With four women and seven men, we discussed the sustainable mobility guide presented by Daniella Mires in the community centre De Voorkamer in Lombok, on 5 February 2025. One participant said: I really would like to get a cheaper bike and have it repaired at a discount, but I have not seen a guide explaining how to get this. Daniella explained that this is covered in her guide. In her presentation, she referred to Sustainable Development Goal 11: sustainable cities and communities, which includes sustainable traffic and transport. Traditional transport emits a lot of CO2, so it is important to use sustainable means of transport including walking, cycling and public transport. Then she went into the contents of the guide, which she developed in response to wishes of participants in a brainstorm at a Beautiful Mess on 26 June 2024.

When she mentioned the option to use U-pas credit for buying a bike, someone thought this offer was limited to children’s bikes. The question was raised if bike repair shops offer discounts to U-pas holders. Someone mentioned two informal bike repairers in Lombok, who help their neighbours fix their bikes. Can such informal suggestions be added to the guide? Daniella offered to create a poster for these volunteer bike repairers to improve their visibility to the community.

Daniella explained the mobility plans of the municipality for 2040, encouraging sustainable means of transportation, including a regional cycling network and new bus routes along Europalaan Zuid and connecting Overvecht – Utrecht Central Station and Utrecht Science Park. The city is growing, which results in increasing demand for public transport. The municipality is also planning more circular busroutes, allowing travellers to go directly from one neighbourhood to another while avoiding the central station.

The province of Utrecht offers discounts on most buses and trams outside of the rush hours to residents of municipalities in the province with a low income: https://www.kortingov.nl/. This discount is not valid in trains, because the railways are under the authority of the national government and not the provincial government. One participant was living outside the province of Utrecht, and asked for suggestions for cheap public transport for him. He might be able to use the cheap Flixbus to travel to some destinations in the Netherlands as well as abroad: https://www.flixbus.nl/. For students, the student travel product offers free travel by public transport.

Children under 12 travel for free when accompanied by an adult, and physical mobility challenged people can use the regio taxi and buy a parking card for parking their bike or car closer to their destination. The question was raised whether this card was only valid in your own car or also in someone else’s car.

Another participant suggested to add informal car sharing options like Blabla car, and also bike sharing options such as OV-fiets. However, this costs almost 5 euro per 24 hours, which is not very cheap (but cheaper than a taxi). Parking your own bike costs 1 euro a day in NS-bike stables.

Are you curious about the mobility guide or do you want to share your own suggestions? Join us on Saturday 22 February, 14.00-16.30 hrs in Buurthuis Rosa, Malakkastraat 6 in Lombok, or contact us via e-mail: ineke@duurzaamutrecht2030.nl