Limassol secures funding for zero-emission urban mobility project

Limassol municipality said on Thursday it has taken a major step toward ‘going green’ and decongesting traffic, following financing approval for an EU-funded project.

In a statement, the municipality said funding approval has been received for metaCCAZE, a 2024-2028 EU Horizon Europe project. The project concerns the design and deployment of shared zero-emission mobility services for people and goods in urban areas.

“Another step has been taken toward the implementation of the municipality’s objective to make our city climate-neutral by 2030, part of the EU cities Mission,” the municipality said.

According to the statement, the municipality along with local partners will implement a series of measures aimed at alleviating traffic congestion and reducing the use of private vehicles.

This includes the construction of two mobility hubs – where residents will be able to leave their cars and then switch to means of mass transit such as buses in order to carry on to the city centre.

Alternatively, people will take electric scooters or bicycles from the hubs to get to the city centre.

The location of the two hubs is in the process of being selected, Limassol mayor Nicos Nicolaides later said when contacted by the Cyprus Mail.

Asked what Limassol residents should expect first from the project’s implementation, the mayor said a park-and-ride system.

The project will also provide “on-demand service” for the transport of high-school pupils to extracurricular activities. Pupils or their parents will use an app to book a place on a minibus.

Artificial intelligence will allow the app to map out the optimal routes for the pupils.

The project also envisions a carpool system for parents driving children to school and back.

“The actions will be deployed through close cooperation with residents, local and state agencies, so that Limassol municipality can ensure that the measures meet people’s needs,” read the municipality’s statement.

“Limassol is a beacon-city in the metaCCAZE project. Limassol municipality takes the lead for the actions in Limassol, with a total budget of €1.099 million over four years. The five partners from Limassol (Limassol municipality, MaaSLab, Emel, Nextbike, Oxygono) have available a total budget of approximately €5 million.”

Limassol is currently one of four European cities taking the lead in the project – the others are Amsterdam, Monaco and Tampere. Subsequently, and depending on the results, six more European cities could enroll.