Fellow Cities
Riga (Latvia)
Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. In regards to mobility, the City of Latvia currently lacks a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) defined at the city or urban level. However, is keen on promoting the use of public transportation and reducing the reliance on private cars within the city.
In pursuit of this goal, the City of Riga has joined the Fellow Cities programme with the ambition of gaining valuable insights and expertise to enhance ongoing projects and plan future initiatives.
Aim: By participating in the Fellow Cities programme, the City of Riga aims to share its experiences while learning from the three SCALE-UP Urban Nodes involved in the SCALE-UP project: Antwerp (BE), Madrid (ES), and Turku (FI). The city seeks to exchange best practices and innovative approaches related to mobility and transportation actions and policies. This collaborative effort will facilitate mutual learning and contribute to the development of effective strategies for sustainable urban mobility in Riga.
Challenges
In recent years, the City of Riga has faced the following challenges:
Lack of urban metropolitan/regional scale in planning, especially in public transport: Planning initiatives have primarily focused within the administrative borders of the City of Riga, neglecting the broader metropolitan and regional context. Consequently, the influx of private vehicles from the surrounding region has led to increased traffic congestion within the city.
Lack of integrated public transport planning at the regional scale: Efforts to redesign the public transport network are underway both within the City of Riga and the surrounding region. However, these processes are occurring separately, without sufficient coordination or consideration of the broader regional transportation needs and dynamics.
Objectives
Riga aims to achieve the following objectives and goals by 2027, which will facilitate solutions and transform the city's transport system into a more sustainable one. Some of the objectives and goals to be reached include:
Increasing public transport usage: The City of Riga aims to increase the modal share of public transport usage to 47%, encouraging more residents to utilise public transportation for their daily travel needs.
Reducing private car usage: The City of Riga aims to decrease the modal share of private car usage to 31%, promoting alternative modes of transportation and reducing dependency on private vehicles.
Reducing CO2 emissions: The City seeks to reduce CO2 emissions from transport by 22%, implementing measures to promote cleaner and more sustainable transportation options, such as electric vehicles and improved public transportation infrastructure.
Promoting collaboration in mobility: The City aims to foster collaboration in mobility between the city and its surrounding regions, ensuring coordinated planning and development of transportation systems to better serve the needs of residents and commuters across the metropolitan area.