Ir e Vir: Enhancing Public Transport Coverage in Viseu Dão Lafões Region
About this good practice
The region of Viseu Dão Lafões presents challenges such as villages with less than 40 inhabitants lacking public transport (PT), areas lacking frequency of PT, and ~29% population with +65 years. The CIM-VDL developed and implemented an effective flexible PT service through taxi collaboration operating in the region as a complement to PT network. Passenger requests a journey until noon of the previous business day through a free phone call to the central. At the agreed hour, the taxi arrives at the selected stop.
The “Ir e Vir” service has flexible routes and designated stops, days and service time meaning passengers choose from the available schedule time and can only use the selected stop if there is not an available PT during the intended period. The travel management platform can be adjusted by the central operator, and an optimized route for the most nearby and available driver is set. The service is performed by a specific taxi (a visible logo on the dashboard). The service only runs if there are requests and the taxi will only stop at the stops that have requests.
The initiative has been upgraded, and includes a "Intermunicipal Service" with connections between county capitals and municipalities lacking PT links, and a "Train Service" connecting to train stations within the region.
The ticket equals the price of a bus ticket for similar distances. The service benefits remote areas population, and is also relevant in summer, due to a reduction in usual PT service.
Resources needed
The number of funding/financial resources used by month is approximately 15.000€ considering the following costs: 3 full-time human resources, travel management platform maintenance, free phone number, marketing and production material and payment of the cost of the travel for the taxi drivers.
Evidence of success
Since the beginning of this project we had about 20.000 passengers and the average number of passengers per vehicle is 2. The initiative has been constantly updating, and it currently involves almost 100 taxi drivers in the region.
Potential for learning or transfer
This initiative can be replicated to other regions, provided that a strong background of work to ensure trust between taxi drivers and the community in general is done. It is beneficial to have a great interaction with the population to help spread the word as well as a study of the region to see if, in addition to taxi drivers, there are also social institutions that could provide a vehicle and a driver for setting up the service. In fact, joining efforts are a must, and it will surely improves the coverage of the PT service in a light way, based on population needs. It is also important to have an efficient travel management platform that optimizes the route of the reservations for that day and allows the collaborator in the central to manage the taxi drivers, and set a notification to the driver to let them understand the service requirements.
Experience shows the benefits for the population, and also for taxi drivers, that could be without a regular service.
Further information
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Good practice owner
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