732 people working in Luxembourg’s Cloche d’Or district had their movements anonymously tracked for five weeks as part of a traffic studyPhoto: Pexels Pexels

732 people working in Luxembourg’s Cloche d’Or district had their movements anonymously tracked for five weeks as part of a traffic studyPhoto: Pexels Pexels

The “Positive Drive” campaign, co-financed by the European Commission in partnership with LuxMobility and launched by sustainability platform IMS Luxembourg, enabled 732 people working within a handful of firms to record their movements from 6am to 8pm, every day from 2 to 31 May, via the positive drive application.

The initial results were presented to the press on Thursday and showed a total 15,000 kilometres of travel per day across Luxembourg, Germany, France and Belgium and 18 million GPS points. Of the people tracked, over half used just the car to get to and from work.

The app showed users the distances they travelled and the CO2 savings made when they opted for more sustainable transport methods.

Findings from the data gathered, meanwhile, will inform a report by LuxMobility on the types of transport used for commuting to and from work in this rapidly growing district. IMS, meanwhile, has been working on creating a dialogue with public authorities to identify existing mobility gaps in this area and find solutions. It wants to promote multi-modal means of transport, in particular things like car-pooling.

During the presentation, sustainable development minister François Bausch announced the launch of a government-driven car-sharing platform called Copilote. Earlier this year, Bausch had said the geolocalised app would closely follow the model of Uber in the way it connects drivers and passengers. More information about the application would be revealed in two weeks, he said on Thursday.

A rapidly growing district

Traffic in the Cloche d’Or area is expected to increase considerably starting September 2017 when the new Lycée Vauban and French school open. Meanwhile, in addition to new offices and flats being built in the area, a vast shopping centre will open mid-2018, the new Deloitte offices in October 2018 and the new national stadium should open in 2019.

On the transport side, a new train station in Howald is expected to open its first platform 10 December, 2017, (with a second platform to open in 2021) and a park-and-ride car park will be built next to it with capacity for 2000 vehicles.

The tram extension to this area, however, will not be completed until 2021 and a bus station should also be operational in Howald the same year.