YOUTHPROJECTAWARDS

More and more our Public Transport Members rely heavily on young users: they are large proportion of Public Transport users today. Our members are getting closer to their young customers and Companies are educating them, teaching them to respect and take responsibilities in the usage of PT facilities, offering cultural and artistic events, promoting safety and security, fighting vandalism. What is it? UITP has organized an international contest between PT-related initiatives in favor of young people, preferably realized in collaboration with young citizens, and presented to an international jury by a young professional of the operator, the industry or the authority. UITP members, participated to the contest with PT project: - built for young people / having young people as target; and - preferably conceived in collaboration with young citizens; and - combining public transport and values which are important for the youth, such as: social interaction, conviviality, freedom, speed, adventure, pleasure, innovations, etc; and - any project with a direct link to areas being in the core of young people’s lifestyles: culture, education, leisure, first jobs. - The targeted projects should contribute, directly or not, to a better mobility for all (including easy and affordable mobility for teenagers) but also to a better social integration and living together. These projects should help fighting road fatalities among young drivers and tomorrow’s congestion (young people are tomorrow’s commuters) but also exclusion, generation’s barriers and unemployment What has been the Awards’ process? - Regional awards: A first award procedure has been organized at a regional level. It means that the 7 UITP regional offices organized their own ‘youth project awards’ among their operators, industry members or local authorities. At the end of this first contest level, each region rewarded the three best ‘youth projects’ they received. To proceed, each region had a great autonomy, they decided which timing (in a given framework), which ‘awards events’, which jury, which promotion of the contest, etc. UITP Brussels provided the call for paper, the framework, the rules and the deadlines and supported the regional offices where and when needed. Each region has selected 3 best projects, which constituted the nominees list for the International Awards held during the Helsinki Congress. - International awards: The three best projects of each region participated to the international contest, results has been officially known during the Helsinki Congress. An international jury composed by members such as representatives of operators, industry and authorities, marketing experts, etc. rewarded the best international youth project. Best practice book: In order to give UITP members examples and ideas of what can be done for the youth in public transport, the best projects of each region has been compiled in a ‘best practice book’. The results of the first phase with the Youth Award: 35 Projects applied for the first UITP Youth Awards, coming from 5 continents. 15 Nominees for Regional Semi final 3 Winners 1 Special prize from the Industry And many members discovered the project during our international Congress closing ceremony in Helsinki, June 2007. Second Edition of UITP Youth Awards The second edition previewed the promotion of best practices in favor of young people as customers (inside and outside UITP and to rewards projects made or steered by young managers). Our Marketing Commission supported us and the event s were planned for mid 2008 and final Awards at our International Congress in Vienna 2009. The second edition of the Youth Project Awards want to reward these Companies and their project , but not only: with this second edition UITP has also rewarded the young forces working on PT, through the best young managers award. The edition has been a success: 40 projects were received at UITP this year, and 16 of them has been participating to the Final World Congress Selection. 3 have been the winners in Vienna, plus 3 awarded with Special Prizes. The first edition didn’t see any regional reward ceremony, while this year, we introduced it to give more weight to members and regional representatives: we had already three ceremony at the occasion of UITP events:, the regional European final, the Latin America regional final and the American one: the first in Milan, were 6 projects were rewarded by the UITP President ( from THE NETHERLANDS, GERMANY, FRANCE, DENMARK, ITALY), the second one in Guadalajara, with 4 projects rewarded by the President, and 2 of them participating to the final ( BRAZIL and URUGUAY on BOLIVIA and PERU), and the third in Canada, during the CUTA Assembly, where the Secretary General was personally consigning the prices to the winners; we planned a third semifinal in Taipei (were the projects rewarded have been Hong Kong , Seoul and Delhi). We couldn’t organize a regional final in Australia, as only one project was participating and selected; neither in Africa, as no UITP events were planned before Vienna, after the announcement of the prizes. The evolution, this year, has been visible through the number and the importance of the projects received: more complete and detailed, concrete, very actual, modern, and particularly more innovative. Actually, they are producing very visible results in terms of employment, safety and changing the behaviors of the youth and the image of PT. Through the Youth Awards we could and can see how many Companies are investing in Youth issues. WHAT IS OUR OBJECTIVE UITP want to enhance and emphasize what is worldwide existing in terms of PT and Youth, Creating: - a best practice brochure on-line, integrated with all the other issues of the project, so to be the first “ Public Transport and Youth Guide “ on the market. - activities to promote and permit exchanges between Awards participant’s Members, in order to create contacts and relations on the same subjects, to implement communication and knowledge. ( For example: HTM and METRO S.PAULO created, with a different approach depending from the region of the world they are based, a project to discover future talents; our objective, now , is the one to put in touch these members and develop their activity through UITP. ) UITP has been rewarded and recognized, by young managers winners from all over the world, as a major actor to promote changes in their professional lives, and by Companies, finally recognized for their value, efforts and activities in these directions.