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En Route / EmbedterLabs Mobility Challenge

Join the UM Sustainable Mobility Challenge in April and, for one month, replace your car journey to Maastricht city centre with a healthier, more sustainable and more economical alternative!  

Try out different forms of commuting such as an e-bike (possibly in combination with a bus or train), e-cargo bike, or park your car at a Park and Ride and then continue travelling by public transit.  We would like to know which alternative works for you and why.  

Bakfiets

More Sustainable Commuting

Maastricht University’s En Route group is currently revising the university’s policy on transportation, and that is why it is a good time to figure out how staff might be supported in their efforts to switch to more sustainable ways of getting to work.  The EmbedterLabs Mobility Challenge rises to this occasion by allowing staff to try out alternatives.  This is a joint initiative of the university administration, the City of Maastricht, South Limburg Bereikbaar, and our research project team (from MSI & FASoS).

How It Works (start before the end of April)

There is no 'one size fits all' solution as a replacement for your car journey to and from work. Some want fresh air and more exercise; others want time to read during the journey. Still, others need to travel with belongings, children or animals. Therefore, UM is offering several alternative commute options for one month, which can be used in any combination.  You can commence your month on any date between the 1st and the 30th of April.  Please note that participants do not lose their parking permit, nor does the travel allowance received prior to participation in the Challenge automatically expire at the end of the Challenge, though we hope that you’ll continue with your new modified commute!  All we ask of you is for you to share your experience with us in short interviews. 

Although you are free to withdraw participation at any time, we would hope you would commit to one month.

Options

Bikes

  • Borrow a bicycle, e-bike or e-cargo bike for free.
  • Receive compensation per distance travelled by bike (borrowed or your own)
    • 5-10 km one-way trip = €1.50 per day
    • >10 km one-way trip = €2.00 per day

Park & Ride

  • Park your car at a Park and Ride (P&R) car park and continue your journey fully reimbursed by bus, train or shared bike.

Public transport

  • Your bus or train ride will be reimbursed.

Examples of alternative journeys might look like this:

  • You drive by car from your home town of Schimmert to P+R Station Maastricht Noord and then cycle on an Arriva shared bike to Bouillonstraat 1-3.
     
  • You get on the train in Elsloo, get off at Randwyck and use a borrowed bike to cycle the last bit to Tapijnkazerne 11. 
     
  • You ride your borrowed e-bike from your home in Eijsden to Tongersestraat 43-53, earning €2.00 per day.
     
  • You live in Bemelen and take your children to school on an e-bakfiets before work. Afterwards, you cycle further to work with the e-bakfiets earning €1.50 per day.
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How Do I Sign Up?

If you are a UM employee working in the centre of Maastricht and usually travel to work by car, you can apply for the Mobility Challenge.  Please contact us at mobchallenge-sbe@maastrichtuniversity.nl to register.

Project Background

The project responds to the ERA-Net Urban Transformation Capacities scheme. EmbedterLab’s partner universities and public sector institutions are the Gdansk University of Technology, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University, Lund University and the municipalities of Maastricht, Stockholm, and Gdansk.  NGO, quasi-governmental and private sector collaborators include Maastricht Bereikbaar, Community of Gdansk Foundation, Olivia Business Centre, and SWECO.

The Maastricht University (UM) team consists of:

  • Dr. Marc Dijk (Principal Investigator) Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI)
  • Prof. Dr. Anique Hommels (Principal Investigator) Department of Science, Technology and Society Studies (MUSTS) of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Dr. Denver Vale Nixon (Postdoctoral Researcher) Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI)
  • Nikolaj Grauslund Kristensen (Postdoctoral Researcher) 
  • Johanna Klix (Intern)
  • Pranav Kaundinya (Intern)

The project will reach completion in 2025, and this is when we expect to disseminate the bulk of our outputs.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact one of the research team members at: mobchallenge-sbe@maastrichtuniversity.nl.

The En Route group can be found at: https://umployee.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/groups/en-route/272/profile