Based on the Transfer Methodology designed by our Lead Expert, Miguel Sousa that combines a carrousel model where partners learn together and all partners participate in the transnational meetings and a radial model: bilateral/trilateral exchanges between each CARD4ALL partner and Gijon or other partners, we organised an immersive meeting in Gijón last February.
A delegation of different departments from Aveiro Municipality and a team of external consultants visited Gijón with the objective of learning the first steps of launching a Citizen Card model as well as knowing the experience of Gijón and the problems that Gijón has encountered. To solve technical question was also other of the objectives followed by Aveiro's team.
We started with an overview of the services offered by Gijón Citizen Card and some statistics that illustrated the impact of its use in the city. Then, we went into the detail of 3 services that were of Aveiro's delegation interest: Gijón bikes, libraries and tourism. We finished the day with an interactive walk to real experience the use of Citizen Card and we had the opportunity to exchange with some citizens their impressions about Gijón Citizen Card.
The next day was focused on 2 of the most important services of a Citizen Card: Transportation and Citizen Front Office. We visited the Public Transportation Company and they explained how the Citizen Card data and payments are managed as well as the devices that are integrated in the buses to transfer those data.
In the Citizen Front Office, we followed all the procedures to get a Citizen Card and a colleague from Aveiro got one ready to use in Gijón. They explained also the different services that are digitalized in the Citizen Card and the use of the Citizen ATMs that Gijón has 24 located all around the city.
Technical questions are always key when you face an implementation process with the scope of a Citizen Card and we had 2 sessions of Questions&Answers to solve the doubts of our colleagues from Aveiro and we finished presenting the new app that Gijón is going to launch soon and the integration of the Citizen Card in the institutional website.
On the trip back to Aveiro, our colleagues shared their impressions in this interesting video:
Last year, during the Clermont-Ferrand transnational meeting, we organized also another immersive meeting, but with a different approach, it was focused on transportation and allowed some partners to really know in detail the different services offered by Clermont Ferrand. You can download an informal testimony here:
https://urbact.eu/sites/default/files/media/20191128_entry_diary_im_meeting_cf_laura_0.pdf