPs in a viDeo conference format, this tool is consiDereD to have a low barrier for ParticiPation anD only requires a short time investment of ParticiPants. PeDestrians/cyclists/Public transPort users, bus Drivers, anD taxi Drivers were kePt as target grouPs. Because of the PanDemic it woulD have been especially Difficult to reach traffic Police anD ambulance Drivers. For that reason, they were left out from the questionnaire anD “rePlaceD” by stuDents anD environmental civil society organisations. Each grouP receiveD three brief questions centering arounD the key transPortation challenges in Tirana anD the most imPortant measures to solve these issues. A skiP logic was aPPlieD to the online questionnaire, so each ParticiPant woulD resPonD to specific questions for their target grouP. The full questionnaire can be founD in the Annex. SPecial challenges that leD to a limiteD imPact of this activity: ● Due to the unPreceDenteD circumstances of the COVID-19 panDemic, the citizens of Tirana were PreoccuPieD Primarily with the health of their families, Potential loss of emPloyment, lack of chilDcare, anD the lockDown of the city, meaning also the stoP of any Public or Private transport. UnDerstanDably, this leD to a reDuceD caPacity for ParticiPating in the questionnaire. ● For these reasons, not all original Focus GrouP ParticiPants coulD be reacheD. SEE Change Net anD EDEN Center maDe a significant effort to arrange inDiviDual Phone calls with the taxi Drivers anD bus Drivers to conDuct short interviews. But Despite close cooPeration with the MuniciPality (office of Enton Punavija, TransPort anD Mobility Directory) anD continueD exchange with taxi anD bus comPanies, it was not Possible to ProceeD as PlanneD. ● Because ParticiPants were only askeD three short, oPen-enDeD questions, the quality of their inPut is consiDerably lower comPareD to 90 minutes, in-depth, in-Person 5 Discussions in a grouP setting. ParticiPants were askeD in the survey to ProviDe examPles from their Personal or Professional exPeriences, but often only sent very brief responses, if any. To sum uP, this questionnaire reflects an attemPt to receive some Public inPut on the SUMP measures, but cannot be consiDereD full Public ParticiPation. 6 3 Results Respondents In total, 69 Persons accesseD the questionnaire: However, of those resPonDents only 57% answereD the questions comPletely anD thus can be taken into consiDeration for the following summary. The bullet Points summarise the receiveD comments, illustrateD by some Direct quotes. (The comPlete answers of all responDents can be founD in the Annex.) Identified Key Transportation Problems “Tirana’s roads are a mess Negative Impact of Car Traffic in terms of transport.” ● Too high car ownershiP rate among the population. ● Excessive car traffic, congestion, anD Delays (especially During Peak hours). ○ ExamPle for sPots with the most traffic: Zogu I Zi; 21 Dhjetori; the new ring roaD; the roaD near the municiPality. ● Environmental imPact of traffic, such as high air Pollution anD noise Pollution. ● Problematic Driver behaviour (cars stoP at inaPProPriate Places anD block the traffic, non-comPliance with DeDicateD traffic lanes, cars Drive through traffic lights, etc.) anD lack of ProPer enforcement of traffic rules. ● Organisation of traffic lanes Does not meet the neeDs: ○ “There is no special lane for buses or ambulances, plus many roads start with two lanes and end with 1 and 1/2).” ○ “All over the world, roundabouts help prevent traffic jams, while only in Albania they are sources of traffic.“ ● Lack of Parking. ● Narrow roaDs. ● Lack of overPasses anD rounDabouts. ● UnintegrateD roaD network. 7 Low-Quality Public Transport ● Lack of efficient, high-quality Public transport: ○ “I think the problem with transport in Tirana is the lack of a public transport system. Even in areas where there is public transport, such as Tirana e Re, it is insufficient for the amount of passengers. This leads to the use of personal cars, which leads to traffic congestion!” ● Highly Polluting buses: ○ “Almost all buses in Tirana emit black smoke and cyclists suffer the most from this.” ● Lack of DeDicateD lanes for Public transPort. ● Insufficient access to scheDules. ○ „Especially comparing Tirana with other capitals (also in the Balkans), the main issue is the lack of accessible, understandable and logical schedules. There are no coherent maps, [...] there are only buses and even they are not included in the maps on Google as the schedule is always changing, and there is no other system. For people in Tirana who want to travel to different places, and for foreigners/ tourists alike, public transport is more of a concern than a relief.” ● Buses move too slow anD have Delays: ○ “The bus never arrives on time.” ○ “On the bus route I use most often, the one of Lapraka,