Fewer bus routes, more departures
In June 2005 Skånetrafiken launched the totally new bus route system in Malmö, the idea behind it was to create a simpler system with only eight main routes and a lot more departures. With the new system travellers can leave the timetable at home, because the bus is always only a few minutes away. The new bus route system didn’t come as a surprise to the citizens of Malmö. Before the new bus route system was launched an advertising campaign was targeted to the citizens of Malmö targeting different housing areas with letters and press advertisments
Malmo could see in their evaluation that the personal letters sent out to the different housing areas with information related to their special bus routes had a very good breakthrough. On the first day of the new bus routes system Malmo had information staff on all the key spots in Malmö, says Anna Bertram, Head of Market and Communications at Skånetrafiken.Before the transformation of the bus route system there were a large number of different bus routes, some of them running the same way in the beginning and splitting up at the end of the route and vice versa. The main focus of the new bus route system was to make the bus routes easier to understand and therefore lead to more passengers.By running the new main bus routes as straight as possible between the big transportation goals in the city centre and the main housing areas, a smoother and faster system was created. To reach the remote parts of Malmö the eight main bus routes were accompanied by six “plus” bus routes that travel the areas between the other routes and housing areas.Directly after the new bus route system was introduced the numbers of passengers did not rise as much as Skånetrafiken had wanted. However, during January 2006 there has been quite a high increase in passengers which makes the prognosis for the future good.(Photo: Kasper Dudzik)
