Demand-responsive public transport connections

Summary

The municipality of Monza and the local public transport operator NET planned to implement a demand responsive service within the city that would use smaller vehicles to transport passengers from especially poorly served areas to areas connected to main line public transport services. The service had also to operate during off-peak periods to make public transport services more energy-efficient in periods of low demand.

Implementing sustainable mobility

Following some administrative difficulties due to the transfer of powers from the province of Milan to the province of Monza and Brianza, as well as very high costs, a reduced demand-responsive transport service (DRTS) has been implemented. The aim is to serve one particular district of the city of Monza and only in some situations, for example at big events such as concerts, sport events, summer shopping evenings, events for the Monza Patron Saint Fair and initiatives for the Grand Prix in September.

Progress

The  implementation of this measure has not followed what had been scheduled when ARCHIMEDES project was submitted.
During the research stage, a study had been undertaken in order to examine the different DRTS implemented in Italy, so to plan a suitable service for the city of Monza.

As a matter of fact, two very important changes happened during ARCHIMEDES lifetime which, acting as barriers, strongly influenced the achievement of the initial goals of the measure:

• the  merging between TPM, a PT company 100% owned by Comune of Monza, and NET, a PT company in which ATM (the company which runs the bus and the metro service in Milan) has a stake,  resulted in  a delay by NET  in devoting resources to the ARCHIMEDES project measures due to pressing administrative accomplishments following the merger.

• The start up of the administrative offices of the new Province of Monza and Brianza, which in 2009 replaced the Province of Milan in the management of the running PT contract, resulted in the lack of a referent for questions relating to public transport, since only on May 1st 2011 did the contract pass into the administration of Province of Monza.

This situation did not allow Comune of Monza to operate the amendment to the running contract for public transport in order to implement the service, replacing the night service with the DRTS.

For these reasons, it was decided to implement the measure in a reduced way, aimed at serving only one particular district of the city of Monza and only in particular situations, like important events in the city.

Outcomes

• Key result 1 - Considered the limited implementation achieved, also in terms of duration,  this experience has shown is that if people are offered an alternative to the use of their own car, especially in difficult traffic conditions and in off –peak hours, they are willing to test it, so in future it will be possible, with a suitable feasibility study, to implement a DRTS in Monza.

• Key result 2 – There has not been a relevant perception of awareness of the measure between citizens, in spite of a strong information campaign, which has been activated through all possibile communication channels used by the Municipality (website, SMS, Facbook page, press releases).

• Key result 3 – In spite of this, people expected the service to be reliable, easily accessible and safe. This means that people would appreciate a DRTS if it was implemented according to their expectations. This result can be considered a good starting point for the implementation of a traditional DRTS.