Good practice:

Cork Transport Mobility Forum

Cork TMF supports sustainable modes of travel measures/policies. Sustainable/active travel helps reduce congestion, supports a low carbon economy, reduces noise/air pollution and improves public health/quality of life.

Mission: increase the number of people fostering sustainable/active travel in Cork by advocating:
1. Improving the quality of environments through which people travel
2. Broadening accessibility for people to travel more frequently through sustainable/active travel means
3. Changing the culture/mind-set in favour of sustainable/active travel

Cork TMF consists of the Local Authorities, public transport providers, cycle hire companies, cycling associations, environmental associations, large employers, higher education institutions, hospitals and other interested associations. They meet monthly to discuss sustainable transport issues, planning applications, public consultations and sustainable transport events to get a consensus from all interested parties and create one voice in furtherance of sustainable transport in Cork City. Meetings also facilitate networking opportunities and ensures information exchange among members.

Cork TMF advocate for policy that progresses outcomes such as improved public transport services, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure including modal interchange improvements and positively influences travel infrastructure, policy formulation and creates an interface between passengers, transport providers and policy makers.

Run on a voluntary basis with a small amount of funding available from Local Authorities to cover the employment of a part-time temporary TMF coordinator. The TMF coordinator assists in administration and arranges/promotes annual events and seminars

Cork TMF promotes sustainable, accessible low carbon transport in Cork City which had led to significant increase in participation rates and an increase in public transport journeys of 32.9% since 2013.

From 2016 to 2019 there have been 24k participants at annual bike week, park and ride utilisation is up to 130k pa and the number of bike hire journeys was 1.2 million during this period. From 2016 to 2018 bus journeys increased by 1.3million in Cork City.

Cork TMF has experienced some challenges since it commenced in 2013:
• Difficulty in obtaining a permanent long-term source of funding which is needed for the TMF coordinator.
• It takes time to build relationships and trust between members of the forum who might have competing interests at times

This good practice is easily transferable to other regions and countries who wish to improve modal interchange to encourage more sustainable end-to-end journeys and thereby reduce CO2 emissions.

The success of this good practice is it creates a forum for all parties with an interest in sustainable transport to come together to discuss concerns, changes required for sustainable transport policy improvements, raise awareness of sustainable transport through events, increase sustainable transport journeys and ultimately reduce carbon emissions in Cork.

TMF also provides a local contact point for government bodies e.g. National Transport Authority and Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

This good practice has been shared with all project partners in the MATCH-UP project who were provided with a presentation from Cork TMF in January 2020 and also got the opportunity to attend a Cork TMF meeting to see first-hand the process of consensus that takes place at these meetings.