Mobility 2.0 services

Summary

The City of Palma created an online platform, MobiPalma, which integrates mobility-related information. It provides real-time information on buses, the Bicipalma public bike scheme, current and forecast traffic situation, available parking spaces and an intermodal route planner. In addition, new channels of communication with citizens were opened up through the use of social media.

Implementing sustainable mobility

The platform aims at increasing the attractiveness of sustainable mobility options by providing real time information and adopting new technologies. The platform is the result of collaboration between the Palma mobility department and the public companies EMT (urban bus operators) and SMAP (exploitation of public bike system and public parking). The platform facilitates interaction with citizens through social networks.

The main objective of this measure was to increase the attractiveness of sustainable mobility for the so-called 'digital natives' by:

• Providing citizens with one integrated information platform on mobility accessible through the internet at www.mobipalma.es and via a downloadable app for smartphones equipped with iOS and Android
• Facilitating the introduction of paying with mobile phones for on-street parking
• Creating social network groups for regular customers of EMT Palma and encouraging passengers to provide user generated content
• Increasing the quantity and quality of user feedback to improve local policies on sustainable urban transport.

Progress

Before the CIVITAS DYN@MO project, the city already had a traffic control centre providing real-time information on congestion to influence route choices on the roads around the historic city centre, and was using macro and micro traffic models fed by automated traffic counts to develop and evaluate its mobility policies. The urban public transport company EMT provided real-time bus departure information at bus stops. On the website of the public transport company there already was a public transport route planner available as well.

During the preparation phase of the measure the following tasks were executed:

• Design of the user interface and the integration of the information systems
• Development of the application for the availability of the nearest public bicycle (measure P1.2)
• Development of the online viewer of accessibility (related to healthy walking routes measure P1.2)
• Further development and integration of the information system on congestion and traffic cameras to support route choices by car drivers in the CIVITAS area
• Integration of existing public transport information system
• Integration of new public parking information system (developed in measure P3.2)
• Integration of a multimodal travel planner
• Integration of social media: Twitter and Facebook
• Study on legal and practical implications of loading citizen card data on mobile phones, making it possible for customers to pay for their bus trip with their mobile phone

Implementation & demonstration

The MobiPalma mobile app and platform provides real-time, geo-located information on traffic conditions, location and occupancy level of parking lots and public bicycle stations, and information on the EMT Palma public bus network. The application is compatible with iOS and Android devices (both smartphones and tablets). 

In the implementation phase the following tasks were carried out:

• Payment for street parking via a smartphone application in April 2014
• Establishment of social network groups for EMT and healthy walking routes
• Launch of the CIVITAS DYN@MO mobility platform in January 2015, updated in March and May 2015. To download the App click on: Apple iOS (http://mobipalma.mobi/iOS) or Android (http://mobipalma.mobi/Android)
• Availability of the application in English, German, Spanish and Catalan
• During 2016 the App has been improved with information about taxis, inter-modality, charging points, free parkings and trip planning.
• As requested by users, the App became accessible for visual impaired citizens.
• EMT (public bus Company) has created an advertising campaign for the App on its website

Outcomes

Tangible outputs:

• Establishment of integrated mobility platform
• EMT social network groups established (Facebook and Twitter)
• In august 2016 EMT had 2515 Facebook followers and 2566 in Twitter
• Payment of on-street parking through mobile phones

Expected outcomes in the short- to medium-term:

• 1,000 daily users of the mobility platform during the first year after full implementation
• 2,500 daily users by the end of the DYN@MO project
• 500 people subscribed to the user groups of the bus lines
•  

Expected outcomes in the mid- to long-term:

• Shift towards more sustainable transport