Pilsen

Description of the challenge and of the envisaged solution(s)

Pilsen, located in the western part of the Czech Republic, is the capital of the Pilsen Region and the fourth largest city of the country with approximately 186,000 inhabitants. Over 300,000 thousand people live in the Pilsen agglomeration, which is more than 50% of the population of the Pilsen Region.
Like many urban areas of Europe, Pilsen faces significant challenges related to traffic congestion, air and noise pollution, mostly caused by the high number of private cars used for personal mobility. To improve the quality of its environment, the City Hall is placing an increasing emphasis on sustainable transport alternatives. This includes increasing the number of occupants per used car, making a growing recourse to public transport systems, as well encouraging behavioural change among citizens, students, and the community at large. In this context, the specific challenge targeted in Pilsen is the change of commuting habits in the proximity of local schools, especially at morning peak hours. This should not only help reduce traffic congestion and improve pedestrian safety around the school buildings, but also decrease students’ exposure to the air pollutants emitted by vehicles and lower the CO2 emissions and noise levels in the surrounding areas. Several measures are under study by the City Hall, such as, but not limited to, street closures to vehicles, pedestrian zones, K+R parking sites, temporary traffic barriers, one-way streets, innovative curb side uses etc. By the help of SITMP, its in-house IT
company, the City will provide cameras to detect the number of cars around schools and has installed sensors to monitor air quality. The latter data is already being collected and thus will provide baseline information to evaluate the performance of the solutions experimented in the pilot sites.

Note: Sensors (traffic, noise, air pollution) are installed and related data will be provided by the City, i.e. sensor purchase and installation is not needed for the project.

Solutions envisaged

Socio-technical systems that engage the local community in online and onsite activities efforts to foster a sense of ownership and encourage behavioural changes that promote sustainability. Solutions might be based on smart combinations of software (such as IT platforms and apps) and hardware (such as IoT sensors1, mobile and smart devices) that may help the City to encourage behavioural change in students and citizens towards adopting more climate-responsible mobility decisions and commuting habits.

Information on the location of the experimentation

There are 51 kindergartens and 29 primary schools in Pilsen. For the purposes of the pilot project, two primary schools will be considered (either/or):

• Tyrsova ZS a MS. Address: U Skoly 7, 326 00 Plzen, N 49°41.80173′, E 13°25.07750′ City district: UMO 8 (Cernice) School capacity: 74 (kindergarten)
+ 153 (primary school) students.  Please note that Tyrsova ZS a MS is a primary school with grades 1-5 and students aged 6-11(12) years. The younger primary school students typically do not have their own mobile phone and thus cannot record data during their trips to/from school.
• 25. Zakladni skola Plzen. Address: Chvalenicka 17, 326 00 Plzen, N 49°43.37122′, E 13°24.20208′ City district: UMO 2 (Slovany) School capacity:
960 students. Please note that 25. Zakladni skola Plzen covers grades 1-9 with students aged 6-15 (16) years. The younger primary school students typically do not have their own mobile phones and thus cannot record data during their trips to/from school.

Each of the two providers will be responsible for one school. The division of schools per solution providers will be based on local knowledge and other relevant factors considered. The goal is to ensure the most appropriate provider-school match for effective implementation of the solution.
Importantly, the solution and its provider must ensure communication with citizens and stakeholders is conducted in Czech language.
Please note that the school year 2025/2026 will end on 30 June 2026, the summer holidays start on 1 July 2026 and last until 31 August 2026.

Specific requirements include one or more of the points below

• Solutions that use Czech as leading language;
• Solutions that visualise the current traffic situation around involved schools, to facilitate understanding of the size of the problem by non-expert people;
• Solutions that demonstrate the gravity of environmental and climate effects of the current commuting practices using available information;
• Solutions that embed data literacy resources for individuals as well as teaching resources for schools;
• Solutions that help engage the local communities and their key stakeholders in exercises of data collection and evaluation, including assessment of alternative measures to reduce street congestion;
• Solutions that include guidelines on how to use the technologies and services provided;
• Solutions that are freely accessible and operational 24/7;
• Solutions that are promptly available as applications (for smartphones and tablet PCs, on Android and/or IOS operating systems) linked to the specific
  infrastructure (devices and smart items);
• Solutions that engage school students during school hours as well as out-of school activities, encouraging behavioural changes promoting sustainability;
• Solutions that embed gamification aspects.

Minimum requirements

Data usage

“The solution should at least rely on the following datasets”: See points 2-3-4 below.

Data acquisition

“The provider should at least acquire the following datasets”: Third party data describing the pilot characteristics, preferably in a state ready for publication as open data (i.e. anonymised).

Data availability

“The provider should at least use the following datasets made available by the City”: Data from the cameras and sensors placed directly in the location of the experimentation:

• Data on traffic intensity and modal split from https://telraam.net/ and other sources (e.g. city operated cameras)
• Data on air quality – CO2, NOx and PM levels and noise levels from https://www.agdatasmart.com/monitoring/airquality/

Data generation

“The solution should at least generate the following datasets”:

• Number of people actively using the digital solution
• Number of people actively involved in onsite activities (see point 6 below)
• User satisfaction (before – after)
• Awareness of traffic related issues (before – after)
• Safety perception around schools (before – after)
• Estimated GHG emissions (before – after)
• Educational impact (before – after)
• Change in commuting habits (see point 9 below).

Data visualisation

“The solution should at least enable visualisation of the following datasets:”

• Air quality levels
• Noise levels
• Mobility patterns and shifts
• Estimated GHG emissions.

Socio-technical solution A

“The active engagement of citizens/users should at least be ensured during the 9 months of experimentation”: • As a minimum, 1 workshop/event/initiative etc. shall be organised per location of the experiment.

Socio-technical solution B

“The way active engagement of citizens will contribute to a better performance of the solution should be described in detail”

Socio-technical solution C

“A minimum number of 100 citizens should be engaged by the provider during the 9 months of experimentation”

Socio-technical solution D

“The solution should at least demonstrate impacts on the following citizen/user behaviours”:

• Increased active commuting,
• Reduced private vehicle use,
• Improved awareness of sustainable mobility options,
• Participation in community events and initiatives.

Socio-technical solution E

“The provider should involve at least two of the following local stakeholders during the 9 months of experimentation”:

• School community (headmaster, teachers, students and their parents)
• Municipality (city district, city of Pilsen)
• Local citizens and community (neighbourhood)
• Local businesses, if relevant.

Interoperability

“The solution should at least be interoperable with the following existing IT systems”:

• Data service / interface that provides the information from the city-installed sensors
• Data should be visualised via https://data.plzen.eu/
• Dashboards developed with MS Power BI.

Privacy

“Use of the solution should not imply the release of personal data unless for specific and motivated purposes”

Sandbox

“The provider should specify which rules/regulations should be temporarily lifted for the purpose of the experimentation”

Scalability

“The provider should specify how the solution can be scaled from the site of experimentation to the broad City level”

Transferability

“The provider should specify the conditions under which the same solution can be adopted by other Cities with similar challenges”

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To participate to the tender, please read our tender documentation, this page is a simple overview about the challenge. To visit the documentation, click on the green button below.