The congress took place on the 15th and 16th of September 2009 in Salzburg.

The aim of the Congress was to demonstrate changes in the mobility patterns of an ageing society on the one hand and, on the other, to discuss possibilities of intervention on different societal levels.

At the core of the discussion were the following questions: What do senior passengers need and what can (or must) transport operators, spatial planners and politicians do to meet the challenges of the future?

The key partners were “StadtBus” (the public transport provider of the City of Salzburg) and ZGB Zentrum für Generationen & Barrierefreiheit (centre for generations & accessibility) as organisers, participants and qualified speakers.

The problem to solve was demographic change and its consequences for public and individual transport, such as pollution, accidents and lack of access to mobility for older people. Target groups were the PT provider, city and transport planners as well as traffic associations.

Key conditions for implementation were oualified staff with good understanding of the topic and partners who supported the event financially as well as in spreading the information.

The planning process included finding the venue, (re)searching and selecting the speakers, tuning the topics, continuous contact to the speakers, looking out for locations and public relations.

Moreover, invitation folders were created, translated and disseminated, the target group was researched and mailed directly. Besides hotel reservations had to be taken care of, and creating and producing the congress file, organising the evening event and searching for sponsors and partners.

The funding consisted of personnel expenses, room rent, catering, expenses for speakers, accommodation costs, costs for public relations, printing costs and additional costs for second language translation and interpreters.

Marketing and dissemination included direct mails to contact lists, continuous updates of the homepage and announcements on relevant websites. The main challenge was high costs for bilingual organisation.

Monitoring and evaluation was provided by an individual feedback and a congress report. Factors of success were the number of participants, the quality of speakers and cost recovery.

Though it was the second congress held on mobility topics in Salzburg in cooperation of StadtBus and ZGB Salzburg, it is now planned to organise a congress biannually.