On 3 October the Urban Air kickoff meeting was held. This European project, coming under the Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal (POCTEP), aims to set up a groundbreaking, bicycle-based mobility system for members of university community in the cities of Valladolid and Covilhã, at the same time measuring the air quality along the routes.

The meeting, chaired by the Vice-Rector of Infrastructure Heritage of Valladolid University (Universidad de Valladolid), brought together GMV and the rest of the project partners: Fundación CARTIF, the Regional Energy Authority of Castilla y León (Ente Regional de la Energía de Castilla y León: EREN), Valladolid University, ENFORCE (Egenharia de Energía) and the Regional Energy and Environment Agency (Agência Regional de Energia e Ambiente) of the University of Beira Interior (Universidade da Beira Interior).

Coordinated by Valladolid University, Urban Air’s aim is to apply viable trailblazing urban-mobility alternatives that exemplify universities as role models of sustainable mobility within their home cities. To do so the project includes two use cases, one hosted in the Universidad de Valladolid and another in the Universidade da Beira Interior.

The Valladolid university use case will set up an optimized, bicycle-based mobility 4.0 system incorporating a groundbreaking handheld-app bicycle-loan system. This will not only map the locations of available loan bikes but also gauge the city’s main pollution gases on an as-you-go basis. The idea is to set up a whole network of such low-cost sensors to show air quality and the best routes for the cyclists to take.

The use case of the Universidade da Beira Interior, in the Portuguese city of Covilhã, will establish an e-bike loan system based on a photovoltaic recharging system, with the aim of furthering sustainable mobility in a hilly city that might otherwise prove a tough ask for unpowered bicycles.

Within this €1.5-million, 48-month project GMV is responsible for fitting the bicycle’s air-sensor equipment while also developing the management platform and mobile apps for booking, finding and using the shared bicycles.