Zaragoza is providing free parking slots to the health workers near the two main hospitals in the city. The staff interested in obtaining this service can register online. An agreement was reached with the private companies that run this service, and for one month up to 900 parking spots are being offered.
Contact: Lorena Calvo
Bristol making parking free for NHS staff and care workers in council car parks, pay and display street parking, and residents’ parking zones. Read more here.
Contact: Paul Davies
Madrid has launched a full public transport process for dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. Measures range from signage and communication to social distancing and hygiene. The full document and annexes are available below.
53 employees of Wien Energie, Vienna´s public energy company, are temporarily relocated to power station sites to ensure that people have access to light, heating and hot water during the corona crisis. The colleagues volunteered to live separated from their families at one of the isolation stations at the waste incineration plants Spittelau, Flötzersteig and Simmeringer Haide, as well as at the Simmering power station. Their tasks range from controlling the facilities to maintenance work and minor repairs. Read more here
Contact: Michaela Kauer
People who need to travel to work during the confinement in the metropolitan area of Nice Côte d’Azur can use public transport for free. The Metropolitan Office also adopted urgent measures to support small local companies, including advance payments for public contracts and aid to cover the monthly rent. The French Government and Parliament are asked to reduce, or authorize local authorities to exempt economic players from the corporate property tax. The decision were taken in a video meeting of the Office. Read more here (in French)
Contact: Jérôme Sieurin
On the Besiktas Municipality YouTube channel, programmes filled with educational and colourful content specifically for children are now being broadcast. Programmes include theatre and puppet shows, storytelling shows and films. See more here:
Contact: foreignaffairs@besiktas.bel.tr
Healthcare workers, who are able to prove their work, are now permitted to make use of all public transport service for free until the end of the emergency. Additionally, in order to protect drivers of public transport vehicles, passengers are no longer allowed to board by the front doors or sit in the first few seats, which is now closed on busses and trolley busses. A further measure includes reducing the fee for Budapest’s bike-sharing system pass to 100 HUF. Read more here and here and here
Contact: Adrienn Magyar
Madrid has launched an online platform ‘Conecta Juventud 2.0’ which now has almost 80,000 participants. The project has more than 40 activities available for young people to carry out from their homes under themes such as art, health, sports, personal care, solidarity, legal advice, science and new technologies. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Madrid has also joined the # PHEdesdemibalcón campaign. The PHotoESPAÑA International Photography Festival encourages citizens to send snapshots they take during these weeks from their balcony. Read more (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Since Espoo turned to distance learning, the city and teachers have learned the importance of clarity, the best methods, the role of the teacher and wellbeing of the child. Read about the city’s experience here.
Contact: Annika Forstén
To ensure that basic public services are functioning even in the crisis, Lille Metropole has initiated its Business Continuity Plan. Services in the areas of mobility, water, energy, waste collection, youth grants, housing grants and public support to companies are handled by 500 agents, out of a total of 3,000 employees, from 18 departments. Since 17 March, after a total lockdown in France was announced, they are working in three teams, with 200 agents permanently on the ground and two standby teams. The plan had been drafted after the swine flu pandemic in 2009. Updates are made available online twice a week (in French).
Contact: Christophe Bolot
Madrid’s family support centers have drafted several guidelines for families to help them through the period of staying inside together. These range from ‘dealing with confinement with adolescents’ to care-giving to elderly family members. The guidelines are available for download (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Ana Buñuel
Bamberg – educational resources on the internet
While schools are temporarily closed, Bamberg has established an online platform that contains exercises and working materials for students. These materials serve a dual function, as they also relate to Bamberg’s cultural heritage. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Patricia Alberth
Debrecen is ensuring the safety of public transport by disinfecting buses, trains and trams. Each cabin will be disinfected every day for four weeks, so there will be no vehicle that may be infected at the site. Professionals will work at night, wearing appropriate protective clothing and protective equipment, and spraying an antiviral chemical that it is not harmful to human health. Read more (in Hungarian) here.
Contact: László Mátyus
To ensure equal access to education for all, which has largely moved online, The Hague is distributing 330 laptops to families on low incomes. Read more here
Contact: Danijela Blagojevic
While fighting the COVID-19 crisis, ensuring the basic continuity and survival of public transport and local mobility services is essential for Europe and all European citizens. This includes the many professionals that depend on a well-functioning local transportation network to meet their daily needs. Read more here
In order to ensure the highest possible mobility for residents and guests, even under the current conditions, Berlin is temporarily making the first 30 minutes of rental for its public bike rental system free of charge. “We want to offer people as many options as possible to stay healthy and mobile”, the Senator for transport, Regine Günther, said. Until Easter, the bikes can be rented via an app once or several times a day for a free half an hour. In addition to the positive overall effects on public health, this is also meant to reduce the risk of infection.
You can read more here (in German)
Contact: Johanna Eisenberg
Sports clubs in the city of Stuttgart offer daily sport lessons on video for people at home. The programme includes functional fitness, yoga, aerobics and Zumba. One episode lasts around 25 minutes and is available every day at 5.30 pm on the city’s Facebook channel and on YouTube
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
When the Slovenian Government banned closed all organised child care, Ljubljana sent a request to kindergarten and elementary school principals to find out if any of their teachers and educators would be willing to volunteer to take children into care, either at the volunteer’s home or the child’s home. 53 educators from Ljubljana’s kindergartens and 26 teachers from Ljubljana’s elementary schools responded to the request. Due to the virus’ specificities, the volunteers can only be healthy people under 50, with no chronic illnesses and those who do not have small children at home. In this way the city has managed to guarantee child care for the children whose parents are obliged to work in extraordinary circumstances.
Contact: Polona Novak
Ljubljana has organized home food delivery for children from at risk families and elderly citizens. Drivers of city buses are volunteering to perform the deliveries. Over 100 people have volunteered at the Ljubljana Public Transport (Ljubljanski potniški promet) public company.
Bus drivers have also started helping with urgent non-scheduled transport of people, organized by the Slovenian Red Cross. The transport is intended for people who urgently need access to essential services or errands.
Contact: Polona Novak
Dusseldorf is turning to the internet and telephone to education, sport and support. A new hotline for the elderly and other high risk populations is available for getting help and advice. Read more (in German) here. A new e-learning platform provided by the city allows teachers to provide their pupils with learning material and online classes. Read more (in German) here. And the municipal department of sport, which usually offers free outdoor classes in Dusseldorf’s parks, has launched online workouts that people can enjoy from home. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Stefanie Nietfeld
Zaragoza has adopted several measures to ensure and facilitate the mobility during the time of coronavirus. These measures include:
• Flat rate in taxis for older people
• 50% rate for all taxis users
• Payment in public transport only with card
• Limitation of passenger numbers in public transport
• Protection measures on urban buses
• Preventive measures on tram
• Free parking for residents
• Improvements in loading and unloading zones
• Facilities for priority supply
• Flexibility for delivery tasks
Find more information (in Spanish) here.
Contact: Lorena Calvo
The librarians of the Tallinn Central Library are reading books via Skype or phone for children who have to stay at home because of the COVID-19 crisis. A child only needs to choose a book from the library list and call the librarian, who will then read the book for him/her. One session lasts maximum 30 minutes.
The library, which has already had a large stock of e-books available since it opened eight years ago, is also now uploading tonnes more e-books to keep people engaged during the coronavirus, and is providing free online registration for those Estonian citizens who are not yet readers in order to grant access to e-library ELLU.
Read more here.
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Leipzig’s natural history museum is creating videos for children to replace its exhibition on the deep sea, which was supposed to open at the end of March. A carpet of rubbish swirling above a shipwreck, the installation, and subsequently the videos that the museum is creation, will explore areas such as evolutionary history, biodiversity and environmental protection, until the museum can be opened again. Read more (in German) here.
Contact: Christin Rettke
’10 ways to run your business operations remotely’ – the city of Tallinn gives advice for companies under the restrictions of the corona crisis. Estonia has already digitalised many public services. It is also leading in digital education and offers its tools for free to support other countries. Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Motivating kids to move at home – that’s the idea of ‘Fit with Clips for Kids’, a series of short video clips inviting for jumping and skill games and other movement ideas which easily can be done at home. You can read more here (in German) and find the video clips here.
Contact: Claudia Schulcz
A simple explanation of the coronavirus and how to protect yourself and others – the city of Vienna has produced an animated video especially for kids. It’s in German, you can use YouTube’s settings to get subtitles in other languages.
Contact: Michaela Kauer or stay up to date at @Stadt_Wien
The city council will credit students for their unused days on their public transport tickets. Separately, families of children who benefited from a ‘canteen grant’ will receive a voucher to compensate. Read more here and here
Contact: Mercedes Hernández
Madrid City Council has started a new free bus route to transport health professionals and volunteers to a new temporary hospital. Read more here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
The Murcia City Council has reorganised how it collects waste, with new measures including double bagging, reorganising workers’ shifts, and calling on people to pay attention to what the experts say and to produce as little waste as possible. Read more here
Contact: Mercedes Hernández
Service providers for the city of Barcelona will continue to be paid even if the execution of their services is suspended. Under the current state of emergency, those contracts remain valid. Read more
Contact: Marta Puchal
London’s public transport authority is curtailing services by stopping some night services, closing stations and urging Londoners not to use public transport services unnecessarily. The services that remain open are to support the city’s critical workers, according to the mayor.
Read more here
Contact: Ian Catlow
With all municipal kindergatens still running, despite schools being closed, the Tallinn City Government has used emergency measures to enact changes in the organisation of kndergartens, giving more parents an opportunity to continue working.
Read more here
Contact: Kerttu Märtin
Madrid city council has suspended parking fees and closed down its bike sharing scheme. The offer of free parking had already been in operation in areas surrounding hospitals for a few days, in order to make access easier for staff and patients, but has now been extended throughout the city.
Read more here
Contact: Ana Buñuel
To stop the spread of contagion, the city’s employees are no longer permitted to enter people’s home when picking up specialist waste, such as out of use items, and employees can only pick up bagged items.
In addition, the city has invested in disinfecting street containers where waste is collected.
Read more here
Contact: Daniel Freitas
London’s public transport company has committed to a new cleaning regime for its metro and bus network. This includes ensuring that all regularly touched areas, such as poles on buses, are wiped down every day with a strong disinfectant. Other new concepts include testing of a new cleaning agent that could potentially offer 30 days’ worth of viral protection, and testing a hygiene back-pack that would allow for this new disinfectant to be sprayed safely and quickly across the network.
Read more here
In a separate advice here London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has warned that London’s transport network foresees operating a weekend style service during the week, meaning less frequent travel options.
Contact: Ian Catlow
