Synopsis
The city of Reggio Calabria, like many others, has numerous problems associated with mobility in its territory.
The most common means of transport is private cars, which have a considerable impact on the economy and the quality of life in the city: environmental pollution (air and noise), problems related to widespread traffic congestion (loss of time, stress, obstruction to pedestrian mobility and the lack of car parks) and related energy consumption.
For these reasons it has become necessary to convert part of private car traffic to public transport, whose impact on urban environment is a tenth of that of cars (in terms of energy consumption, air and noise pollution produced per passenger) and takes up much less space per passenger.
Therefore, the Administration has decided to reorganise public transport in the city by improving the quantity and quality of services offered, while protecting the city's environment. Part of this framework is the Feasibility Study, "STEAR" (Eco-compatible Transport Network Powered System) proposed by the Municipality of Reggio Calabria, following the national call for tenders issued by CIPE - Inter-departmental Committee for Economic Planning (resolution 106/99) and drawn up by a temporary joint enterprise, which includes the Ansaldo-Breda S.p.A., C.I.Su.T. and ARGON - Servizi di Impresa S.r.l. companies.
Generally speaking, the aim of the Feasibility Study is to reorganise the city public transport, thus meeting the local population needs and contributing to improve the quality of life in the city. In particular, the Study proposes to create a public transport supporting system along the main city roads, with low environment impact and the capability of linking the main centres of interest (railway stations, business district, historical centre, law courts, museum, stadium, port, university campus, etc.), which will be connected to the suburban public transport lines. In other words, the objective of the study is the implementation of an integrated and hierarchical public transport system where the main route, passing through the historical centre and branching out towards the developing centres (on the one hand, the business district and the Botteghelle area and, on the other, the University Institutes and the Port), will be serviced by modern eco-compatible vehicles, operating in close coordination with the branch/distribution lines.
The introduction of such a "collector" system should improve the connections between the suburbs and the city centre, helping to increase accessibility, but also making mobility in the city centre easier. In addition, it should represent an important opportunity for upgrading the city's environment along the new public transport routes.
The Study represents another significant piece in the mosaic that is being put together for restoring and upgrading the environment of the Municipality of Reggio Calabria. It is related to other initiatives aimed at making local mobility more efficient and more ecological (City-Planning, Cycle Paths Plan, City Parking Programme, Ecological Days, new road infrastructures, expansion of the ATAM fleet, Municipal Noise Abatement Plan, Municipal Plan for Environmental Traffic Control, ATS REGGIO 2001 Project).
Basic Features of the STEAR Study
The Study is based on the general framework of the territorial and socio-economic context of the city of Reggio Calabria and on the general policies on Local Public Transport (LPT) prescribed at community, national and regional level, and the analysis of the documents regarding planning and programmes on a municipal scale which could, to some extent, have repercussions on the planning choices for STEAR.
After analysing the characteristics of the public transport services currently in operation in the municipal territory and the demand for public transport, a number of alternative solutions for the project were identified.
The alternatives analysed concern both the basic planning of the main route and the type of vehicles that are likely to be used.
With reference to the route of the main public transport line, three alternatives were suggested, which were analysed in detail so as to steer the choice towards the most convenient solution for the local community and operational management. In virtue of the analyses of the strong and weak points of each route, the choice fell on the first alternative, the route whose main axis is Corso Garibaldi. After evaluating the types of vehicles likely to be used along the main route, the range of possible technological solutions (bus, tram, metro) immediately came down to buses and trams on rubber tyres.
The technical, economic and environmental assessments and analyses enabled the panorama of alternative technologies to further restrict the road vehicles, narrowing the choice down to buses, and, especially, to electric buses powered by overhead or ground contact lines and on low-polluting mechanical traction buses (hybrid buses and buses powered by natural gas). A thorough analysis was carried out on the latter with the aim of assessing the emission levels of pollutants. The result that came out was that the hybrid and natural gas run buses, compared to traditional diesel vehicles, had far less emissions of all the polluting gases (carbon monoxide, unburnt hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides and particulates).
With reference to the length of the vehicles to be adopted along the STEAR route, the Study leaves open the option of using 12m or 18m long vehicles; both lengths appear compatible with the characteristics of the route and the urban context, even though economic considerations (directly linked to the cost of drivers) and traffic considerations (linked to reducing interference with pedestrian mobility and the urban environment as a whole) would tend towards the adoption of 18 m.-long vehicles. In any case, the Feasibility Study envisages a fleet whose vehicles are all the same length. This would give considerable operational advantages in terms of both planning and training and, last but not least, of vehicle maintenance and usage.
STEAR phases and work schedules
The Feasibility Study was approved with GM resolution n. 609 dated 2.10.2001 and sent to the Assessment Unit of the Provincial Administration of Calabria for validation. At present, no further communications have been received on the matter.
However, the Study also dealt with the technical and administrative procedures that are required to work out the next project phases and organise and carry out work on the new public transport system, STEAR, which can be summarised as follows:
Target groups: all citizens
Fields: public transport - responsible car use / mobility plans - integrated approach /
urban transport plans
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