sunrise project: fms to increase the sustainable...

THE SUNRISE PROJECT: FLEXIBLE MOBILITY SERVICES TO INCREASE THE SUSTAINABLE MOBILITY AND SOCIAL COHESION IN THE EUROPEAN REGIONS

G.Ambrosino, S.Vegni

ATAF SpA, Florence (IT) A. Naniopoulos

University of Thessaloniki (GR) J.Brake

University of Newcastle (UK) 1. INTRODUCTION The paper presents the approach and results obtained by the SUNRISE project developed from 2004 to 2006 under the European programme INTERREG III C SOUTH. The reference context of SUNRISE is the flexible transport services and in particular the Demand Responsive Transport service a segment of public transport positioned between the conventional public transport service (fixed line and fixed time) and taxi (door to door) service operated in marginal areas and time period and for different citizens groups. SUNRISE studied and realised DRT services in six different areas and regions of Europe and promoted the DRT services as a tool to enforce the social cohesion of people and area by increasing the overall transport system accessibility. In the first part of the paper the DRT background and approach is described while the central key part provide a general view of the approach and results of SUNRISE focusing on the different services developed or studied in the six sites. Finally some considerations on the methodology applied for the comparative evaluation of the sites results and specific conclusion are provided at the end of the paper. 2. BACKGROUND The transport sector is the only major sector in Europe whose negative environmental impacts and energy requirements continue to grow. Despite advances in fuel efficiency and engine technology at the level of the individual vehicle, the total energy consumption increases and the quality of environment get worse. In old towns the main travel pattern was simple, the biggest need for transport was from housing areas to industrial areas and downtown. In the European Union countries, in thirty years from 1970 to 2000 the modal share of the car has increased by 4.5% from 73.8% to 78.3% while the public transport modal share has decreased by 8.7% from 24.6% to 15.9%.

©Association for European Transport and contributors 2006

This has a great effect on the destination selection and, in this sense, it has greatly diminished the possibilities of the conventional (regular) public transport to satisfy the travel needs. In rural and peri-urban areas, the situation is still more unfavourable. The collective transport service has been greatly reduced in these areas, or totally withdrawn in recent decades, because of the low usage by citizens compared to the cost. This means that even car users who might be willing to consider collective transport service, find it unattractive and unsuitable to their needs. Since approximately 40% of the EU citizens live in rural or peri-urban areas, this means that a very large proportion of the total travel demand in the EU countries, continues to be made by private car without a reasonable alternative, and therefore the associated and environment impacts can not be reduced. The situation is still more unsuitable if we think that the level of European citizens with reduced mobility or elderly people are still increasing. It represents a major crisis in relation to environment, transportation and social policy within the European Union. It is also highly relevant outside the EU [Ambrosino G, et All (2003) The Agency for Flexible Mobility Services on the move]. 2.1 Service accessibility for low demand areas and citizens groups with mobility difficulties The obstacles to the transport service utilisation for people with mobility difficulties or living in low demand transport areas/regions concern two main aspects of the service itself:

• obtaining the service (how to access it for specific users categories, in marginal urban, rural areas, during night hours, etc.);

• utilisation of the service once it has been obtained. It consists in the elimination of physical barriers for access to vehicles (i.e. low-floor vehicles), along the path from the initial origin to the bus stop (i.e. sidewalks with special slides, surveillance to avoid vehicles obstructing the bus stop).

For the second aspect relevant measures have been already undertaken, even if still much work has to be done. The first aspect concerns the way to obtain the service by specific vulnerable users categories, thus involving flexible transport services that can be provided to the users according to their specific needs (people with mobility difficulties, elderly, people affected by some temporary or permanent disease, etc.) and to the characteristics of the areas (urban suburbs, rural/mountain areas, night hours, etc). This aspect involves both the knowledge of users needs and the typology of service provided (door-to-door, path deviation, service on demand, etc.). Under this perspective SUNRISE aimed to face this aspect, however strictly related to the second one in the overall issues of service accessibility for everybody. Moreover, the availability of different Information and Communication technologies (ICT) has radically improved the possibilities to provide personalised transport services (like DRTs), both in terms of interface with the


potential customers, optimisation and assignment to meet the travel requests, and in service management. This has been achieved by using advanced ICT applications and mobile communication platforms. SUNSIRE work also on this aspect in order to better understanding of both the needs of the users and the potential markets has stimulated new service concepts based on flexibility of services, communications, booking and reservation functions, and customer support. 2.2 DRT Systems / Services During the last years, DRT services have shown important advantages and benefits in several European cities and regions as innovative measures complementary to the conventional, scheduled passenger transport, serving dispersed mobility needs, either during hours of low demand, in areas of low population, or where the target users are dispersed among the general population (e.g. elderly & disabled, students, tourists, etc.). The viability of DRTs and information and communication technologies supporting these services were shown successfully in several EU R&D projects, of the IV and VFP (Framework Programme). At this point, it is necessary the exploitation of results, experiments and practices accumulated in the preceding projects to implement and try out DRT concepts in several European areas, to estimate its effects in terms of mobility, social cohesion, protection of environment, and to collect good practices and results for dissemination. DRT services provide a possibility of local mobility and as well a connection to the conventional methods of transport. In this role, DRT is seen like one of the possibilities of transport being part of a range of solutions for intermediate transport, and functioning like a later layer between the conventional public transport and private transport. Even if well succeeded, until now DRT services were applied like an isolated element from the total chain of transport. In the majority of the cases, DRT services were or are carried out like only one method, by only one operator, without any integration with the other modes of transport. However, the gained experience shows a high potential to improve the DRT applications and the adoption on vast scale of these concepts, models and technologies. 3. SUNRISE PROJECT SUNRISE (CohéSion sociale dans les zones UrbaiNes/Rurales basée sur services collectifs de mobilité InnovateurS et durablEs), was a 24 months European project (1 June 2004 – 31 May 2006) part-financed by the INTERREG IIIC SOUTH Programme and involved seven partners from six different European regions (Greece: “Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh)”; Italy: “Florence Metropolitan Area Public Transport Company (ATAF)” and “Carrara Avenza Transport Company (CAT)”; Ireland: “Ring a Link (RAL)”; Slovakia: “Bratislava Transport Company (DPB)”; Spain: “Municipality of Terrassa”; United Kingdom: “University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UNEW)”.). It was conceptually based on the


results and experiences of previous EU Research and Development (R&D) projects (FAMS, SAMPO, SAMPLUS, VIRGIL, INVETE, etc.) in order to bring R&D solutions in real environment and to increase the overall transport services accessibility for various citizens’ categories. SUNRISE main objective was to increase sustainable development and social cohesion in the European regions by the implementation and promotion of DRT services in urban and rural areas covering six European countries. Moreover, it was concerned with the enrichment of DRT services under several aspects:

• various methods and areas (e.g. services for the generic public transport in the areas or the hours with a low demand, special services for particular categories of users, etc.);

• different operational schemes (e.g. door-to-door, collective, etc.); • different channels of information and procedures of reservation (e.g.

individual telephone, Internet, users or groups); • various fleet operators.

The SUNRISE project supported the cooperation on DRT schemes among six European regions, in order to improve the accessibility to transport services for all categories of citizens, promote the exchange of experiences and transfer of good practices between transport operators. The difference and innovation of the SUNRISE approach compared to the preceding relevant to DRT EU projects is that it passes from R&D to practice, from immaturity to maturity. 3.1 Objectives SUNRISE worked at two interrelated levels aimed the following objectives:

• to transfer the experiences already achieved in the previous EU R&D projects to real operational applications in SURNISE; transfer the knowledge achieved under SUNRISE to different European regions through the dissemination of results and collection of SUNRISE good practices;

• to realize feasibility studies and DRT applications projects in different sites evaluating the role of DRT services in terms of sustainability and mobility impacts.

These objectives was reached by SUNRISE Consortium following well defined actions and tasks, with an efficient technical approach and a set of clear responsibilities for each partner. 3.2 Approach and results The SUNRISE project introduced a regional cooperation of DRT service in order to improve the accessibility to transport services for all the categories of citizens and to promote economic development, social cohesion and equality within different European regions. Previous and good experiences in DRT services, developed by some SUNRISE partners, was used to make a DRT services


implementation in the different SUNRISE local sites, and their related evaluation for the diffusion at European level. The SUNRISE approach allowed each site involved in SUNRISE to operate locally in “vertical” actions in the framework of its local, baseline project. In addition, in some sites an operational validation of DRT services have been carried out in order to use these results in the estimation of the contributions of DRT concepts to environment, sustainability, equity, and social cohesion objectives. At the same time, the SUNRISE approach was designed to allow “horizontal” activities across the sites where the relevant partners and experts contribute to the project level activities, and to exchange experiences and best practices among the partners’ sites. This approach ensured the following results that were closed related to the different activities carried out in the project: According to the SUNRISE objectives, the following results have been achieved during the project life:

• exchange of experiences and knowledge on DRT services and methods through three tutorial courses on different aspects of DRT services (DRT Design Methodology”, “DRT Tools”, “SUNRISE DRT Experiences”);

• realization of feasibility studies for DRT services in all SUNRISE sites (Florence-Careggi area, Massa-Carrara and Lunigiana area, Terrassa, Carrick on Suir-Kilkenny, Thessaloniki, Kalvaria-Bratislava) and transfer to these of the planning, operational and organisational experience gained about DRT by some SUNRISE partners (ATAF, RAL);

• implementation of DRT services in four SUNRISE sites (Massa-Carrara and Lunigiana, Terrassa, Carrick on Suir-Kilkenny, Thessaloniki), including applications, data gathering and assessing of the impacts of DRT services (from ICT tools to mobility impacts, social cohesion, etc. );

• comparative assessment of technologies, organisational/business models and implementation contexts, based on a common Measurements and Evaluation Framework which allowed the impacts of each of the feasibility study and application to be properly measured and analysed with respect to European dimensions;

• assistance to the Local Authority and Transport Operators in the different SUNRISE sites in defining, operating and evaluating the DRT solutions and respect the characteristics of area and user groups characteristics;

• collection of knowledge and best practice on DRT services operation and implementation in a specific handbook;

• dissemination of SUNRISE results and approach. Production of information material to support the Decision Makers for the deployment and use DRTs; attendance to National and European conferences presenting SUNRISE project; final SUNRISE international conference in Thessaloniki.


4. THE SUNRISE SERVICES IN OPERATION The SUNRISE new services (DRT Applications), realized and operated in the pilot sites, are briefly described in the following. Massa Carrara and Lunigiana area (Tuscany Region – Italy) CAT (the SUNRISE partner providing public transport service in this area) carried out a feasibility study for DRT service implementation in the suburban mountain area around the city of Massa and has implemented four different DRT applications in the Massa and Carrara suburban area, Massa and Carrara urban area (night service) and Lunigiana area. The study area involves the north-eastern suburban area of Massa, in the north-western border of Tuscany. This area has been selected on the basis of the requirements defined by Public Authorities (Municipality and province of Massa) in the call for tendering the public transport services management in the administrative boundaries of the province. The DRT area is 60 kmq, poorly inhabited (total of around 4,.000 people), covered by a series of small villages (9 main hamlets: Mirteto, Bergiola Maggiore, Castagnara, Forno, Resceto, Casette, Pariana, Altagnana, Antona) and also includes the urban area surrounding Romagnano at the northern boundary of the city. The main CAT objectives in SUNRISE were providing the identified zones by DRTs in low-demand hours (combined conventional to flexible public transport service), increasing the transport accessibility in some settlements of Lunigiana and implement the public transport services if not available (i.e. night service). The services started in January 2006. Figure 1 shows the area of the service and vehicles typology used.

Figure 1 Area and vehicles of CAT DRT service

The four different DRT service have been activated as follows:


DRT Area Service typology Before SUNRISE In SUNRISE

Carrara suburban Area

Feeder, many to many, off-line and on-line booking

Feasibility study and implementation Pilot site

Massa suburban Area

Feeder, many to many, off-line and on-line booking

Feasibility study, implementation and pilot site

Carrara and Massa urban area (night service)

Night service to/from railways stations, many to many, off-line booking

Feasibility study and implementation Pilot site

Lunigiana Service to/from railway stations, many to many, off-line booking

Experimental

Table 1 CAT DRT services operational schemes

Thessaloniki (Kentriki Makedonia – Greece) SUNRISE partner for Thessaloniki area has been the University of Thessaloniki, AUTh, that cooperated together with the Municipality of Thessaloniki and the local Transport Company (OASTh), to provide flexible transport service to people with disabilities. In details AUTh purpose was to contribute to the accessibility to the public transport service by people with disabilities and in this sense two pilot applications started under SUNRISE project: first one was the reengineering of an existing transport service for people with disabilities, named AINEIAS, and developed with the support of the Thessaloniki Municipality; the second one has been the establishment of a new DRT service dedicated to people with disabilities of the greater area of Thessaloniki operated by OASTh and in collaboration with the local transport Authority (SASTh). Both DRT services are dedicated to people with disabilities but focusing, to a certain extent, on different target groups. Following figures shows the OASTh DRT service in operation and AINEIAS Travel Dispatch Centre (TDC) during the training for the operators.

Figure 2 OAST DRT service and AINEIAS TDC in operation


AINEIAS service was established in 1996 and since then it works servicing two main groups of people with disabilities of the Municipality of Thessaloniki:

• Wheelchair users • People with cognitive impairments

There are five vehicles in total for this service: three (3) old special vehicles, existed from the past (6 seated and 2 wheelchairs) and two (2) new special vehicles obtained at the beginning of the project, that have carried three wheelchair users with their escorts. The two new vehicles replaced two old ones, which are used as backup vehicles. There are 5 drivers (accompanied by 5 escorts) and the service time table is from 7.00am to 8.30pm continuously. The area covered by the service is the Municipality of Thessaloniki and also some areas of the Thessaloniki’s urban complex. It is estimated that annually AINEIAS buses complete approximately 8.000-9.000 trips. The optimisation of the service and the integration of the two new vehicles set the base for future extension of the service. OASTh DRT service started in April 2005 and serves primarily people with mobility impairments and other people with special needs, mainly blind. The service is free of charge and covers the entire Thessaloniki urban complex, using two vehicles from 6.00am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday and 8.00am to 3.00pm on Sundays; the service operates with two accessible buses with 4 spaces with secure belts for the wheelchair users, four seats for their escorts and a lift. Terrassa (Cataluna – Spain) The city of Terrassa is located 40 km away from Barcelona. It is an important city of Catalonia in terms of population and services; thus, it attracts a considerable number of commuters and creates a high mobility level. The administrative departments of the Terrassa City Council, partner in SUNRISE, are located in the city centre where the traffic congestion is very high in some hours of the day. To contribute to the reduction of the traffic congestion in this area, the Terrassa Municipality carried out a feasibility study and developed a “Car Pooling” service under SUNRISE for the workers of the City Council. The new flexible transport service started in November 2005 after the setting of the software that searches the optimal routes and gathers drivers/passengers for Car Pooling. The registration by users is done through the web site www.sunrise-terrassa.org (Figure 3). Each user registers in it, detailing his preferred role (driver, passenger, indifferent), schedules and origin and final destination addresses. The system then searches for available existing routes and/or new possible ones. If a group is found, a message is sent to the driver of that group to know if a new passenger is allowed. The answer is then sent to the new registered user. In case no group is found for the new registered user, an email is sent to him/her informing that he/she is in the waiting list. On the other hand, if the new registered user can form a new group, the rest of potential users are contacted via email and, if confirmation, a new group is created.


http://www.sunrise-terrassa.org/

http://www.sunrise-terrassa.org/

Figure 3 Terrassa Car pooling website

The schedule is totally flexible as it depends on each group. They organise their time in relation to their working schedules and their routes. So routes and stops are flexible depending on each route and each driver’s decision. However, the system is careful about avoiding illogical routes (e.g. going backwards to pick up a passenger) and it recommends choosing safe sites to make the pick up points (e.g. not on the edge of a motorway). There are not any specific vehicles; users travel with their own private car. Carrick on Suir – Kilkenny (Southern and Eastern Ireland) RAL is a no-profit organization that aim to ensure adequate transport for all rural residents in Counties Kilkenny, Carlow and South Tipperary. RAL operated, at the beginning of the project, 4 * 14 seat minibuses and hires 5 private operators to carry out its services throughout the 3 municipal authority areas of Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary. The company operates 139 different vehicle journeys each week, all services are DRT and “door-to-door”, all passengers book in advance and the current passengers profile is 67% female and 33% male. In Ireland there is a system whereby retired people and some other sections of the population are awarded Free Travel Passes, which means that they can be carried on any licensed transport service entirely free of charge. 57% of Ring a Link’s passengers are carried under the Free Travel Pass scheme. Under SUNRISE project RAL launched a DRT service from the hinterland villages north of Carrick on Suir (Kilkenny County). The application area is located in the south east of Ireland and lies to the north of the town of Carrick-on-Suir. The area is approximately 150 kmq, and the population is 1,350, giving a density 8 to 9 per km2. The area consists of 9 small villages ranging in population from 400 to about 50. The land use is mainly cattle


and arable production in the lowland and cattle and forestry in the higher land. There is no industry in the area The new DRT service started in July 2005 and it mainly serves elderly people as usual for the other existing services.

Figure 4 Location of Carrick-on-Suir, Ireland

11 trips each day for the 6 days are operated by RAL in the area which is divided into two zones, East and West. Figure 5 shows the service time table.

Timetable 0700 – 0800 0800 – 0900

Servicing both zones (East and West)*

East Zone West Zone

0900 – 1000 1000 – 1100 1100 – 1200 1200 – 1300 1400 – 1500 1500 – 1600 1600 – 1700

1700 – 1800 1800 – 1900

Servicing both zones (East and West)* (*These times are commuter times.)

Figure 5 Timetable for Carrick-on-Suir service, Ireland

4.1 The feasibility study sites Florence and Bratislava sites carried out a feasibility study under SUNRISE project as possible DRTs that local Authorities could set up in the future. Firenze (Tuscany Region – Italy) ATAF developed a feasibility study within the context of the SUNRISE project and then a service, concerning the mobility, accessibility and transport service for the Careggi Hospital Centre (CHC). The feasibility study aimed to provide an


overall description of the accessibility and mobility in the area in order to verify the possibility of setting up a Flexible Transport System in the area of the new Careggi Hospital Centre (CHC). The study was mainly addressed to the connection of the Hospital with the railway station of Firenze Rifredi.

Figure 6 The railway network in Firenze

The examination of the CHC data has spanned two months. The analysis of the mobility offer and mobility demand provided a wide description of the mobility in the CHC area, also taking into account the remarkable transformations that are occurring during the study in the entire area covering different aspects of mobility infrastructures such as parking lots, tramway lines and bus lines. Looking at the overall mobility offer, it is possible to say that the north western part of Florence, where the CHC is located, is an area with a very high density of population and with many public functions that are very attractive in terms of mobility. In the area of Careggi, the increased number of trains offered in this part of the metropolitan area has brought along a new interest for the second main station of Rifredi, such as developing the possibility of using more than one mode to travel in the overall area. ATAF created a new scheduled bus line to connect the Rifredi railway station with the CHC (Line R) as a result of SUNRISE. This new line could represent a basis on which to “build” a flexible service in the Careggi area (Figure 7).


Figure 7 Possible “flexible” extensions for Line R, Firenze

On the basis of this data analysis, the operation of a DRT service would not be necessary in an urban area such as the Careggi area. In fact the most successful DRT services experiences, for ATAF in terms of operating results, management, picked up passengers and customer satisfaction are developed in rural (Province of Cremona) or suburban contexts (Campi Bisenzio, Crema). In details ATAF manages three flexible transport services in the Firenze Metropolitan Area:

1. DRTs in urban area of Campi Bisenzio (“many to many”). The service started in 1997 and it is the most successful ATAF experience on DRTs in terms of service accessibility, and users satisfaction;

2. DRTs in Porta Romana district (flexible timetable, no flexible routes); 3. DRTs for disabled people (“door to door”).

Bratislava (Bratislavsky – Slovakia) In collaboration with ATAF, DBP carried out a feasibility study to implement a DRT service in Kalvária. The zone of Kalvária is an hilly district located in Stare Mesto City part close to the inner city. Kalvária was selected as the area for the study mainly because there were not public transport service at the beginning of the study inside the area and people would have perceived the DRT service as giving added value. Further, people who are living in Kalvária had to catch two trolleys bus to reach the zone of Kramare hospital, the nearest hospital to the study area.


Figure 8 Area of Kalvária and example of Kalvária street

On the basis of the overall considerations and a small use of financial resources in the initial (“testing”) phase, a DRT service with the following general characteristics were proposed in the study:

1. Service operated by one bus along the routes indicated in the map; from Monday to Friday from 9 to 12am and from 3 to 8pm; no service during holiday days.

2. Off-line service management. 3. Travel Dispatch Centre opening time from 2 to 5 pm; booking within 5 pm of

the day before the requested trip. 5. COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT Site results have been analysed by UNEW (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) that carried out a Comparative Assessment of the sites in terms of technologies, service models, organizational and operational aspects, site characteristics, economic features, environmental and social benefits of the DRTs implementation. UNEW firstly developed a Common Evaluation Plan identifying some indicators that have been used to measure site performance according to three Assessment Categories. The Assessment categories and related indicators are the following:

• Economic Viability (Indicators: Operational characteristics, Travel Dispatch Centre, Drivers, Vehicles, Statutory providers, Political viewpoint);

• Social Benefit (Indicators: Service characteristics, Operator characteristics, TDC booking characteristics, Passenger characteristics, Passenger information and marketing, Statutory providers, Political viewpoint;


• Technical Performance (Indicators: System speed, System acceptance, Telecommunications)

By the methodology the SUNRISE local sites objectives and results have been compared and an example of evaluation is indicated in the schemes below:

Figure 9 Economic Viability objectives for each site

Figure 10 Social Benefit objectives for each site

Figure 11 : Technical Performance objectives for each site

Further details could be find out in SUNRISE deliverable no. D5 [Brake, J. (2006) Results Cross Site Evaluation, SUNRISE deliverable). 6. CONCLUSIONS The SUNRISE approach and results, have been relevant for the INTERREG III C Programme promoting Europe-wide cooperation among regions and municipalities mainly in transfer and exchange of information, knowledge and good practices on the DRT services. From one side developing and increasing DRT services, SUNRISE project has contributed to the evolution of the main EU policies, including:

• improving personal mobility reducing social exclusion; • promoting integrated and intermodal solutions in urban and small towns; • reducing private traffic by favouring modal shift towards an advanced,

attractive passenger transport;



• reducing the adverse effects of congestion and the associated energy consumption, noise and emissions;

• contributing to economic development and employment; • providing cost effectively commuting possibilities both for the staff and the

passengers. From the other side the SUNRISE applications have individuated a new context of intervention and cooperation for these services in consolidating the concept of “Agency” for Flexible Transport services, as developed in R&D Framework by IST – FAMS project, in order to not only answer to the different needs of mobility demand but also to support different operational models and service provision schemes personalized to the area characteristics and the involved resources [Ambrosino G, et All (2003) The Agency for Flexible Mobility Services on the move]. 7. REFERENCES Ambrosino, G.; Nelson, J.D.; Romanazzo, M. Eds. (2004) Demand Responsive Transport Services: Towards the Flexible Mobility Agency, Vol. published ENEA Rome. Ambrosino, G. et al. (2005) “The Agency for Flexible Mobility Services on the move”, VFP IST Programme – FAMS project. Brake, J. (2005) Common Evaluation Plan, SUNRISE deliverable. Brake, J. (2006) Results Cross Site Evaluation, SUNRISE deliverable. Dossier de Candidature (2002) – SUNRISE Application form. Naniopoulos, A.; Brake, J. Eds. (2006) Good practices handbook SUNRISE deliverable. Naniopoulos, A.; Nalmpantis, D.; Ambrosino, G. Eds. (2005) The Contribution of Flexible Transport Services to Economic Development and Social Inclusion, paper for 20th Polis Conference Paris 2005. SUNRISE Consortium (2006) – SUNRISE Final Report.

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