1 INTRODUCTION *

1.1 The SIPTS Project *

1.2 Scope of the User Needs Analysis *

1.3 Identification of the SIPTS Validation Site *

2 DEMAND RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT CONCEPTS *

2.1 The need for DRT Services *

2.2 The DRT Concepts *

3 GENERAL USER NEEDS *

3.1 User Groups and Categories *

3.2 User Needs *

4 LOCAL USER NEEDS *

4.1 User groups identification and their characteristics *

4.2 Surveys – methodology and implementation *

4.3 Results of the Local User Needs Analysis *

5 CRITICAL FACTORS OF A SUCCESSFUL DRT SYSTEM *

6 FINAL REMARKS *

This Deliverable reports on outputs of the User Needs Analysis for the SIPTS Project (Services for Intelligent Public transport systems, DG XIII - TEN45607). It will establish the different User Groups and Categories for whom Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) is relevant, and provide a description of their characteristics. It will report on the transport-related requirements of each of these user categories based on the previous DRT projects and SIPTS field survey work. The requirements are identified on a general (common to all DRT systems) level and on a local level based on the opinions of the SIPTS User Group in the Jakobstad region.

The main objective of the SIPTS project is to carry out a study phase including commercial validation and piloting of a new, effective low-cost, open architecture telematics DRT application in the Jakobstad region in Finland. This will be done by furthering the use of DRT systems and applications and by developing a new pilot system utilising appropriate modules of existing and emerging technologies. On the other hand, the SIPTS project aims to make public transport more attractive, more readily available and better able to meet the requirements of passengers with special needs. The project will develop and demonstrate the new DRT application and carry out validation and evaluation activities.

Chapter 1 of this deliverable provides an introduction to the SIPTS Project in general, presents the objectives of the user needs analysis and gives a presentation of the validation site in the Jakobstad region.

Chapter 2 justifies the need for demand responsive transport services. DRT services are filling in the gap between relatively cheap conventional bus transport with fixed routes and on-demand taxi transport which is more expensive to the end users. This chapter also describes the main concepts of DRT provision which are dependent either on service area or stability of the stops, routes and timetables.

Chapter 3 identifies the different User Groups and User Categories which are relevant to DRT. The User Groups can be classified as End Users, Operators, Authorities and Active Destinations. Each of the User Groups has been further divided into User Categories. This chapter also reports the core needs of each User Group concerning DRT systems. This information was used as a base line for the local user needs analysis in the SIPTS Validation site.

Chapter 4 describes the user needs identified at the SIPTS Validation Site in the Jakobstad region. First the different User Groups and Categories at the site are described. Then the methodology used in the analysis is explained. Finally the core results of the analysis are reported.

Chapter 5 presents the list of issues that should be considered before implementing a new DRT service concept. These critical issues which have arisen from the previous projects have been classified into Institutional and organisational issues, Operational issues, Technological issues, Business case and User acceptance.

Many citizens find that their mobility has been reduced because they do not have access to adequate transportation services at a reasonable cost. There may be several reasons for this, of which the most noticeable are:

Several authorities in the EU member states have already recognised the need to improve mobility for their citizens in an equal and cost-efficient way. This need has led to the development of new Demand Responsive Transport Services (DRTS) which aim to meet the needs of users for additional transport supply. The use of flexible public transport services, where routes, departure times, vehicles and even operators, can be matched to the identified demand allows a more user-oriented and cost effective approach to transport supply.

In some European countries local authorities have introduced flexible public transport and demand responsive services that have proved to be most popular among users, and thus support the retention of citizens in their every day environment. The pilots for DRT systems were developed during projects such as SAMPO (DGXIII-C6, Telematics Application Programme, TR1046, System for Advanced Management of Public transport Operations). However, more research and development work and new alternative telematics applications for DRT are required, because in rural areas of low population density, DRT applications should be ‘smaller’ than the systems developed so far. They should be easy to use and readily available to a wide range of potential users. The price of the telematics applications has to be very reasonable. If these preconditions can be fulfilled there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of municipalities all over Europe that could use these applications to fill in the gap between individual taxi transport and conventional public transport.

The SIPTS project aims at fulfilling the expectations of the DRT market by developing a new low cost DRT application which will be based on open architecture and mainly existing and emerging components of a DRT system. To create a successful DRT service concept the project will implement a thorough feasibility phase to describe the services and telematics tools to be developed and piloted in the SIPTS Validation.

The main objective of the SIPTS project is to carry out a study phase including commercial validation and piloting of a new effective, low-cost telematics DRT application in the Jakobstad region in Finland. This will be done by furthering the use of DRT systems and applications and by developing a new pilot system utilising appropriate modules of existing and emerging telematics systems and applications On the other hand the SIPTS project aims to make public transport more attractive, more readily available and better able to meet the requirements of those with special needs.

The SIPTS project Validation Site is located in the Jakobstad region in Western Finland. The site consists of four municipalities: Jakobstad, Larsmo, Pedersöre and Nykarleby. The decisive centre of the region is Jakobstad. Apart from the town of Jakobstad, the municipalities are very sparsely populated – a feature characteristic of Finnish municipalities. Altogether the Validation Site has some 42 000 inhabitants spread over an area of 2300 km². The location of the SIPTS Validation Site is shown in figure 1 and the number and density of population in figure 2.

Public transport services in the district are based on the regional bus routes (mainly school transport), service lines in the town of Jakobstad, supporting on-demand taxi services in the rural areas, a train connection from the Bennäs station and the domestic airport in the municipality of Kronoby.

Traditional bus transport serves the district comprehensively especially along the corridors of main roads. In addition to bus transport, the municipalities offer a taxi transport service at normal public transport fare in the rural areas that are beyond reach of bus services. Often these taxis have fixed routes. It is also common that taxis depart only if there have been at least two orders from passengers.

The train connection from the Bennäs railway station is very important to the district because it provides departures to the larger towns in Finland (including the capital) along the Finnish Main Track. There are 8 departures a day both to the north heading to Oulu and Rovaniemi and to the south heading to Tampere and Helsinki. There is also a bus feeder service to the railway station. Practically all departures and arrivals are served with the feeder transport connection to the centre of Jakobstad .

The Kronoby Airport is located some 30 km east of the town of Jakobstad. It has been among the Finnish growth leaders in recent years in terms of number of passengers. The renovated and expanded passenger terminal opened in 1997 with more space for check-in, waiting areas and a cafe. The airport provides 6 flights a day to Helsinki and to Stockholm via Vaasa. There is also an on-demand taxi feeder service from the airport to the centre of Jakobstad.

During the autumn of 1998 a new public transport service was introduced in the town of Jakobstad, where previously there had been no local (internal) public transport. Two service lines named VIPPARE (name derived from the abbreviation V.I.P.) were introduced to meet in particular the transportation needs of the elderly and the disabled. These lines are operated by the local bus company using low-floor minibuses. There are also special assistants in the vehicles who help passengers to get off and on and carry their luggage. Tickets prices are the same as in the normal/standard public transport even if the service operates nearly on a door-to-door basis.

After a short period of time it has become evident that it will be difficult to enlarge the VIPPARE service without the help of advanced telematics solutions. The key problems are operations in the Travel Dispatch Center (TDC) where the capacity of the current software for tour and transportation planning is limited. On the other hand, communication in vehicles could be managed with On-Board Units (OBUs) instead of mobile phones. The system is operating properly today, but the limits for growth have been reached.

Widening the service lines to neighbouring municipalities (Larsmo, Pedersöre and Nykarleby) is one of the key objectives of the site. The basic idea is to plan and manage the new DRT service across municipality borders. The four municipalities constitute one unity in terms of a transportation area.

Experiences in other Finnish municipalities have shown that there is a potential for savings in those municipalities where the personal trips conceded by law to elderly and disabled persons have been transferred to service lines. This is also one of the goals of the new DRT system in the Jakobstad region. In addition to savings, the service lines have positive effects on quality of life of the special user groups because they support their independent initiatives and mobility.

In Europe there is a strong need to maintain the attractiveness and viability of rural areas. Consideration must also be paid to the needs of special user groups (the elderly, the disabled etc.), their mobility needs being an increasingly important part of both European and local community policy. Public transport is one area in which it has been possible to implement equal services to citizens.

The problem is, however, to provide conventional public transport to areas of scattered settlement or to special user groups at a reasonable cost to both the community and the passengers. The problems are not limited to rural areas. In urban areas too, there are periods of time, sectors of the city or special user groups that remain out of reach of conventional bus or rail transport.

The most noticeable problems and obstacles in the utilisation of traditional public transport from the end-users point of view are:

Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) services aim to meet the needs of different users for additional transport supply. The use of flexible transport services, where routes, departure times, vehicles and even operators, can be matched to the identified demand allows a more user-oriented and cost effective approach to service provision. The DRT services can be offered through a range of vehicles including:

Adaptation of the transport services to match actual demand enables cost savings to the operators, society and passengers. Greater flexibility for the user, a wider range of destinations and increased opportunity for mode shift are further potential benefits of the DRT. However, effective DRT systems need effective support, both in terms of the operations, and in terms of integration with other transport supplies. Advanced telecommunications and telematics tools are also needed.

Because DRT often has a limited range of operation, it may be more cost-effective to transfer users to other fixed-route vehicles for the longer sections of the journey. DRT can play a valuable feeder and distribution role, as well as the primary local service role. Thus DRT makes it possible to offer the users services that cover the whole transport chain. The public transport services should be seamless and integrated so that users find the transport services convenient to use. Seamless service is only possible if there is real co-operation between operators and authorities. Sometimes lack of co-operation, because of competition or other reasons, is a major obstacle to a successful transport service.

The DRT concept was discovered as early as in the 70’s, but only today do we have the telematics tools to enable effective and cost-efficient means of producing the service. Improvement and reduced cost of ITS technology has been the phenomenon of the 90’s.

DRT is an intermediate transport mode between conventional bus and taxi transport. Routes and time-tables are flexible and the cost of journeys to the customers are or at least should be moderate if compared to the level of service offered.

DRT can take many different forms. Three main categories of DRT can be named according to service area as follows:

Demand responsive services can also be characterised by specific choices concerning the stops, routes and timetables according to which services are operated. Based on these criteria, the flexibility of the DRT can vary greatly. The SIPTS Project has identified five reference application scenarios. These are similar to the ones identified in the SAMPO project with the exception that SAMPO combined Scenarios 2 and 3 as shown in figures 7 and 8 into one single Scenario. In practice, the different scenarios may vary greatly in their means of implementation.

Scenario 0 the closest to conventional PT services, is based on transit lines characterised by completely fixed routes and timetables. Such services can be operated either on demand or on a regular basis. For example, the railway bus between the town of Jakobstad and the Bennäs railway station operates under this scenario: most of the departures are regular but some departures outside the peak hours may run only if there are requests in advance.

Scenario 1 is characterised by routes and possible deviations to serve predefined stops on demand. A line serving the stops on this route is operated in any case whether or not there are passenger requests. This kind of service with route deviations on demand is very common in the service lines which are operated by minibuses in over 30 municipalities in Finland.

Scenario 2 is defined by lines serving predefined stops on demand, with either predefined or varying departure times. The line has no fixed route between the stops. The stops represents "meeting points" at specific locations in a certain area, which are linked by routes completely determined by demand. Departure times are either predefined or varying.

Scenario 3 is defined by lines serving with either predefined or varying departure/arrival times. There are only two fixed stops – starting point and end point. Between those two points the service is fully flexible and determined by demand. In zonal services only the starting point may be fixed. The current VIPPARE Service Lines in the town of Jakobstad are operating under this scenario.

Scenario 4 represents the most complex and flexible case. Here public transport services are supplied on demand among all possible request points in a given area (i.e. door-to-door service) in a way similar to taxi services.

The Jakobstad site will follow the scenario(s) that will be defined during the Architecture and Functional Specifications. In practice, the DRT concept to be implemented during the actual demonstration may be a combination of different scenarios. The specific needs of the user groups and municipalities involved as well as the functional and technical features of the DRT application components will finally define the extent of the service.

In considering any service, a normal way to understand the term "users" is associated only with "end-users" i.e. the people who are using the service in practice. However, in a complex service system like DRT, there are many other users or actors who have a direct interest in the commercial, social, infrastructural or transport impacts of the DRT services.

The SAMPO Project has identified these different potential users of a DRT system at a general European level. The User Groups were specified after a thorough analysis and interaction with the participating organisations and relevant actors in five SAMPO sites. The User Groups were further divided into User Categories that were ranked by relevance to DRT generally and by relevance to sites involved in the project.

Generally DRT systems have four main User Groups, each of which consist of several User Categories. The User Groups are:

1) End Users : The End User is a direct customer or potential customer of the provided transport service. (S)he can also be described as the "passenger" or "consumer".

2) Operators : The Operator is directly involved in the provision of the transport service to the End User by providing some or all of the elements of the vehicle, driver, dispatch and support services.

3) Authorities : The Authority has statutory or delegated responsibility for the provision or regulation of transport services in the target area. In addition to the role of regulating transport operators, authorities have an important role in regulating compensations allowed to special groups amongst the End Users (e.g. the elderly and the disabled).

4) Active Destinations: Certain destinations may play an active role in arranging transportation for their customers. For example, they may supply information to the operator about trips to the destination or they may order them for their customers; they may assist the operator in planning the services, or they may co-operate with the operator to provide a reasonable price for the trips. For example, hospitals, shopping centres and several civil service departments are typically these kind of Active Destinations.

Figure 10 DRT User Groups

Some of the interactions between these groups are shown in figure 6. However, a DRT system involves many different actors under each group and all of these have their own role and needs for the transport system. These subgroups are described next.

Within each of the identified User Groups, there is a range of User Categories. Classification of users to each Category is only a generalised proposal according to their distinguishing common features. This does not require that the users within a Category be homogeneous. In fact Categories could be further divided into more detailed subsets, but this would not give any additional value to the user needs analysis.

Figure 7 lists the User Categories identified in the SAMPO Project. The ranking system used and the rating was established on the basis of partners’ and experts’ opinions on the relevance of the different User Categories to DRT in general - i.e. to the conceptual services. The same figure shows the relevance of the different User Categories to DRT in the SIPTS Project Validation site. This ranking represents the average opinion of the User Group members in the SIPTS Project.

Generally DRT services are considered most important among the following End User Categories:

The opinions of the SIPTS Validation Site User Group differ slightly from the ‘European average’. The importance of school children and students has been considered high for DRT. Furthermore, different groups, especially those constituted by the municipal authorities of the educational, social and heath care administration, must be taken into account in a local DRT system. In the Jakobstad region, the town or the municipality is often the actual orderer of the DRT trips to their customers.

User Categories for the Operator grouping

The categories within the Operator Grouping have been generally ranked as high or very high by their relevance to DRT. The categories consist of the actual transport service providers and their associations and owners, travel dispatch center operators and public transport planning actors which may be different from the operators.

User Categories for the Authority grouping

The Authority Group consists of Categories of several different transport related authorities. A common conclusion of their relevance to DRT can be drawn: the more local the authority, the more relevant is DRT to it. The role of authorities is very important to a DRT system, because they set the legal framework and guidelines for DRT operations, allow financial subsidies for non-profitable public transport services and concede compensations to special user groups for their transport services.

User Categories for the Active Destination grouping

Some destinations are interested in arranging transportation for their customers. Their interest may be to gain savings when customers are transported to their service in groups using public (DRT) transport instead of using individual taxi transport. This is the case for example, with trips to health care centres. Another objective to arrange transport may be to gain more customers to actual commercial services. For example, sport events and shopping centres may pay part or the whole transport costs for their customers. The third very important Active Destination Category is other modes of transport. These include the interchange points from/to DRT to/from other public transport modes. Airports, railway stations as well as interurban bus transport terminals are typical of this Category.

This section examines some of the primary user needs that have arisen from the pervious work in the domain of DRT development. The main sources of information have been the results from the SAMPO-project in which a lot of effort was put into identifying user needs using previous reports and the opinions of both transportation specialists and user groups. Additional information has been gained from the Finnish survey "Studied effects of the service lines" published by the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 1998. In addition to findings in previous reports, the SIPTS project benefited from the expertise of the organisations, experts and users working on the SIPTS project.

The core needs of the users focus on the two main user groups involved:

In addition to these two core user groups directly involved with the DRT service provision or demand, it is also necessary to identify the needs of the Authorities and the Active Destinations. The main general user needs of the different user groups of a DRT system can be summarised as follows:

Passengers prefer to have access to a wide range of destinations and extensive coverage of the public transport services. Easy access to services both in terms of suitable vehicles and appropriate time-tables is also important to them. Suitable vehicles are easy to board and have space for luggage and personal devices. Appropriate time-tables provide e.g. maximum operating hours and deliver transportation in a reasonable time period from the travel decision.

Especially for the elderly , it is essential that the service respond to their personal needs. The positive service attitude of the drivers and other operators is a very important factor in ensuring customer satisfaction.

The primary requirement of DRT booking procedures is ease of use. This can be guaranteed by an easy-to-remember and inexpensive call number and efficient operations in the TDC during the call. The requirement of reasonable pricing also includes the actual price of the trips (tariffs).

If the service is provided especially for the "ordinary" passenger e.g. feeder transport in the urban areas, requirements may also apply to 1) minimum number of deviations and delays on the tour 2) access to other modes, but minimum number of transfers and 3) last-minute booking possibility. These requirements, associated with efficiency of the service are not ranked so highly amongst the special user groups, who have more time for travelling.

Last but not least end-users expect to have sufficient and correct information on the DRT service.

Transport operators’ requirements for DRT systems may vary considerably depending on the current transport market and the role of DRT services in it. As with any other enterprise, operators aim to create viable and sustainable services for their customers. They may also want to expand their market share or develop totally new markets.

DRT services may be expected to increase cost efficiencies in service provision, maximise patronage, maximise occupancy and minimise dead running. To gain an increase in efficiency suitable technical support systems are needed. Special attention must be paid to the operations of the Travel Dispatch Center. The DRT market should also provide suitable easy-access vehicles for both bus and taxi operators.

Considering the DRT service as a whole, operators are obliged to fairly allocate work, costs and revenues especially in the multi-modal DRT environment. Integration with other modes and transport services may also be in their interest despite the natural competition between the operators and even between the different modes of transport. Freedom to continue to develop their own business and the ability to expand their coverage area may also be on the list of operators’ requirements despite their interest in co-operation.

Authorities need to develop and implement effective measures to achieve modal shift as part of the effort to reduce the impacts of private cars. DRT may play an active role towards realising this goal. Assurance of equal public transport services to the citizens, retention of viable living conditions in rural areas and consideration of special user groups (e.g. the disabled, the elderly) are also important objectives of DRT services from the authorities’ point of view.

DRT may also be seen as a tool for cost efficient service provision, especially in low demand areas where the potential for conventional public transport is limited. In relation to operators, the authorities should have an open, unbiased legal and operational framework for transport supply.

Furthermore, a need to develop a seamless public transport network and integration between transport modes has become an important part of authorities’ transport policy all over Europe. DRT services may play an active role in filling in the gaps in the current transport service network.

Commercially active destinations (supermarkets etc.) may want to attract their customers by providing financially supported transport (DRT) services to their customers. On the other hand, active destinations maintained by public funding (hospitals, etc.) may expect, with the help of DRT services, to gain savings in transport costs by shifting individual transportation to less expensive group transportation.

User Groups identification in the Jakobstad region was based on the previous work in the domain of DRT development at the site and the general classification presented earlier in chapter 3 of this report. The SIPTS User Group was established at the beginning of the project. The purpose of the User Group was to gather together key persons from different organisations capable of analysing the needs of their group.

The SIPTS User Group consisted of several key actors representing different user groups:

A more detailed description of the SIPTS User Group members divided into appropriate main User Groups is provided next:

These associations, about 20 different associations altogether within the SIPTS site area, are an important group of end users. Very often their members have limited mobility because of unsuitable public transport services that can not accommodate their constant need for wheel-chairs, rollators and other devices. They have a practical knowledge of how vehicles should be equipped and they also have knowledge of the forms of service needed for their special demand.

Associations for the Elderly.

There are associations for the elderly in all the municipalities. They have several activities in their own neighbourhood, but public transport connections are needed if elderly people e.g. want to visit friends or go shopping.

One major problem in the whole area is the migration from the countryside into the towns, which means that the need for housing and social services is becoming more pressing all the time, especially in the towns of Jakobstad and Nykarleby. On the other hand, as the rural areas become depopulated, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain viable public transport services. With the help of new forms of public transport services (e.g. DRT), elderly people would surely be more likely to live at home - a solution which would be much cheaper for society.

The current and future VIPPARE passengers will be one of the target groups during the evaluation phase of the SIPTS Project. The name VIPPARE will also be used for the service during the demonstration phase in order to strengthen the image of the local DRT. Following a common evaluation method, the project will undertake survey work combining qualitative research on user panels with questionnaire surveys. Surveys will assess changes in the travel behaviour of different groups of DRT users.

The Finnish Bus and Coach Association

The Finnish Bus and Coach Association is the organisation owned by the bus operators and it is strongly involved in development projects on international, national and regional levels. There are 4 different bus operators in the Jakobstad Region. Two of these have been active in the VIPPARE Project and have also had occasion to take part in the SIPTS work. One of the operators is at the moment operating with two low-floor buses within the VIPPARE and his experiences and knowledge is also included in the planning of the SIPTS Project.

The Finnish Taxi Association

The Finnish Taxi Association is the organisation owned by the taxi operators. It is also strongly involved in the transport development projects. There are some 40 taxi operators in the Jakobstad Region. The dispatch center for taxi transport is at NovaCall. The local association of taxi owners has been involved in the VIPPARE Project from the start and also in the SIPTS Project.

Oy NovaCall Ab

Oy NovaCall Ab is the organisation responsible for the dispatching operations for the current VIPPARE Service Line and taxi transport in the cities of Jakobstad and Kokkola. This is an unique concept where the same TDC is responsible for both DRT and taxi transport dispatching. The call-center is also responsible for feeder transport orders to Bennäs railway station and to Kronoby Airport.

Both the Finnish State Railways and Finnair are important operators and partners in the public traffic system in the Jakobstad region. Bennäs railway station provides inter-urban connection to the larger towns in Finland along the Finnish Main Track. Kronoby Airport, serving the cities of Jakobstad and Kokkola, has in recent years been one of the fastest growing airports in Finland and was "Airport of the Year" in Finland in 1997. The challenge to SIPTS Project is to offer the customers seamless public transport services linked to these other transport modes.

Towns and Municipalities

The towns of Jakobstad and Nykarleby and the municipalities of Pedersöre and Larsmo are responsible for transport services for the education, social and health care sectors for their citizens.

JAKOBSTAD

Jakobstad is the biggest of the SIPTS municipalities with about 20.000 inhabitants. The area of the town is quite small, only about 100 square kilometers, but nevertheless there is a strong need for public transport, because with the area being so small it is impossible to create a profitable internal transportation system in the traditional manner. Anyhow, the town has to provide transport for various groups of children (young children, disabled children) to schools and nurseries and for its elderly residents to social and health care centres. Of course, the town also has a lot of families who need to go shopping in the daytime with children and babies and who also need to be reached by the public transport.

In Autumn 1998, Jakobstad started a public transportation project called "VIPPARE" together with the Provincial Government of Western Finland. The project at this time has two 13 seater low-floor buses in daily use in the town. The experiences from this project will be taken advantage of in the SIPTS Project.

NYKARLEBY

The town of Nykarleby is the southernmost of the four SIPTS municipalities and consists of a town-community with about 2000 inhabitants and a countryside area with about 6000 inhabitants. The distances within the town are long and give rise to a need for transportation from the outlying parts of the town. Unlike Larsmo and Pedersöre, the transportation need in Nykarleby lies mainly in the town itself. The outlying areas need transportation to the services of the town, and school children need transportation to schools. Nykarleby has (as partly also Pedersöre) a special problem concerning the students attending the vocational schools in Jakobstad: the students get transport from and to the centre of the Nykarleby in the mornings and afternoons, but because the transport terminates in the centre, the students have to organise their own transport back home. The town has also partly arranged taxi transportation services to the centre for people living in outlying parts of the municipality.

PEDERSÖRE

The municipality of Pedersöre lies east of Jakobstad and consists of three former independent municipalities. The municipality is crossed by three major roads: one to the north-east, one to the east and one to the south-east. The internal public transport system is built almost completely on the school transport routes, which means that the transportation is operative only when the schools are open; in the summertime most of the municipality area is out of public transport services. The municipality authority has even arranged route-taxi transportation in the summer time to boost the transportation situation. Pedersöre also requires transport for school children. This means that cross-transport (transport between the main roads crossing the municipality) is very limited The direction of transportation is partly directed towards Jakobstad and partly in some directions within the municipality.

LARSMO

The municipality of Larsmo is the smallest of those engaged in the SIPTS Project with about 3900 inhabitants. The main direction of traffic flow for the southern part of the municipality is towards the town of Jakobstad, while the northern traffic flow heads to the town of Kokkola (about 40 kilometres from Jakobstad ). The municipality has fair transportation possibilities along the road connecting Jakobstad and Kokkola, but only during the day, and the smaller villages off the main road have very few transportation services in any direction. The main transport needs are for smaller groups of children to get to nursery and first-grade schools and for the general public to get to Jakobstad for shopping and leisure activities. The substantial amount of transport required by school children places a great financial burden on the municipality.

The Provincial Government of Western Finland

The Provincial Government of Western Finland has the legal responsibility for the regional public transport plans. The Provincial Government together with the towns and municipalities shares the responsibility for producing local public transport plans. The Provincial Government is the authority which administers regional public transport licenses. It also has the role of subsidising non-profitable bus transport between municipalities. In addition it is an active promoter of development and research projects in the field of public transport.

The Social Insurance Institute (Kela)

Kela covers some parts of the travel costs under the Health Insurance Law. According to legislation in Finland, people are entitled to a partial refund of the travel costs from home to health care centres/hospitals and vice versa. The overall cost of such transport for Kela in the Jakobstad region was approximately 250.000 euro during the year 1997.

A very important, although not direct partner in the SIPTS Project, is the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC), which is coordinating the DRT development work in Finland in the working group named SALAMA (abbreviation from the words ‘from closed to open services – quality for travelling). The MTC is also active in the VIPPARE Project and is continuously following the experiences from other DRT projects on a national and European level.

Within the transportation projects there are also several active destinations, such as health-centres and social welfare bureaux, but these are not at the moment members of the SIPTS User Group. However, their needs for transport services will be identified by the authority members of the User Group. The hospitals and other health and social authorities have been working in close co-operation with the VIPPARE project, and the experiences gained in this project will be used in the planning of the SIPTS service.

The user needs analysis in the SIPTS Project was the result of a two-fold approach:

In the previous sections a clear definition has been provided of the nature of demand responsive services and the user groups and categories to whom DRT services may be relevant. The SIPTS Project has exploited these definitions in the site level work. At the beginning of the project the User Group was established. Initially the idea was to separate authorities into their own group, but very soon this was realised to be unnecessary or even harmful. It was decided to keep the group as one entity to guarantee information and opinion exchange at all levels.

The local user needs were studied using the method which was based on the core idea of the Use Case Methodology. The purpose of the Use Case Methodology is to get the description of what a system will do at a high-level and with a user focus in mind. The purpose is not to concentrate on how the system will do anything. For example, it is necessary to know that "the municipalities want a report on number of DRT trips every month". From the Use Case point of view, it would be irrelevant to specify e.g. "the municipalities want a report on number of DRT trips every month in Excel-format by email". The latter description is too accurate for the purpose of user needs analysis. The question "How" will be answered during the next work packages of the SIPTS Project.

The system described to the actors in the Jakobstad region was a fictional DRT Service concept. It has to be emphasised that it was relatively easy for the User Group members to imagine possible DRT concepts because of their familiarity with the current VIPPARE Service Lines in the town of Jakobstad.

The members of the SIPTS User Group were sent a questionnaire in which they were asked to fill in their requirements for the DRT service. They were also encouraged to get together a group of people in their organisation to fill in the questionnaire in a brain storming session. An information day was also organised to help them become familiarised the SIPTS Project, TDC operations and the current vehicles and their drivers.

To ease the filling in of the questionnaires and to ensure that the answers would be comparable, the concept of the DRT service was divided into smaller themes. These were:

For each of the themes an initial list of issues that might have been relevant to each user category was given. The members of the SIPTS User Group filled in the questionnaires and the results were gathered in a simple table format. The members gave each requirement a ranking from 1 to 3. The ranking was as follows:

The final discussion was held in a meeting where all the answers were gathered together and the User Group members were able to highlight issues important to them.

The core objective of the User Needs Analysis was to establish the nature of the user needs. Detailed in-depth analysis and obtaining of precise values for the relevant parameters needed to build the demonstrator will be carried out in the following work packages of the project.

The core local user needs at the Jakobstad region are summarised in the following tables. These represent "the average opinion" of the different answers.

Generally the requirements and their ranking were very converging among different actors. The requirements are concentrated on the conceptual DRT system in the Jakobstad region. They are not necessarily requirements for the SIPTS demonstration which will be capable of only limited service provision in the framework of a limited budget. However, the requirements signify the different users expectations for the DRT system so they must be carefully taken into consideration even at the demonstration phase. The core objective of the SIPTS Project is to develop a DRT service based on the identified user needs.

Coverage in operational area and in time are important requirements for the DRT system to be developed. The core idea is to think of the area of four municipalities in the Jakobstad region as a single unit in terms of transport area. Of course, the transport needs are different in the town of Jakobstad from the needs of the neighbouring municipalities because of the different area and transport network structure but nevertheless integration and close co-operation was seen as an important basis for the project.

Generally the end-users would like to extend the operating hours more than would e.g. the authorities paying for service provision. The final level of service is always a compromise between end-user needs and transport costs. One of the best practices for supporting DRT cost efficiency in the low-density areas is to allocate the vehicles a schedule for the whole working day. During the mornings and afternoons the fleet is mainly transporting groups of people, whose trip are paid for from public funding. In the Jakobstad region this means e.g. school children to schools and elderly/disabled people to health care and other services. In the middle of the day the same vehicles are used for open-to-all service transport. This is a successful concept for both the operators and the municipalities because of high cost efficiency.

The DRT service must cover all possible user categories and the service should be open-to-all. However, some restrictions may be necessary if the capacity of vehicles is temporarily full. The idea of the VIPPARE Service Lines is not to guarantee every customer immediate transport on-demand. If the vehicle is fully booked (and this happens very rarely) the customer will be recommended the next possible departure.

The SIPTS User Group identified the need to make a comprehensive list of the most important destinations in each town/municipality. This information could be connected to a GIS System which is part of the TDC software. The reason for geocoding the most highly demanded destinations is that the passengers often know their destination only by name, and not by address. However, the TDC software needs to locate both the origin and the destination and this is nowadays based on address geocoding.

Finally the coverage of DRT transport offered in different towns/municipalities during the SIPTS demonstration will be defined in the in-depth negotiations between the SIPTS Project and the municipal authorities during the spring of 1999.

The price of a DRT journey must be reasonable enough to encourage the use the service. The Jakobstad region decided to keep the fare level the same as in conventional bus transport at least for the period of the SIPTS demonstration. This has been a common approach in several municipalities in Finland that offer service transport to their inhabitants.

From the customers’ point of view the price of the journey includes the price of booking a trip, so it must be reasonable. In March 1999 the booking price to the customer of the VIPPARE service was the local call fare + 0,50 euro /call. It was decided by the SIPTS User Group to maintain this fare at least until the end of the demonstration phase.

Traditionally public transport services have not been very actively advertised or publicised. However, to guarantee acceptance of a new DRT concept, explicit and continuous information must be provided. There should be various information channels from individual and user targeted leaflets to newspapers, TV and Internet information. The primary requirements for information delivered are authenticity, intelligibility and easy availability.

In addition to the end-users, information is needed by operators and authorities as well as active destinations. Sufficient training to the transport operators in using new equipment or serving new customer groups is essential. The personnel of TDC should also be familiarised with new software and real-life circumstances in the vehicles. Finally, the

authorities that are responsible for special user groups’ transport supply need to be trained to fully utilise the new services.

All User Group members emphasised the fact that booking procedures must be as easy as possible both to the customers and the TDC personnel. An easy-to-remember order number, rapid functions of the TDC software together with the positive service attitude of dispatchers are preconditions to user friendly booking procedure.

A special feature of DRT services in Finland is the need to take into account and manage dispatching services also for groups of passengers. Typically these groups are elderly people travelling to services supported by the municipality. The objective is, however, to exploit all the free capacity in the vehicles so the transport planned for the groups is open to all passengers provided there is free space.

The SIPTS User Group stated several requirements for changing the existing orders, time limits for orders, answer time, confirmation procedures and communication links to the vehicles. All of these requirements reflect the initial experiences that have been gained from the current VIPPARE Project. Again the main requirement remains: the level of service of the new system must be at least as good as the present situation.

Requirements for fleet quality stress the fact that the vehicles should be equipped according to the special needs of the target customer group. If the target group is the disabled or the elderly, low-floor vehicles with enough room for both the passengers and their devices are necessary. However, if the DRT service target group is e.g. school children, it may be reasonable to use normal bus and taxi fleet. The future DRT system in the Jakobstad region may cover all sorts of bus and taxi vehicles whose use will be planned and adjusted to end users’ needs.

The positive service attitude of drivers and their assistants in the vehicles is one of the main prerequisites to user acceptance of a DRT system. Very often the main work of drivers is not so much driving as providing personal assistance to passengers. In cases where the customers are mainly elderly people, it may even be a successful practice to train a nurse as a driver. In the Jakobstad region there is also the requirement of bilingualism, because the customers may speak Finnish or Swedish.

In Finland the special user groups are often entitled to a partial refund of their transport costs. They will pay either the normal public transport fare or their own share (typically 10 %) of the total trip cost the remainder coming from public funding. The User Group would prefer similar methods for collecting the passenger’s share throughout the Jakobstad region. This would be advantage for both the transport operators and authorities responsible for clearing operations.

The SIPTS User Group emphasised that the fare collection systems and the methods of paying should not be changed during the DRT demonstration. If new technologies were implemented, there would be a risk of damaging the actual demonstration. Judging by previous experiences the problems with the fare collection systems would be associated with the DRT service. As mentioned earlier, the passengers are not interested in the technical reasons behind a poor service.

However, there is a strong need to develop also fare collection systems and use of smart cards in the DRT service as well. In Finland, conventional public transport has been provided with smart cards nation wide by the integrated system of Oy Matkahuolto Ab. The special user groups could easily be provided with easy-to-use smart cards based on existing technology and containing all the information required by the clearing system. Managing of their data with smart cards would also help the workload of authorities responsible for registering their trips. Exploitation of new fare collection technology is the future challenge for the Jakobstad region after the successful introduction of the extended VIPPARE DRT service.

Regular reports of the DRT use are needed in order to follow patronage and cost development of the service. The reports indicate user acceptance of the new system and possibly the need to adjust the supply to the demand in a more effective way. Reports should be provided to the authorities responsible for service provision on a monthly basis by the TDC. Any reports containing detailed information about customers (name, addresses etc.) must be confidential.

The local requirement of the Jakobstad region is to have a fair tendering process in purchasing DRT services. It must be guaranteed equal possibilities for both bus and taxi operators to offer their services. The tenable operator contracts and the national legislation concerning e.g. restrictions of violating current fixed-line services must be respected.

In Finland certain special user groups have legal rights to transport services partly paid from public funds. The core idea of the legislation is to offer sufficient transport services; the means of transport are not defined in detail. In principle, it would be possible to offer some special user groups only DRT services instead of the right to use individual taxi transport. In the Jakobstad region it has been made very clear by the User Group that any kind of intimidation to use only DRT will not be desirable. DRT services must be attractive enough (level of service, price etc.) to secure customers without force.

The future DRT system in the Jakobstad region should exploit the technology developed and the capacity of TDC software. From the technological point of view, it would only be a question of equipping more vehicles with OBUs. This would ease the use of additional vehicle capacity in certain areas if needed.

The requirement that common taxi dispatching and DRT dispatching should have common technology but separate operations in the TDC reflects the fact that in the Jakobstad region DRT and taxi dispatch is operated by the same company. This is a very exceptional concept. It enables user driven approach in dispatching, the end user may decide which mode of transport (s)he wishes to use.

Experience has shown both on a national and local level that the DRT services are well accepted by the end users. Still, it is important to identify the possible conflicts that may occur in implementing new technology and new services. In the Jakobstad region one of the most important issues is to continue to strengthen the positive image of the current VIPPARE service.. In fact, the implementation of the new technology should not be visible to the passengers in the town of Jakobstad or it should become apparent only in the form of a better level of service. This is not the case in the neighbouring municipalities where a totally new service will be developed.

It may be worthwhile listing some of the critical issues that arose during the previous DRT development work. Those lessons learned which should be taken into consideration in developing any new DRT service concept are also listed in annex B of this report.

EU and national legislation concerning DRT service provision must be respected. Sometimes this may be difficult because there may be a lack of specific laws that could be applied to DRT which is a relatively new transport mode falling between conventional taxi and bus transport. Still, in DRT development projects it is necessary to check that the objectives of the work are in line with national and European transport policy and strategy.

In a multi-modal environment, there is a need to check the participation of all the public transport modes and organisations on equal terms. It is also important to agreeupon the contractual issues well in advance, especially those concerning the operators and service provision.. Getting the commitment of the local decision makers to DRT development is also vital. One means of securing sufficient commitment is by guaranteeing that the required negotiations, discussions and information exchange will be arranged between the actors involved.

Planning the operational framework carefully, defining the role and mandate of the TDC in advance and identifying possible obstacles to co-operation between different actors are also prerequisites to a successful DRT service.

First of all respecting the needs of different end-users should be the basis for DRT service provision. Customers should not be forced to use the service – DRT should be an attractive alternative to individual transport. Defining the level of service offered to the customers and providing the agreed service are the next steps. The end-users should be well informed of the new transport concept via different forms of media (newspapers, TV, radio, information days, etc.).

For the operators clear rules for allocating vehicles to routes should be established. Negotiating (and tendering) the operator contracts in time and agreeing upon the applicable tariff level should be well administered.

It is important to train dispatchers and drivers well in advance as well as other key user groups (e.g. personnel of the municipalities) and familiarise the dispatchers with the operators and operational area. On the other hand it is also important that drivers become acquainted with the dispatch centre personnel and operations.

If the TDC is to play a role as a public transport information point, it is necessary to ensure the availability and update of conventional public transport time-table information. All relevant destinations, local names etc. in a GIS database should be integrated into TDC routing software to guarantee that the customers’ origin and destination can easily be geocoded. Local knowledge of the transport area in the TDC is an advantage.

Adjusting the pre-notification times to allow passengers to leave home in time, agreeing upon the walking distances to the stops, agreeing upon clear regulations about passengers boarding without reservations and provision of acceptable booking procedures for the return trip are special TDC related operational issues.

Even if DRT often provides new and interesting technology it should be emphasised that technology is being used only as a tool to help DRT. Non-technical issues (institutional, organisational and legal) must be arranged first.

A DRT system should exploit open-architecture solutions for TDC software and communications using standard technology and modules. Verifying the integration of technologies (e.g. OBUs – TDC software, communication link) is important. It is essential to test that the communication links work at all times and throughout the area of operation.

To eliminate technical problems a test environment similar to the real environment should be set up prior to implementation of the service and adequate training should be provided for operators ..

In order to be able to evaluate the results and business case of the DRT service, adequate before-data availability prior to the start of the DRT service must be ensured. A viable DRT business case can be gained by making every effort to achieve adequate patronage levels, by integrating the existing transport planning procedures with the DRT/TDC system to create a seamless public transport planning and management system, by defining a logical and attractive fare structure for DRT, by ensuring adequate level of authority/governmental support to make DRT a business and by remembering the significance of skilled professional drivers, dispatchers and marketing people.

DRT service is provided for the end-users. Thus it is important to consider the user needs identified and fulfil the core needs by providing an adequate service.

The passengers are not interested in the actual reason behind poor service so it is necessary to identify and avoid the potential technical problems, that will always cause frustration among passengers, dispatchers and drivers well in advance .

The end-users need correct, conspicuous and continuous information concerning the service. It is also important to listen to the users’ voice and respect their feedback. If necessary, the service concept must be modified according to identified needs.

If a DRT service is planned particularly as a service for special user groups (the elderly, the disabled) it is important not to force the users to use only DRT instead of the individual taxi transport which they are entitled to. User acceptance must be gained by making the service attractive enough to attract its customers without intimidation.

The Jakobstad region will take into consideration all previously identified user needs and requirements as well as important lessons reported in earlier DRT projects. However, it has to be emphasised that DRT is not a new idea at the site. Operators and authorities have done a lot of work to introduce the VIPPARE Service Lines to potential passengers. Continually growing passenger numbers indicate the success of the work. The real challenge to the SIPTS Project is to implement the new technology without disturbing the positive image of the service. The level of service experienced by the passengers must be the same or higher than before the demonstration phase.

Implementation phase: