“Today we are taking a concrete step towards modern, sustainable and integrated mobility. The Bus Rapid Transit (Brt) represents a strategic investment for the future of the entire urban area”. This is what Mayor Franz Caruso, President of the Area, states when announcing the publication of the European tender for the assignment of architecture and engineering services aimed at drafting the Technical and Economic Feasibility Project (PFTE) of the intervention, for a total amount of the service equal to 726,256.44 euros.
The project concerns the entire Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure, the overall investment of which is estimated at 30 million euros, with the aim of creating a modern, efficient and integrated public transport system, capable of improving connections between the three Municipalities and promoting more sustainable urban mobility.
The intervention includes, in addition to the creation of routes dedicated to the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), areas equipped for parking, systems, information systems and technological tools for managing the service.
Currently, the Calabria Region has allocated a loan of 8 million euros, intended for the creation of a first functional part of the intervention. The design, however, will concern the entire work, for a total value of 30 million euros, so as to ensure a unified and organic vision of the transport system.
“The publication of the tender represents a fundamental and concrete step in the path that we have started together with the Municipalities of Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero to give our territory a public transport system that meets the needs of citizens, workers and students – underlines Franz Caruso -. The Bus Rapid Transit (Brt) is not just an infrastructure, but a strategic development choice that looks to the future of our urban area. We want to overcome a fragmented vision of mobility and build an integrated, modern and sustainable system, capable of connecting our territories, reduce the use of private vehicles and improve the quality of life of our communities””
“It is important to underline – continues the mayor – that the regional funding of 8 million euros constitutes the first installment of an overall investment of 30 million. We wanted the planning to immediately concern the entire infrastructure, because we believe in the need to plan with an overall perspective, avoiding isolated interventions and guaranteeing coherence and continuity to the design choices. The institutional collaboration between Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero is the indispensable condition for achieving this objective”.
“With the start of the tender procedure – concludes Franz Caruso – we move from planning to the operational phase. It is the result of shared institutional work which confirms the desire of the three municipal administrations to team up to create a strategic infrastructure. Our objective is to deliver to the urban area a more competitive, accessible and sustainable public transport service, in line with the new mobility needs and the challenges of the ecological transition”.
Orlandino Greco: «A vision we believed in, today becomes reality»
«The urban area that we imagined and for which we worked is finally starting to take shape. The publication of the tender for the design of the BRT represents an important and concrete step towards the creation of a modern mobility system, capable of connecting Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero in a truly integrated perspective”.
This is what Orlandino Greco, regional councilor of Calabria, declares, commenting on the publication of the European tender for the awarding of the technical and economic feasibility design services of the Bus Rapid Transit. A total investment estimated at 30 million euros, for which the Calabria Region has already allocated 8 million for the first functional phase.
«I would like to applaud the Calabria Region for the work carried out and for having supported an intervention that I consider strategic for the future of our territory. When institutions manage to bring together planning, resources and a long-term vision, the results begin to become tangible. This is the path we must continue to support.”
Greco also recalls the path that accompanied the birth of this project: «It is a perspective in which I strongly believed, first as mayor of Castrolibero and subsequently in my institutional commitment as regional councillor. We have always maintained that the future of our territories could not be built through a logic of separate municipalities, but through the ability to recognize themselves in a single urban area, with shared services, infrastructures and opportunities. Mobility is one of the key points of this transformation.”
The tender just published, with an amount of 726,256.44 euros for design services, concerns the entire infrastructure, estimated at 30 million. An important choice because it allows you to maintain an overall view of the work, preventing the first financing from translating into an isolated and lacking continuity intervention. The project includes routes dedicated to rapid transport, areas equipped for parking, systems, information systems and technologies for managing the service.
«We must have the ability to look beyond administrative boundaries. An efficient connection between Cosenza, Rende and Castrolibero means making travel for students, workers and families easier, reducing traffic, improving the quality of life and strengthening the attractiveness of the entire area. It means, above all, recognizing that these territories are already deeply interconnected in the daily lives of citizens.”
«Today we see significant progress. I thank the Calabria Region for giving substance to an important investment and all the institutions that are contributing to this path. The challenge now is to accompany the design and subsequent implementation phases with the same determination, maintaining the idea of an urban area that can grow as a single system. Infrastructures serve precisely this: to create connections, bring communities closer together and build new development possibilities.”