Case Study: Governing sustainable mobility - Parma, Italy

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Synopsis

Parma - model city of changing public transport

The White Book contains various proposals to be adopted at community level within the framework of transport policies, such as:

• developing quality city transport,
• developing medium and long-term environmental objectives for a sustainable transport system,
• improving the quality of road transport
• deciding an efficient policy on transport fares.

In order to promote sustainable transport, the White Book provides the following legal and regulatory measures that may be used in an innovative manner in cities:

1. Accessibility Rules aimed at radically reducing traffic in historical centres, increasing the quality of life:
1. restricted access to historical centres,
2. access on a payment basis,
3. environmental islands.
2. Parking policies aimed at:
• reorganising and controlling traffic and parking,
• improving public transport,
• improving the conditions of the city environment,
• promoting a rational use of energy by means of:
• paying car parks within the city walls, except for residents,
• adequate preparation of a number of car parks free of charge outside the city centre,
• improving the public transport system, providing new routes and vehicles,
• new ring roads outside the city walls,
• replacing traffic light controlled crossroads with mini roundabouts,
• special conditions for residents thanks to parking permits.
3. Public transport through the implementation of:
1. shared bus and bicycle lanes,
2. eco-compatible buses.

Mobility in Parma Overview

The government of mobility and traffic is one of the subjects the Municipal Administration of Parma has dedicated most of its care and attention to, considering it fundamental to the quality of the City. The essential elements of this policy are:

1. the development of an infrastructural network that meets the demand for mobility,
2. the development and promotion of public transport,
3. the adoption of a coordination plan for Mobility Management activities,
4. the use of new technologies, integrating mobility.

1. The first area of activity regarded "main road and traffic conditions". The target which most efforts were geared towards was the closure of the ring of bypasses: 24 km built and in use to date, excluding the interchanges, 4,500 m of bypass in construction, having obtained, in April 2003, a financing of over 36 Mio € from ANAS to complete the system of bypasses. In the meantime, to improve traffic flow, 37 roundabouts have been built, with another 20 in the pipeline. In addition, about 52 km of cycle paths have been made, soon to be supplemented by other paths linking up the Transit Point Car Parks with the city centre, thanks to financing from the Ministry of the Environment. Pedestrians are also safer, thanks to safety-related activities, such as the new raised and lit pedestrian ways. The activities to be undertaken to reduce traffic and regulate illegal parking have also been decided. Five large transit point car parks have been made.
   
   In addition, the areas where the blue line system is applied have been enlarged as well as the relative cycle-pedestrian island in the city centre, which now totals 71,000 square metres. Lastly, a mass transport system on the main road from the train station to the University Campus is currently being designed.
2. Other major investments have been made on public transport, to renew the fleet, expand routes towards hamlets and provide shuttle buses for the Transit Point Car Parks and innovative services. The establishment of shuttle buses at the Transit Point Car Parks to reduce the amount of traffic going to the city centre and innovative services such as the Hospital Bus, the Night "Pronto Bus" and the Campus Express, have accompanied the development of the traditional lines and the establishment of new extensions towards areas not yet served. The investment plan for new vehicles was enormous: after the purchase, between 2001 and 2002, of a good 85 new eco-compatible buses (hybrids, electric, natural gas, Euro 3 diesel), a further acquisition is expected in 2003 of another 10 vehicles running on natural gas for city transport, 14 suburban vehicles with Euro 3 diesel engines and another 45 vehicles, running on natural gas, for the new school service, Happy Bus. In the meantime, work is continuing on the high technology projects, such as the Remote sensing system, a system that enables all vehicles in circulation to be located in real time and information to be transmitted to users by means of "intelligent boards", equipped with display units.
   
   Campus Express
   
   In order to complete the project, another 30 "intelligent" boards are to be installed in 2003, in addition to the 30 boards already installed and possibly some of the bus shelters will be equipped with a system enabling users, while waiting for the bus, to talk to an operator and obtain information on the service.
   
   In 2003, work will continue on the Stimer, the electronic ticket issuing system, replacing the multiroute tickets and paper season tickets with remote electronic cards. In the future, it will be possible to use the card to pay for other services provided by the city-system and travel on various means of transport throughout the region.
   
   The results of this public transport policy are the following:
   • a million and a half more passengers (a definite inversion of the trend after years of falling numbers of users),
   • increase in sales of season tickets, with peaks of 50% for annual season tickets,
   • 2 Mio € more in proceeds from sales
   • total increase in proceeds: + Mio €,
   • investments in new ecological vehicles: 14.5 Mio €,
   • reduction in costs per km from € 3.3 to € 2.4.
   Coming innovations:
   • 45 new buses (running on natural gas) for the new school service, Happy Bus,
   • implementation of the Stimer project,
   • the daytime "Pronto Bus", a bus on demand for social purposes and to reach areas not yet fully served by the traditional lines,
   • the completion of the Remote sensing system,
   • the implementation of the new HAPPY BUS service, the only one of its kind in the country, co-financed by the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory, that will start up in September 2003, designed by Tep SPA and by the Councillors for Education Services and Road and Traffic Conditions of the Municipality of Parma. The school service comprises 40-odd specially equipped vehicles, door-to-door pick ups for all the children, the assistance of specialised minders and educational films shown on board. The service will be extremely flexible, thanks to a software that will enable the management of every single pick up and to therefore adapt the route in real time. In addition, all the children will be given identification badges and registered as they board the bus, as well as being under the constant supervision of specially trained minders until they enter the school grounds.
   In cooperation with Infomobility spa, the Municipal Administration has started the "Sustainable Mobility in Parma" Plan, which contains a programme that will be developed throughout 2003 with the aim of providing the city with advanced instruments to improve mobility in the city area and which intends to develop maximum interaction between all parties concerned.
   
   Work is particularly being carried out in four directions:
   • development of area and company Mobility Management,
   • experimentation of pilot projects,
   • introduction of innovative technologies,
   • cultural communication activities and the promotion of initiatives.
   The project, because of its innovative characteristics, has received about 2 Mio € of co-financing from the Ministry of the Environment.
3. In particular, an area Mobility Management activity has been started up, which began in 2002 for which 33 company Mobility Managers were nominated, and activities regarding drawing up the Travelling to Work Plans have continued successfully. As demonstrated in different cases in Europe, the system of plans for companies should bring about a 2.5-3% reduction in the first year and is certain to increase in the following years. This may seem a modest figure, but it is noteworthy, considering that the demand for mobility at national level spontaneously increases by 4-5% every year. Besides the activities on the Travelling to Work Plans, as part of the PMS, investigations on mobility have been carried out aimed at gaining an understanding of the public's real needs and actual demand for mobility: Women Dynamics, monitoring the habitual and non-habitual movements (erratic mobility) of women to assess their influence and role in city traffic and an investigation on children accompanied to school.
4. The car sharing project, has obtained financing from ICS (car sharing initiative) and will be implemented in 2003. The car pooling service, which the Ministry of the Environment has granted financing for the acquisition of software, will also be started up in 2003. The Freight Transit Point project, for reorganising the distribution of goods in the city, is in its preliminary phase, orchestrating the trade associations. The primary objective of the project, SIMA (Integrated Mobility-Environment System), that has received 146,000 € of co-financing from the Ministry of the Environment, is to set up an integrated observatory for the technological control of the mobility-environment system of the Municipality of Parma. In operational terms, it is based on connecting and optimising the hardware devices and software programmes, including additional components specifically dedicated, supplied to the Municipal Administration. At present, the work is based on two essential nuclei:
   • the centralised traffic-light control system, capable of providing traffic data in real time and dynamically interacting with road traffic,
   • the environmental monitoring network, capable of providing, on a daily basis, validated data on air pollution.
   The architecture of the complete system, which will become the support instrument for decision-making, will be developed on these two systems. Lastly, the Municipality of Parma is the lead manager of the ICBI Agreement (ICBI - low impact fuel initiative), - for 141 Italian municipalities for the operational management of about 25 Mio € and is on the Steering Committee of the National Conference of Councillors for Road Conditions and Transport in cities.

Target groups: residents - all citizens
Fields: responsible car use / mobility plans - integrated approach / urban transport plans

This case study is one of 175 projects from the Smile Project Local Experiences Database listed on this website.

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Car Use : Citizens : Cycling : Decision Makers : Financial Instruments : Freight : Local Government : Mobility Management : Planning issues : Public Transport : Regional Government : SMILE Project : Schools & Colleges : Sustainable Transport : Urban Transport : Walking

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Comune di Parma