Esten testen Brussels verkeer

Zeven op tien. Zoveel punten geven Triin Pahla en Villu Viidul aan de mobiliteit in Brussel.

Van onze redacteur

Tom Ysebaert

BRUSSEL

De twee studenten politieke wetenschappen uit Estland waren een weekje te gast in de Europese hoofdstad, met als opdracht er het verkeer te onderzoeken. Dat paste in de Courier Challenge, een project van het Europarlementslid Saïd El Khadraoui (SP.A). Hij stuurde vijf duo's van jonge mensen op stap om de mobiliteit tegen het licht te houden in vijf steden: Londen, Barcelona, Stockholm, Tallinn en dus ook Brussel. Villu is afkomstig uit de hoofdstad Tallinn. Triin komt uit Tartu, de tweede stad van de Baltische staat. Villu was al een keer in Brussel, als toerist met een bus. Maar deze keer was het werken. Na vijf dagen Brussel maakten we met het duo een balans op.

Voetpaden: genoeg maar vuil

Er zijn genoeg en goede voorzieningen voor voetgangers, vinden de twee Esten. Maar ze liggen er vaak vuil bij: papier, hondenpoep, sigaretten. En er zijn veel bouwwerkzaamheden, waardoor veel voetpaden versperd zijn.

Veel minder zijn ze te spreken over het gedrag van de modale voetganger. 'Voetgangers die oversteken, trekken er zich niets van aan of het groen of rood is. Dat zie je bij ons bijna nooit.'

Fiets: tof

Dinsdag probeerden Triin en Villu het fietsverhuursysteem CycloCity uit. 'Geweldig', vinden ze. 'Zodra je ermee weg bent, is het een goed en plezierig vervoermiddel. De Brusselaars zouden er meer gebruik van moeten maken. Het zou ook in Estland van de grond moeten komen. In Tallinn zie je hooguit twee fietsers in een dag, hier tientallen.'

CycloCity geldt als een flop. Het wordt weldra vervangen door een nieuw project in het hele Brusselse Gewest.

Trein, metro en bus: foei

De trein was het enige openbaar vervoermiddel dat vertraging liet optekenen. Erg gebruiksvriendelijk werden de stations niet bevonden. Een pluspunt: de trein is zeker het beste transportmiddel om van de luchthaven naar het centrum te komen. 'Het bussysteem is veel te onoverzichtelijk', vindt het duo. 'Je weet niet wanneer ze komen, waar ze naartoe rijden en aan welke halte je bent. Verdwaald zijn we niet. Dankzij de chauffeurs, die ons uitleg gaven.' De metrostations vond het duo vuil, en ze maakten geen veilige indruk. De metrodienst zelf was wel oké. Over de frequentie van het openbaar vervoer in het algemeen zijn de Esten dan weer zeer tevreden.

Automobilisten: te veel

Vreselijk. Er wordt te veel met de auto gereden in Brussel, luidt het Estse verdict. 'Het verkeer is druk, lawaaierig, chaotisch. En dan zie je bestuurders die doodleuk op de weg stilstaan, een praatje slaan met een voorbijkomende kennis en al het verkeer ophouden.'

Atomium: rolstoelvriendelijk

Donderdag ondervonden Triin en Villu wat het is om als rolstoelgebruiker door de stad te bewegen. Ze bezochten het Justitiepaleis en het Atomium. Zonder liften en hellende vlakken bleken veel plaatsen ontoegankelijk.

Het was ook een taaie klus in de stations en op de trein: 'Er reed een dubbeldekstrein voor. De treden naar de twee niveaus waren te hoog. Je moest uit je rolstoel komen om erin te raken. Gelukkig kwamen enkele passagiers ons te hulp. We namen contact op met de spoorwegen, maar ze zeiden dat we 24 uur vooraf hadden moeten bellen voor hulp. Tja.' In het Atomium verzwegen ze dat ze niet echt gehandicapt waren. 'Het personeel was heel vriendelijk en escorteerde ons tot in de bovenste bol. Gratis.' Zo bracht Brussel hen toch nog in de hoogste sferen.

www.courierchallenge.eu

Following are our final conclusions regarding mobility in Brussels:

First, in Brussels everything concerning mobility is complicated.

On one hand, there are many different kinds of means of public
transportation and the networks of those take a lot of time to understand
and get used to. On the other hand, the political structures and involved
parties in the policy-making remain as a big question mark for us even
despite several meetings during our stay. Due to the complex structure and
number of involved parties in the decision-making, it is very difficult to
make amendments to the organization of public transportation. Thus it
seems reasonable that transportation is mainly decided and organised by
one council or office. In Brussels, though, that seems quite impossible.

Second, people lack the sense of security when using public
transportation, especially during night-time.

When we conducted interviews with local inhabitants, several of them
brought out that they do not feel safe due to long waiting times and the
atmosphere of the stations. This problem can be solved by renovating
stations and shortening the intervals of public transportation. Also
putting more police officers in the city might be of some help.

Third, for people with disabilities it is rather difficult to get from one
place to another.

During our stay we found that it is very difficult for a person in a
wheelchair to move around in the city. However, the situation is far from
being perfect in other cities, including Tallinn. Apart from the
difficulties, there are also several positive things that surprised us:
people's willingness to help, organized assistance from train service
providers and the possibility to visit Atomium free of charge. Many
constructions on the streets made getting from one place to another more
complicated but we hope and believe that once they are finished moving
around also in a wheelchair will be much easier.

Fourth, the idea behind the CycloCity project is really great but the
realisation needs some modifications.

At the moment there are 23 stations in the city centre, each of which is
equipped with several bikes ready to be used. Unfortunately most of the
bikes lay unused for most of the time. With the coming of new stations and
bikes the system should gain new users. Still, due to the static nature of
the station it is important that  introduction-days  are organised. From
the interviews we concluded that many people have heard something about
the project but the are afraid or just not interested enough to get
acquainted with the system on their on. Thus, when such days with people
explaining the system in the stations are organised, the project could get
many new users and turn into a successful one that could be a good example
for other cities, including Tallinn.

Last, there are too many cars in Brussels, especially in the city centre.

Traffic congestions and cars parking on streets meant for only pedestrians
was a typical sight while walking around in the city. Continuous
investments in public transportation are a precondition for introducing a
taxing-system for people who want to use cars. How exactly the car
owners/drivers will be taxed, is up for the ones in charge to decide.
Although, it may be an unpopular decision, the number of cars in the city
has to be reduced for the environmental and economical reasons as well.

It took us quite a while to think of a good example of a practice of mobility in Brussels. Eventually we decided upon two: trams and CycloCity.

Here are the reasons why:

-          From all the means of public transportation trams are the most user-friendly:

o   They are usually on time unlike the trains;

o   Their network is logical and understandable unlike the one of buses;

o   They are nicely clean and quiet unlike the metro.

It might still be a little weird – why trams? Maybe this will answer the question.

In Tallinn there are also trams but they are nothing like the ones here in Brussels. Most of the trams there originate from the 70ties. In addition, they are very slow and noisy. Compared to the ones in Brussels they are also shorter and very crowded during rush-hours.

 

We chose CycloCity as the second example of good practice. When the trams represent the current best practice of mobility in Brussels, CycloCity is the one of the future.

At the moment there are several CycloCity stations near the city centre. However, the majority of the bikes there just lay unused. Still, we believe that with the upcoming expansion and modifications in the systems in spring, the service will be used and loved by a great number of locals and tourists.

The CycloCity was chosen as a good example also because there is nothing similar in Tallinn. There may be a few bike rental places provided by private owners but nothing organised by the city government. As new roads for cyclists are being built this kind of system could also be implemented there.

 

For the worst example of practice of mobility we chose the ignoring of traffic laws, especially by the pedestrians. During the last few days here in Brussels we have seen that for pedestrians there is no difference what colour the traffic light is – they cross the street anyway. Also, on several occasions people have come out of their cars to talk to their acquaintances when they are supposed to keep on driving. Instead they just block the road for a minute or two.

Although it would be biased to say that something like that does not happen in Tallinn, the situation is far from being that bad. Usually there are only a few people that cross the street when the lights are red and those in general are really in a hurry.

Changing the habits of people is a very difficult task and so we wish the people in Brussels good luck and keep in mind the laws!