Innovative solutions for safe and secure public spaces

Summary

Aiming to increase attractiveness, safety and accessibility in urban space, mostly in areas dedicated to public transport (PT) and pedestrian circulation, several actions were implemented to improve accessibility to tourists, residents and people with mobility impairments. The interventions included the instalment of an integrated system that bridges energy efficiency and road safety. As for PT, the activities relied upon the implementation of structural improvements in shelters and resurfacing of public spaces in order to facilitate accessibility.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Improve accessibility near PT stops

Following an exhaustive territorial diagnostic that enabled the identification of urban barriers for PT users in Funchal, several actions were undertaken to improve accessibility. These include the enlargement and implementation of new sidewalks with a total extension of 515,5 m2.

Aiming to increase comfort and safety to PT users, 4 PT shelters were also deployed in the catchment areas. Complementarily to these improvements, Horários do Funchal, the main public transport operator, renovated 40 bus stops (MAD7.2), including new design and improved information.

Promotion of soft modes and public involvement through awareness campaigns

The Municipality of Funchal embraced the European Mobility Week and developed several awareness raising materials (e.g. brochures, leaflets, exhibitions, videos and conferences) related to soft modes and the sustainable mobility strategy undertaken within the SUMP.

Implement an urban renovation plan to increase the safety and accessibility to all sustainable mobility modes

The urban renovation plan, entitled “Enhancement of Attractiveness in the Western Area of Funchal: Road Safety and Energetic Efficiency” focused on a territorial, demographic, sectorial and accessibility/mobility overview of the target area, including also an assessment in terms of public lighting efficiency and road accidents and interventions to tackle these problems. The plan was crucial in order to gather the baseline data, identify the issues and outline the strategy to implement.

Implement a system that links energy efficiency with road safety

A state-of-the-art public light system powered by renewable energies that combines energetic efficiency with road safety was implemented near crosswalks. The public lighting is connected to the crosswalks through LED sensors that are activated when pedestrians are detected.

These road markings have the purpose to warn drivers that the pedestrians intend to cross and can be remotely configured to what regards the brightness, activation time, among other parameters. The system is only active during night, and was deployed in areas that are the busiest within the target zone, near restaurants, pubs and hotels.

More information

• Measure evaluation report
• Spatial overview of interventions carried out to improve public transport (read more here)
• Features of integrated system that bridges energetic efficiency with road safety (read more here)
• Multimodality in the target area to improve cycling and walkability (see video)
• CIVITAS LEGACY AWARD: as the winner of the award in 2020, a video was compiled which highlights features of this measure (see video)

Outcomes

• Public transport accessibility level - Decrease by 23% of PT bus stops without shelters and decrease by 26% of stops without sidewalks, between 2017 and 2020;
• Road Safety – 69% reduction in road accidents following the implementation of the measure between 2016 and 2019;
• Mobility barriers in the built environment – Suppression of urban barriers for pedestrians and cyclists;
• Non-motorised transportation – 191% increase in pedestrian numbers following the implementation of the measure, between October 2017 and January 2021;
• Accessibility level of service – instalment of 18 shelters for public transport until 2021.