Good practice:

Transdanube Pearls: Network for Sustainable Mobility along the Danube

The main problem addressed by the practice is the dominance of private cars used by tourists visiting the Danube region. The multiple international public institutions decided to create a network of destinations committed to sustainable mobility along the Danube. The role of the created network is to support cooperation between stakeholders and increase the visibility of the participating destinations offering sustainable means of transport.
A team of experts travelled from the source of Danube to its delta to investigate whether it is possible to travel the Danube only by the use of sustainable means of transport. The experts identified 13 destinations as a potential “Danube Pearls”. An external expert analysed each potential network partner from an organizational point of view and elaborated a business plan. The experts had to find In the destinations a suitable organisation, which would be willing to commit to being the Danube.Pearl and fulfil Danube.Pearls common standards, as these defined in the project. The standards served as a general guideline for making destinations more sustainable, from multiple perspectives and for the cooperation of the stakeholders within and between the pearls. After finding the organizations a network implementation seminar was organized. After the seminar, each potential network member elaborated a business plan. After the final meeting, each member signed the letter of intent during a general assembly and the network was founded.

Primarily 25 sustainable managers were qualified. Then they passed on the knowledge to other local participants by training sessions. Also, 10 fully staffed local information centres were established.
Total project budget: 2 937 908,99€

The mobility experts personally took the bike road between the Pearls and defined the problematic sections. Thus, concrete steps were taken
like putting a bike carrier on a bus in the most dangerous sections, which has and action appreciated by locals. 25 partners were trained on the topic of sustainable mobility. The updated app focusing on the bike road has been installed more than ten thousand times on android devices and has an above three-star rating.

Personal participation and analysis can help to find problems that a theoretical analysis and document analysis cannot. On the one hand, active participation can bring new ideas and opinions but on the other hand, it is necessary to ensure addressing a problem and not deviate from it.

The practice represents a significant learning potential for both other regions and other projects in the same region. Aspects seen as beneficial can be modified and implemented in other situations. One of the main aspects that were necessary for the project’s success is a clear and early set of rules and standards for the potential individual participants. This way the partners can clearly see what they need to achieve. Another element to learn from is the utilization of a vast network of external partners. While the Pearls were the internal partners on the regional level of the practice, the desired effect would not be possible without the cooperation with external partners. The Pearls cooperated with organizations on the national level such as the environmental agency, ministry of transport, ministry of agriculture and environment protection, ministry of tourism and so on. They also cooperated with partners on the local level and with private or state-owned companies.