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Angus Demand Responsive Transport |
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Friday, 13 August 2004 |
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This project provides greater access for rural residents throughout the Glens of Angus to employment, training, education, health and leisure through a demand responsive transport system.
Overview
PROJECT SUMMARY
This project provides greater access for rural residents throughout the Glens of Angus to employment, training, education, health and leisure through a demand responsive transport system.
The system involves an electronic booking system that is managed through a co-ordination centre. This maximises the use of existing providers to meet the needs of those living in rural areas.
The project is also part of a tri-national bid to the EU, which aims to compare similar projects in other countries.
KEY PARTNERS
- Newcastle University
- Mobisoft (Finland)
- Softeco (Italy)
- Memex (Italy)
- SITA (Italy)
- ATAF (Italy)
- ETTS (Ireland)
FUNDERS
- Forward Scotland
- East of Scotland European Partnership
- ERDF
- Community Fund
- Scottish Executive Integrated Transport Fund
- Angus Council
- NHS Tayside
- Scottish Enterprise Tayside
- Angus Childcare Partnership
- Angus College
- Cairngorm Partnership
- Scottish Ambulance Patient Transport Service
- Ordnance Survey
- Reese Jeffrey's Research Road Fund
Plan
NEED
The Angus Transport Forum was set up in 1995 to address the increasing problems identified in addressing rural transport services, and the associated implications of education, health and employment.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the project was to install and test a flexible transport system that would recognise and address the needs of individuals, communities, bus operators, taxi drivers and statutory agencies.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The project aims to increase use of public transport and produce 20% savings for statutory bodies. The objectives are to:
- encourage the sustainability of the rural economy;
- maximise the use of existing resources and avoid duplication;
- design a flexible product which caters to the needs of different consumers; and
- carry goods and people at low cost for the end users.
Ideally local operators would run a co-ordinated local transport service, and any profits generated would be distributed back to the end users.
Progress
GETTING ESTABLISHED
In 1997 the organisation received funding from the Rural Challenge Fund to carry out research into the transport issues in the area. Six area user groups were set up based on the market towns, encouraging local residents to highlight their concerns.
In 2000 funding was obtained from the Community Fund to enable the research to continue. A group of thirty stakeholders agreed to the research findings, which highlighted a range of transport problems in the area.
Based on the research findings, the decision was taken to formulate an Action Plan to highlight and address the problems of rural transport locally. A business plan was also developed to take forward proposals.
IMPLEMENTATION
The plan for the project focused on a small number of main issues:
- the health board structure review, involving hospital closures;
- the cost of running a car in a rural area; and
- depopulation of rural areas and sustainability of the rural economy.
At a conference in Carnoustie in April 2001, the business model was agreed and accepted by the stakeholders, which included statutory agencies, commercial companies, voluntary organisations and end users.
From the conference, a consortium was set up with companies from Finland and Italy to develop the new technology required to set up the multi-modal integrated transport system.
From there, a travel dispatch centre was set up in Angus which picks people up at home and transports them in vehicles fitted with GPS systems.
A travel club was also set up covering over 90 interests from art to yoga. This brings people with similar interests together, who are transported to events held in local venues. This reduces car use and maximises the use of local hotels and village halls and has also assisted several businesses. Unfortunately problems have arisen where venues have closed down, however, these issues are being addressed in conjunction with the Council's Economic Development Team.
FUTURE STEPS
The pilot phase of the project was completed on 29th February 2004 and an evaluation has been carried out.
The Transport Fund has developed a set of guidelines and has published a book on best practice, and will be publishing another one in June 2004.
Two workshops have been held in Italy and Scotland to promote the project findings. This has resulted in considerable interest from accession states and Japan to adopt the concept.
Angus Transport Forum intends to set up trading companies to cover the costs of the dispatch centre and provide sustainability consultancy to organisations. They will also work with Universities in Britain to assist in the development of new transport planning concepts and are helping to develop courses in seven universities in Scotland and England.
Review
THE PROCESS
Angus Transport Forum has been involved with a consortium of internationally renowned experts in artificial intelligence, transport strategy, security systems and web technology, which has given the project great credibility.
The charity worked with Newcastle University and several companies to obtain 1.4 million euros in funding from the European Commission, Directorate General Information Society, 5th Framework Programme to test the virtual agency integrated transport concept.
The project is a European partnership, currently managed by an Italian consultancy company. However, there are challenges to implementing the system in Britain due to the existence of different sets of legislation for each type of transport. Policy changes will be required to maximise the potential of the concept and implement the system on a large scale in the UK.
For two years a pilot project has been carried out in Angus and Tuscany and the results of a review have prompted the EU to ask the consortium to roll the project out to the ten emerging states. The focus is to develop sustainable transport systems in countries that currently have low car use. Angus Transport Forum is now part of a Public Transport Working Group for the EU and is seen as a leader in this field.
THE OUTCOMES
The travel dispatch centre operating in Angus works on real time scheduling and carries around 120 people per month, while the one in Florence carries around 20,000 per month.
Feedback from operators suggests that the system increases use of public transport by 20% for commercial operators, saves statutory bodies around 20%, and also creates sustainable employment in rural areas.
THE LESSONS
The key to the success of this project has been the partnership working and the way in which those involved have worked around any issues that have arisen. The partnership has enabled shared experiences, strengths and expertise.
The project has been pioneering and has highlighted the benefit of rethinking transport strategies to policy makers internationally.
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