Third Cycling Inclusive Urban Transport Planning Workshop and Stakeholder Meeting: Eskişehir
“Contemporary and beautiful Eskişehir needs a modern infrastructure." - EMBARQ Türkiye Director Sibel Bulay. Photo by EMBARQ Türkiye.
EMBARQ Türkiye and the Interface for Cycling Expertise (I-CE), a Dutch NGO, held their third cycling inclusive urban transport planning workshop on June 21-24 in Eskişehir, Turkey.
Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality and EMBARQ Türkiye teams reviewed the designs of bicycle routes and concluded there was a need to improve some designs and embed new designs in a wider area. The workshop also involved strategic cycling planning and policy development to create a vision and action plan for the city.
Following the workshop Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality and EMBARQ Türkiye held a joint stakeholder meeting on June 24 at Eskişehir Municipality’s congress room to broaden the ownership of the cycling project.
“We aim to design safe cycling routes with a better infrastructure with our partner EMBARQ,” said Dr. Jale Nur Süllü, head of social services of Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality in her opening speech.
The meeting was attended by journalists, NGOs, cycling groups, neighborhood government administrators along the cycling route, university representatives, the Eskişehir City Council, the Province Sports Administration, Chamber of Trade, Chamber of Engineers, and the Chamber of Urban Plannners.
Sibel Bulay, director of EMBARQ Türkiye, introduced EMBARQ and presented cycling best practices from around the world. She also strongly emphasized the importance of road safety for bicyclists to prevent traffic crashes.
Bulay said that “contemporary and beautiful Eskişehir needs a modern infrastructure.”
Mr. Kaya Bilge, a representative of Province Sports Administration, mentioned the importance of creating awareness among parents to encourage cycling for children.
The meeting continued with an open discussion on understanding the interests of stakeholders and what they can do to support cycling.
EMBARQ Türkiye and Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality teams are continuing to work on a communications plan to promote safe cycling in the city.