Transnational case study. Report prepared by: Giuseppe Luppino (ITL) Giorgio Ambrosino, Saverio Gini, Irene Pettinelli (MemEx )

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1 Report prepared by: Giuseppe Luppino (ITL) Giorgio Ambrosino, Saverio Gini, Irene Pettinelli (MemEx ) January 2014

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE OVERALL FEASIBILITY STUDY PROCESS ROLE OF FTS IN THE PT SERVICES OFFER STAGE A) CONTEXT ANALYSIS STAGE B) SERVICE DESIGN SYSTEM AND DEVICES FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS MINIMUM VEHICLE REQUIREMENTS NOT ONLY TECHNOLOGY : OPERATIONAL AND ORGANIZATION DIMENSIONS MARKETING AND PROMOTION FARE POLICY SERVICE START UP AND OPERATION SERVICES MONITORING AND EVALUATION TOWARDS THE FTS AGENCY CONCEPT CONCLUSION

3 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 STRUCTURED FEASIBILITY STUDY ON FTS...7 FIGURE 2 FTS/INTERMEDIATE TRANSPORT WITHIN MOBILITY SERVICES FIGURE 3 FLEXIBILITY OF SERVICE COMPONENTS FIGURE 4 BASIC SERVICE TYPES FOR DRT LAYOUT FIGURE 5 SERVICE MODELS FIGURE 6 DRTS OPERATIONAL SCHEME FIGURE 7 TDC ARCHITECTURE FIGURE 8 PLATFORM FOR IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY FIGURE 9 POSITIVE EXTERNAL VEHICLE FEATURES, PHONE AND GO, NORTHUMBERLAND, UK FIGURE 10 THE FIRST LOGO OF PERSONALBUS IN FLORENCE METROPOLITAN AREA FIGURE 11 THE LOGO OF STRADIBUS IN THE PROVINCE OF CREMONA FIGURE 12 THE LOGO OF PRONTOBUS IN THE PROVINCE OF LIVORNO FIGURE 13 LEAFLET AND BROCHURES OF PRONTOBUS SERVICE FIGURE 14 PRONTOBUS LEAFLETS IN THE AREAS OF ROSIGNANO AND PIOMBINO FIGURE 15 ATL INFORMATIVE BROCHURE OF PRONTOBUS FIGURE 16 THE EVOLUTION OF THE FTS PERSONALBUS IN CAMPI BISENZIO FIGURE 17 THE FTS AGENCY CONCEPT

4 INTRODUCTION This deliverable is based on DRT case studies developed by three project partners (ITL Modena, Miskolc, Burgas) and it aims to generalise the different approach and to provide a specific guidelines for the design and implementation of the DRT services to be adopted in SEE cooperation area. The report can be considered as a support tool for defining the single steps and aspects of DRT service designing. The reference framework is the scenario defined in ATTAC project where DRT services are considered complementary and integrated not only with the conventional Public Transport services but, more in general, with the overall mobility schemes and other green services (bike, pedestrian, bike, sharing services, etc.). The main focus of this report is that a solution can hardly ever be transferred from one context to be applied in exactly the same way in another one as attention must be paid to the features of the contests itself. Examination of experiences and best practices around the Europe shows that DRT applications which are successful in one location often could not succeed in a comparable location in some other countries. What can be usefully deduced is that what works well in practice will be the result of a crossinteractions between a collection of activities and actions and recommendations for application elsewhere can be only distilled from what works well in one experience. Furthermore DRT concept is very flexible and it can be implemented under a wide range of solutions and services features (network and service scheme, operational procedure for booking management and service operation, organizational aspects and involved stakeholders, fare, cost/revenue flows and financial sustainability, funding, etc.). This explains why it is very relevant for DRT implementation and long term operation to develop a feasibility study in order to define if DRT is the best solution for answering to unsatisfied mobility demand or improve users accessibility and mobility service quality and, in such a case, to identify the most appropriate solutions to be adopted at legal/institutional, financial, organizational, operational, marketing level. The feasibility study for a DRT service presents two main stage: A) the first one (stage A) is setting the scenario of the context area in particular the mobility demand (main strategic level policy and political priorities, main demography characteristics, local stakeholders identification for following involvement in design, existing mobility schemes and PT services offer, cross relations with other mobility services and ITS supporting systems, legal and regulatory constraints, etc.) aiming to indentify the main target users of DRT services B) the second one (stage B) relates properly to the services planning and definition phase including different steps: Service model (with emphasis on the design of alternative service types) Functional requirements for the Travel Dispatch Centre Architecture and support devices for users and operators Promotion and marketing of FTS 4

5 Fare policies Service contract management, especially relating to the definition of appropriate indexes and monitoring procedure for the evaluation of service performances. The stage A) brings to the decision to make or no the DRT due to different and often inter related decisions including the consideration of strategic policy, option appraisal, funding and legislative constraints, consultation with end users, operators involvement and tendering processes (if necessary). This is clearly a very complex task where general guidelines supporting the decision process can hardly be defined. The stage B) represents the methodology for planning of DRT service and it is the most relevant due to the different aspects in term of investment and cost, organization, operation and impacts. This stage is even more relevant in the framework of the ATTAC approach which considers the Flexible Transport Services (FTS) as one of the key elements of the overall mobility and therefore the focus is on the ability to design, implement and evaluate the service accordingly to the specific local mobility offer and demand. Therefore these guidelines are mainly focused on the identification of key factors for the successful design, implementation and operation of the DRT service. These guidelines are the follow up stage of a first phase involving an in depth analysis of the mobility of an area and its characteristics, existing services and their level of satisfaction (from user and operator point of view), demographic profiles to be served, area socio economic profiling, stakeholder requirements, overall mobility policy and transport service offer, etc. The very first part of this document discusses the feasibility study process (Chapter 1) and Chapter 2 is dedicated to the role of FTS in the overall PT offer. The two following sections address the specific study phases, contents analysis (Chapter 4) and service design (Chapter 5), while the following paragraphs focus on all the specific service components which need to be taken into account, in particular: system and devices (Chapter 5), functional requirements (Chapter 6), vehicle requirements (Chapter 7), operational and organization dimension (Chapter 8), marketing and promotion (Chapter 9), fare policy (Chapter 10) and service start up (Chapter 11). Attention will be paid also to service monitoring and evaluation (Chapter 12) and to future perspectives, such as a possible agency concept (Chapter 13), and conclusions (Chapter 14). 5

6 1. THE OVERALL FEASIBILITY STUDY PROCESS The feasibility study for defining and develop DRT service is composed by two main stages: the first one dedicated to the analysis of the context of target area and the second one to the design and specify the overall DRT service characteristics, schemes and operation modalities. DRT introduce an innovation in Collective Transport services offer and provision both in terms of service production modalities and target population/user groups: we pass from conventional approach (based on fixed lines and fixed time table) to service provision determined by the real demand and served area characteristics. The context analysis stage leads to define the environment into which the service should be introduced, to identify strategic policy goals, to identify the user needs and to highlight the constraints (related to geography, legislation, and organisational structure of local stakeholders) in meeting these goals and needs. Stage A) leads to define the requirements for service design, vehicles selection, operator awarding/contracting and DRT integration with the other existing mobility and PT services taking into account the constraints of the shared use of resources among the different operators. In particular stage A) also includes the following analysis tasks, among the others: General aspects such as e.g. territory, main socio economic data, etc., Overall mobility approach and general main normative aspects (e.g. traffic restrictions, pedestrian areas, regulated access areas, special regulations for residents, etc.) as represented by the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan ITS and city mobility technologies (e.g. Access Control System, Automatic Fare Collection, Parking Management System, etc.) Legal framework and specific regulations for mobility and collective transport Overview of characteristics and main trend of mobility demand (.i.e. O/D matrix in the study area). Identification of mobility needs and public transport improvement of quality factors; Existing mobility and Public Transport services (conventional lines and feeder services, etc.), infrastructures and facilities for Public Transport and Mobility services e.g. BHLS/main trunk/corridors, parking area, bus stops and terminal, bike stations, etc..) either available and already in operation or planned, studied or of a potential interest for the site. Identification of possible integration synergies between DRT and conventional/existing mobility services; Identification and appointment involved stakeholders and responsibilities. The results of the tasks mentioned above will support the following phase of service design (and implementation) in terms of the overall service components (vehicles, technology and devices, etc.) and service schemes and operation models for the effective service delivery. Finally the estimation of 6

7 costs in terms of capital and operation will be carried out with respect to each choice, in order to get the final cost model along with estimations of revenues generated through fares. Stage A) and stage B) can be summarized as in the following Figure 1. Strategic Level Policies and Local Political Priorities Planning Stages Local Geography Constraints Demography Local stakeholders and partnerships User Requirements Existing Registered Services Coordination with other existing services Legal / Regulatory Constraints Service Design Minimum Vehicle Requirements Key features of contract Implementation Stages Vehicle Choice Dispatch Centre Scenarios Booking Scheduling and Dispatching software choices in Vehicle equipment choices Change Implementation Scenarios Communication with vehicles Cost Model Figure 1 Structured feasibility study on FTS 7

8 In the following sections each of the above mentioned aspects related to the design stage is detailed providing a description of what it concerns, why it is important and how it influences or is influenced by other aspects or factors. The content for each of these aspects has been built on knowledge gained from other project experience and desk based (web sites and specific virtual library related to INTERRREG IVC Flipper project) research and review of the best practices currently operated through the different European regional and urban areas. Specific reference to ATTAC site case studies will be added as specific example. The relevance of the stage B) is also given by the possibility that the context analysis and requirements definition (stage a) can be often override by the Strategic level policies and local political priorities/decisions. Political factor can often stimulate the location of the flexible transport services, the target groups served to be served and the budget available due to different motivations: it is supposed to have already clear what user groups must be served; it requires the involvement of the current operators of the overall PT network (asking the integration of DRTs in the existing PT services and avoiding new procurement process or other large investments); it is driven by the urgency to invest/spend the budget already established or funding from external sources (such as EU project grants) placing further conditions on the type of service introduced; or, last but no least, it is looking forward to gaining political visibility or promotion. All the above are cases where a robust guidelines package for the design of the service (as defined in stage B) is mandatory. Although we could accept the that the DRT can be decided on a vague demands if the services have been not designed appropriately these services will be less cost effective and less sustainable over the longer term. Whatever the stimulus behind introducing a new service it is important to identify from the start the strategic aims and objectives, as well as local priorities and responsibilities that exist in service implementation (and the previous design). It is then necessary to keep these in mind throughout reading these guidelines. 8

9 2. ROLE OF FTS IN THE PT SERVICES OFFER As already stated, DRTs can provide local mobility, as well as connections to other conventional forms of transportation (e.g. regular bus network, railway services, etc.) being part of a larger intermodal service chain. As such, DRTs services are seen as one of the services belonging to a range of "Flexible Transport services", working in urban and regional areas as an additional layer between conventional (fixed route and schedule based) transport and personal transport (car or taxi). Generally speaking the DRT services are part of the great family of Flexible Transport Services that includes, among the others: Local buses with some flexibility (routes, time, meeting points, etc); Special services transport; Dedicated services for people with reduced mobility or other needs Some special Feeder service Community Transport; Collective taxis; Car pooling; Dynamic Car pooling Some forms of Park n Ride Other alternative forms including also goods transport services Figure 2 shows the position of FTS/Intermediate Transport within the set of mobility services in term of costs and flexibility. 9

10 Figure 2 FTS/Intermediate Transport within mobility services Note that the position of the purple FTS oval on the graph will depend on a large extent on the technologies used, e.g. if it is decided to use manual booking, previous day booking and no on board unit then the FTS oval will move to overlap with the conventional public transport oval. Conversely, if dispatching software is used, with on day booking and an on board unit, the FTS oval will move to overlap with the taxi oval. The position of the FTS oval on the graph is a visual representation of the level of flexibility of the service which can be expressed in terms of route, vehicle allocation, vehicle operator, type of payment and passenger category. The flexibility of each element can vary along a continuum of demand responsiveness (see Figure 3) from services where all variables are fixed a considerable time before operation to services whose constituent variables are determined close to the time of operation. Figure 3 Flexibility of service components 10

11 A service designed to be fully flexible and close to real time booking will require a high tech approach which impacts on decisions made on dispatch centre scenarios, booking scheduling and dispatching choices and in vehicle equipment choices. ATTAC Reference: In Miskolc pilot, the use of taxi (as subcontracting service) have been tested when the number of trip reservations for a trip are one or two. In this case bus vehicle is replaced by taxi. Service design specifies the degree of route flexibility, influenced by the level of demand and crucially by its distribution (i.e. the land use and road network patterns). The efficiency of the DRT service is highly influenced by the service design, since in general, fully flexible routes can be very inefficient because of the first come first served nature. More efficient is where a semi structured loop/zone system can be introduced with deviations so that more people can be picked up, because the first come first served nature of the service is diluted slightly. To balance efficiency and flexibility, service design must find the right balance between fixed route operation and demand responsive operation in each situation. Services can be designed to reduce the inefficiency of demand responsive operation in flexible services by placing limits on the degree of demand responsive service that will be provided. DRT solutions basically can be grouped in a rough classification: Service Solution Description Features Closed services specific group Closed services single agency Urban Periphery Dedicated services for specific groups All closed group services are handled through a single agency Serving areas of at the urban edge served by low frequency service operated by buses from the city centre or other distant location Most typically for people with reduced mobility. This can include disabled, people with special needs, elders etc. Special needs services usually are based on a list of registered users, managed by the local authority or other agency. This concept can also include transport for active groups such as workers, students, conferences, airports etc. This could cover the different healthcare types, the social ones for elders, perhaps some education, etc. as resources often are underused and operators are required to (or they agree to) pool their resources. This could equally apply to worker or student transport. These DRTs have characteristics understood by bus users, and are integrated with the regular passenger transport. They may be substitutes for unsatisfactory or high cost fixed line transport. 11

12 Service Solution Description Features Local journeys in urban areas Flexible routes in suburban areas Rural local services Rural flexible routes Services designed for the inner and middle suburbs Services designed to serve non axis travel, short mid length journeys. (e.g. connecting stops not directly linked by existing PT including Bus stop trips) For remote areas, focus is more typically on overcoming social exclusion Short and medium distance services to towns and transport connection points Objective is to cater for the trips of 1 5 km, mostly made by car as driver or passenger. Target users include all home based persons. It could be based on trips to shopping/ activity centres. The service is intermediate between bus and taxi, offering the responsiveness of taxi at a price closer to bus tariffs. They are recognized as taxi services by users. Current public transport options require either long walk at one/both ends of the trip, or taking two buses to complete a relatively short crow fly distance. These DRT services will be recognised as such by users with needs to be integrated with the regular public transport. Over time, some of these services will convert to regular routes, as the demand increases at least in the peak hours. LocalDRT services both in the hinterland of the towns and within the rural communities. Relatively high frequency in the hinterlands of towns, moderate to low frequency in more remote areas, providing access to healthcare, administration and shopping services. These DRTs have recognizable characteristics of regular passenger transport and are integrated at design, planning and operational levels with the regular PT. They usually also provide planned connections with longerdistance transport Integration with existing mobility services This aspect could be faced after having already performed some main choices like, as: the role of DRT service as integration, improvement or substitution of existing services if it is in integration in which time period (conventional service in the peak hours and DRT service in the other time period) or during the whole day. Different role of DRT services in the whole mobility chain could deal with one of the following options: i. Interchange DRT providing feeder links to conventional public transport. Typically this would be a DRT service providing an interchange at a rail station or into a bus trunk route/bhls. In other cases the integration can be implemented with parking services or last mile sustainable services (bike station, bike sharing). ii. Network DRT enhances public transport either by providing additional services, or by replacing uneconomic services in a particular place or at certain times. Typically, this substitution happens at 12

13 times of the day or week when demand for conventional public transport is low or dispersed, so making it hard to offer an attractive service. ATTAC reference: In Miskolc pilot, DRT system has been introduced for offering added services. In particular a new (not planned under the conventional service) PT line operated under the DRT scheme and serving the zoo has been introduced with an unquestionable success. This line will be operated still after the close of ATTAC activities). In the case of existing lines, the additional trips would be added to the regular service in the evening and early morning hours. In the peculiar case of Modena, DRT services were adopted as a special tool for operating transport connections to work/study places in the post emergency phase after the earthquake. DRT services implemented in the area were both feeder lines and collective taxis for shift workers (especially). iii. Destination specific DRT is a special form of network DRT that serves particular destinations such as airports or employment locations. A key element of many of these schemes is the presence of a partnership between a local authority and the destination (e.g. a company, airport operator or whatever). Substitute DRT occurs where, instead of complementing conventional bus services, a DRT system totally (or substantially) replaces them. This represents a reinvention of public transport. 13

14 3. STAGE A) CONTEXT ANALYSIS Chapter 3 aims to summarise each steps involved in the stage A) in order to provide a brief overview to their meaning without any claims to be exhaustive. Local geographical factors The geographic context implies the physical restrictions to the movement of people and vehicles such as rivers, coasts, wetlands, upland areas and urban nodes within the statutory area or more particularly the service area being considered. Geographical factors impacts on demography and socio economic elements (population, density, economic activities, reasons for travelling, etc.) Geographical constraints may affect the network layout and the road characteristics and thus the selection of service scheme (i.e. travelling time, etc.) and vehicles typologies (length, engine, etc.). Local demography and socio economic factors The demographic factor is composed of establishing the population size, population density, age distribution, gender distribution, ethnic composition, geographic distribution and employment characteristics within the statutory area or more particularly the service area being considered. Note that although the collection of this data is not essential for the fundamentals of the service design they can have an influence on the finer details of the service design and delivery. Demographic data will be used to clarify the target passenger group, i.e. those who would most benefit from and are most likely to use a DRT service. Having established the target group, this information will be used as part of the user requirements definition. The demography factors affect the target groups definition and then the modalities to carry out users needs survey (sample, analysis modalities and data collection, etc.), promotion of services. Demography can also affect service schemes (i.e. door to door for disabled/impaired people, different coverage hours for commuters, students, etc.), vehicles selection (higher size vehicles for large target users groups, vehicles equipped with platform for disabled/impaired people, etc.), booking modalities (traditional channel for mature/elderly people target, more innovative for younger people). Legal factors constraints can be linked to demography as specific regulation for disabled transportation. Local stakeholders and partnerships The local stakeholders and partnerships are the first to be involved for understanding which groups in the local area have an interest in a DRT service and to what extent they are able and likely to become involved in contributing the design of the service. The stakeholders generally speaking include for example. 14

15 i) representatives of community groups (Age concern, local societies and clubs), ii) local councillors iii) providers of destination services (GP surgery managers, Hospital transport managers, school reps, job centres and intermediate labour market providers), iv) statutory transport providers (social services transport coordinators, education transport coordinators, non emergency patient transport planners / commissioners). v) other transport providers (commercial operators, community and voluntary sector transport operators) The main benefits of including these stakeholder groups in the planning process at an early stage are related to ensuring the service is designed to complement rather than duplicate what is already being provided and where possible to identify sensible sharing of resource to minimise expenditure while maintaining high quality service provision. Further impacts include the increased promotion, awareness raising and acceptance amongst end users which these groups provide. Knowledge of the local stakeholders and their likely involvement may influence the user requirements data collection in terms of helping identify the suitable audience to be targeted, The level of partnership working by stakeholders in planning transport between sectors directly influences the opportunity for coordination with existing services User Requirements A user requirements analysis should be carried out by direct contact with the target group in order to establish their mobility needs. This information can be achieved also indirectly from the above stakeholders group and verified with the indentified user group. It is recommended to ensure final users and related association (Local Communities, citizens groups and associations, etc.) are strongly involved just from the beginning of users requirements and following service design (phase B): they must be seen as stakeholders not only as source of data or needs. People can be contacted through public meetings, focus groups, postal, telephone and door to door surveys, it is beneficial to go to where they meet, so that they can be informed about potential new or changed services (particularly non conventional ones such as DRT which needs to win over new users) and discuss together their travel needs and the implications of a new or revised service. Similarly, if young people are the target group, visits should be made to schools, youth clubs and other organisations which have young members (e.g. sports clubs). The use of focus group(s) is recommended during users requirements' analysis as an ancillary tool to consolidate involvement and commitment of stakeholders. Historical knowledge gathered from patronage (frequency and trip patterns) of existing public transport services can be also used. When available, it can be recommendable to search for any previous surveys already carried out in the study area (even if this only partially covers all the targets of current study) and try to update/integrate it (as appropriate). 15

16 Demography (linked to target groups, etc.), geographical (i.e.: low density areas inhabitants have often high percentage of cars ownership so they would be more unlikely to use collective transport services unless for emergency or similar cases, etc.). Users requirements deal with the analysis of mobility offer currently provided and the identification of unsatisfied mobility needs but in a broader sense it should aim also to assess personal mobility requirements: i.e. the acceptance of the characteristics of DRT, some of which may be considered an advantage or a disadvantage. An example is provided by the need to pre book ensuring that a seat is guaranteed in a safe travelling environment in which the passenger details are known to the authorities but it also requires acceptance of the need for personal pre trip planning to telephone in advance of travel. Past experience of DRT services shows that not enough attention has been paid to raising the profile of non conventional public transport services. Very often they are not understood, (e.g. thought to be for restricted users only such as the disabled and elderly) or viewed with suspicion (e.g. seen as a way of replacing fixed routes with a poor alternative). Together with the outputs from other planning level factors, particularly those relating to the stakeholders, the output of the user requirements exercise is essential for designing the service that reflects the requirements of the potential customers from the target population rather than the whole population of the area under consideration. Numerous inputs to service design will be provided by user requirements, e.g. size of service area, key destinations, how flexible the routing needs to be, the frequency of service, density of public transport service network, duration of service hours, justification for scheduling and dispatching software (as opposed to manual systems). User requirements analysis is a relevant step even it is largely recognised to be quite time consuming. Therefore a compromise needs to be made with the content of the survey work and the sample size. The sample size must be defined accordingly to be significant compared to the consolidation of the information which are required: unrealistic objectives can be avoided. Viceversa more efforts and appropriate resources must be reserved for assuring to success in reaching all the target sample. In order to achieve this objective it is essential to access target sample using more than one method. ATTAC reference: In the peculiar case of Modena, the analysis of users need and the definition of the O/D matrix were carried out in an emergency scenario. Essential needs were those connected with work/study, but also occasional services for people with different mobility needs were considered (weekly services). In Burgas experience, the 2013 European Mobility Week was used as an occasion for gathering users opinions and feedback regarding the potential implementation of DRTs. Existing Mobility Services The existing services scenario can be set up by the analysis of existing transport services and to identify the transport operators which already operate some form of transport service in or through the area into which the DRT service should be introduced and capturing details of the transport services 16

17 operated, particularly those operating in the same area. The existing services impact on the provision of DRT services as it may be possible to satisfy some of the demands of the new DRT service by adapting various features of the existing services or by using existing services vehicles (and drivers) during their downtime. For instance, opening up the groups of the population who can be carried by vehicles operated by statutory transport providers such as social services, education transport or patient transport vehicles. Any new DRT service should consider the level of service already provided in an area in order to ensure similar trips are not being duplicated. This is inefficient and may also impinge on anti competition rules. Integration of DRT in the whole mobility plan DRT services are complementary to conventional transport with the main objectives of: increasing mobility and facilitating new trips; displacing trips currently made by personal car and decreasing the necessity of a private car; providing local feeder and distribution to conventional transport; providing effective and cost effective mobility commuting possibilities both for established workers and for job seekers. Coordination and integration of DRT with the existing (conventional) transport services is seen as a crucial element for improving the overall service accessibility in areas characterised by low demand, for feeder services to main trunk lines/corridors, for assuring co modality with other transport modes (train, P+R, bike stations, etc.). The coordination of service planning between stakeholders provides an opportunity for more cost efficient transport provision within the proposed DRT service area without reducing the quality or level of service provided by complementing rather than competing with existing services. This influences when and where the DRT service should operate and what vehicle type and licence are required if other stakeholder clients are to be carried. Due to its potential value for the definition of an integrated solution for the governance of mobility services over the territory and the impacts on the proper design stage the integration of DRT services into the overall mobility chain will be detailed in the description of design phase (Chapter 4). Legal / Regulatory Constraints This aspect is concerned with informing the user of the type of licence appropriate for operating the DRT service and ensuring all regulations related to this are adhered to throughout the subsequent planning and implementation stages. The main legislation where a choice is required relating to the planning of the service is regarding the licence or permit which is most suitable for the type of service to be operated. Associated with the service license choice will be legal requirements about who can operate the service, what vehicles can be used to operate the service, who can drive these vehicles and who can be carried by the service. It is important that all these regulations be considered and their 17

18 effects taken into account in the later stages of designing and implementing the service. The legal and regulatory constraints factor is influenced by the types of passenger to be carried (do users belong to a particular group who do not require to pay a fare (e.g. education contract school pupils, social service clients, community group etc.) and by the numbers of passengers requiring transport at any time this has an influence on the size of vehicles to be used and hence can affect the type of operators licence required as well as the type of service licence under which to operate. The legal and regulatory constraints impacts on the requirements for operators since certain service licences can only be operated by companies with particular operators licences. A significant diversity across the EU in the treatment of DRT within the regulatory and legal framework can be detected. In other words the underlying platforms which services are based on are deeply different and just a little common ground can be identified. There is no single regulatory structure for the delivery of public transport in Europe. Each site, area, country is unique. Generally, DRT services can be implemented within the applicable law but there are some constraints elsewhere. It is often unclear what it is permitted and what s not: DRT promoters are often setting their own limits. This has represented a barrier to innovation when DRT was seen as service only for predefined niches of market. It is possible to identify five different issues working at regulatory and legal context: the legal framework for transport and local authorities, their functions and wherein lies the responsibility to finance passengers transport; the regulations governing in passenger transport market; the regulations governing the individual modes such as buses, taxis and DRT; the legal framework which establishes the minimum levels of mobility for general target users; the legal framework which establishes the minimum levels of mobility for specific categories of users (elderly, disabled, etc.) or special transport services. 18

19 4. STAGE B) SERVICE DESIGN Service design based on the context analysis results and identified requirements defined and specify the main characteristics and components and operation modalities of the DRT services to be delivered. The design there fore is influenced by the results of stage a) context analysis and it has influence on the decision making process by the stakeholders. The service design is the relevant and critical stage dedicated to the definition of the operational and technical specifications of DRTs. Service design explicitly defines which and where vehicles can operate, how vehicles can operate, boarding and alighting characteristics, the times when vehicles will be at boarding and alighting locations, eligibility criteria for passengers and the advance notice requirements for booking. All different types of flexible transport services can be described by defining variations in these six main components of service design. It is worth making a distinction here between service design and the system (design) supporting service provision. System design (that will be detailed in the following sections) includes decisions such as whether to use automated or manual booking and scheduling, mode of booking and the level of call centre technology. These are not components of service design and are considered in the Dispatch Centre Scenarios factor and Booking Scheduling and Dispatching software choices factor, although service design may influence choices associated with these factors. Based on the characteristics of local site and users needs (as emerged by the stage A) context analysis), different types of service models can be implemented. Often, the different FTS layouts tend to fall within four basic types that are shown in Figure 4: Scenario 1: Fixed route lines with flexible time tables. The service is based on a fixed route set on predefined stops. The trips will be carried out only if there is at least one booking of the users. Scenario 2: Fixed route lines with on demand deviations. The service is based on routes and time table partially predefined; the fixed routes can be modified on the user requests by the inclusion of deviations on other optional and predefined stops. Scenario 3: Flexible routes between predefined stops. Predefined stops mean that the vehicles can stop only in predefined points. The vehicles will have to stop in the predefined stops only if a request has been made. Area wide service operated with the maximum of flexibility in terms of routes on a large area among defined origin/destination points (many to many). Zone service based on transfer routes towards predefined public interest points such as parking lots, railway stations, schools, hospitals, etc. ("many to few"). Scenario 4: Door to door free routes. The stops in the door to door service are non predefined as they are passenger specific points. This set of points is composed by all the possible requested places (usually the users places of residence and points of interests such as schools, shopping centres, hospitals, health centres). This service (door to door) is quite similar to taxi service; the exception is that there may be several destination doors before certain passengers own door. 19

20 The choice among these schemes depends on different options such as area geography, existing transport network, demand typology, residents typology, type of services, etc. In some case it is possible to use more than one scheme in order to satisfy the needs of different users typologies. The door to door service is clearly an extreme view of the PT service (unlimited and not predefined numbers of O/D points). This scheme could provide benefits only if applied to specific user categories (like disabled or elderly people) however limited. Figure 4 Basic service types for DRT layout The above mentioned service model can be articulated in a wide range of schemes (see Figure 5): Fixed corridor service with scheduled time and routing (conventional services) Semi fixed corridor service with fixed start/end points and intermediate points and deviations when requested by passengers Flexible corridor service with fixed start/end points and stops when requested by passengers within a transport corridor 20

21 Flexible area service with predefined stops when requested by passengers and fixed start/end points Flexible area service with predefined stops when requested by passengers, fixed start/end point and main stops with scheduled timetable of transit Flexible area service with predefined stops when requested by passengers or non predefined (doorstep) stops Integrated service schemes between conventional lines (scheduled time and routing) and DRT area Figure 5 Service models Operation Service Model Irrespective of the type of scheme implemented and the specific choices underlying the operational models adopted, the operation of the DRT service is usually organised in four main steps: 1 User calling the Travel Dispatch Centre (TDC) (trip booking) A user contacts the TDC (or the driver directly at the terminal) in order to book a trip. The users requests are submitted to the TDC operators. The user has to specify the desired departure or arrival time and the bus stop (meeting point) both for pick up and drop off stops. The TDC operator has to be able to locate a suitable nearest bus stop if the user cannot identify one. Trips can be booked up to a predefined time limit (e.g. 30 minutes, 15 minutes) before the requested time. 2 User requested parameters (pick up/drop off point, departure/arrival time) After the identification of customer journey parameters, the TDC operator has to input the data in the FTS planning and management server, in order to: (a) create a new trip, or (b) modify the existing trips, and carry on the negotiation phase with the user. 3 Service negotiation between the TDC operator and the user 21

22 The TDC operator obtains the possible trips meeting customer requirements from the FTS planning software and management server within tolerances in terms of (a) journey time and (b) routing. The results of the negotiation phase are the acceptance/refusal by the users of one of the proposed trips. 4 Confirmation, update and communication of trip variations to the driver After the user s acceptance, the TDC operator (or, automatically, the supporting FTS software system) updates the FTS trip database and communicates the trip variation (times, paths, users, etc) to the driver. The trip variations can be communicated to the driver by SMS/phone, by GPRS/UMTS network (mobile app) or sending data to the in vehicle terminal by GPRS. Figure 6 DRTs operational scheme In reality, the demand changes over time affects the service model to be applied in a specific area. This demand is at first stage defined during the stage A) of the context analysis and it evolution will be provided by the tools that support the DRT service operation that are able to monitoring the user bookings and classify the demand in terms of quantity and Origin/Destination flow (by reservation reporting). 22

23 From the point of view of booking the service it is possible to define three levels of service model and organisational structures. These levels are not mutually exclusive but could be complementary and used in the same area in different time periods. Level 1 Off line model The first structural level is provided by a totally off line service management. However some features of this model (booking modalities, time interval, confirmation, etc.) could be the same also for the other levels. The choice to act off line simplifies the operational procedures and allows an easy management of resources. The user is obliged to book his trip also if he is a frequent user over a certain time period (i.e. repeated trips over a week/month). The user could book the service also for a medium/long term. In this case it is necessary to have at least a confirmation by the user once a week. After closing the reception of bookings, the TDC can start the service programming for the following day, thus creating the scheduled duty (timing and routes) to be provided to the driver at the start of his daily service. Level 2 Mixed model This level allows the user to book the service during the same day for which they need a trip. The model is moving towards the on line service, with an increasing level of flexibility in the accessibility to the service for the users. The procedures defined for level 1 are still valid for the booking and management of the services for repeated trip. This level allows the user to book the service some minutes before the requested trip (this level of time frame is due to the performance of the available TDC software) during the same day. The trips (timetable and routes) created in the planning /programming phase (level 1) have a higher priority compared to the sporadic booking/requests made on the same day. The TDC operator should include the booked trip in the daily trip planning and should communicate to the driver the related modifications. At this level: in the TDC a skilled operator should be present both for managing the supporting tools and to negotiate the trip with the user; the driver should be equipped, at least, with a mobile phone or apps. Level 3 On line model The level 2 could evolve towards real time booking management. In this case, while the booking modalities could remain the same, the bus could be equipped with an In Vehicle Terminal (IVT) for the voice/data communication. Compared to level 2, technological support devices like IVR, smart phone or dedicated web portal can be used for better managing the user phone calls. ATTAC Reference: In Miskolc pilot, an unexpected high number of requests (209 over a total 1,237 reservations) has been made on web. 23

24 5. SYSTEM AND DEVICES Only DRT services with reduced complexity in terms of service area/network/number of vehicles and low volume in terms of user booking, number of trips and size of vehicle fleet would be manageable or even possible without the support of adequate ICT based tools. Usually the ICT based architecture supporting DRT operations are organised around the concept of a TDC, as the main technological and organisational resource supporting the management of all the main steps that the DRT production workflow can be broken into. Overall, the main elements of a generic DRT ICT architecture include (see Figure 7 below): The Travel Dispatch Centre, including several integrated software systems supporting the management of DRT service production operations (users request handling, trip booking, service planning, vehicle dispatching, vehicle communications, system data management); A communication system, usually based on public or private long range wireless telecommunication networks, supporting communication and information exchange (both data and voice) between the TDC and the DRT vehicles; In vehicle systems, installed on DRT vehicles to provide driver support functionalities during vehicle operations (e.g. dynamic journey information, route deviations, passenger information, driver/dispatcher messages); Several types of DRT user interfaces, enabling communication between the user and the TDC through different channels (e.g. phone, Internet, GSM/SMS, GPRS/UMTS). Figure 7 TDC Architecture This general architecture can be implemented in different ways and all existing DRT installations are realised through variations on this basic scheme. The implementation of such installations is made possible by a number of key enabling technologies, which allow the development of workable systems 24

25 able to support the operators (planners, dispatchers) in offering a sustainable transport system to their customers. The basic TDC architecture has to guarantee that different operators are able to manage different zones to be served and several bookings from different users and also to guarantee the correct running of all the monitoring and users information management. The basic TDC functionalities described in previous section can be implemented in different ways. Large part of existing TDC systems include the following hw/sw modules and ICT systems: Service Access Module; Dispatching workplaces (PCs or workstations) allowing TDC operators to serve trip booking, manage FTS planning, vehicle dispatching and (optionally) service tracking and monitoring; Database Management and Maintenance Module, hosting the different data sets used for FTS planning and operation (i.e. transport network data, fleet and vehicle data, customers data, service data, etc.); Bus Drivers Communication server to enable data exchange between the TDC and the vehicles In vehicle terminals and display units to support the driver GPS based vehicle location systems. Optionally an Internet server, providing Internet access to e.g. booking and trip information, users portal services, etc., together with a firewall and related secure access services. ATTAC Reference: In Miskolc pilot the driver uses a mobile application to request the information from the dispatcher centre regarding the buses assigned to him during a given period, information related to the pickup/drop off locations and the number of passengers getting on and getting off the bus. Additionally, the driver uses this application to record how many passengers got on the bus at a certain pickup location. The cell information of the mobile phone stored information in its database about the pickup/drop off locations where the bus eventually stopped. This data set could be the basis for the exact coordinates and times of vehicle tracking. One of the key future perspectives set out by the Burgas case study is the possibility of implementing a smart interactive travel info platform, integrating different functions for enhancing users accessibility to the overall mobility offer. One of these is the DRTs on line booking application. 25