On 30 January 2024, @SRM organized a second event with the Metropolitan city of Bologna (CMBO for short, also a DREAM_PACE Associated Partner), Municipality of Bologna, ASCOM (the association representing over 16.000 companies, entrepreneurs and professionals from Bologna and its Metropolitan city), the CCU (user advisory committee representing consumer and user associations and the annual subscribers to the Bolognese public transport service), and the Diversity Team of the Bologna Municipality (i.e. the team that deals with all dimensions of diversity).
The meeting scope was threefold: (i) to present the DREAM_PACE project and the foreseen Bologna LL activities to the new stakeholders; (ii) to start the development of the desired scenario for the future DRT, with special focus on the planning and governance aspects. This includes the definition of the limits within which it is functional to develop the DRT scheme for the Bologna context; (iii) to consider the enlargement of the stakeholder group including other stakeholders, starting from the ones included in the Stakeholder Mapping exercise (e.g. considering the involvement of the mobility operators to design one or more possible DRT schemes, on which a feasibility study can then be carried out).
During the meeting, the @DREAM_PACE #Bologna LL stakeholders agree on adopting a collaborative approach in carrying out the LL activities, involving citizens, service providers, public authorities and other interested parties in co-design, creation and development of the DRT planning and governance aspects in the Bologna LL, which has a metropolitan scale and targets also the scalability of the solutions. Thanks to the DREAM_PACE structure, the LL benefits from the transnational debate active at the project level, where there are partners who cover a territorial role for the improvement of mobility.
As regards the citizens, their future involvement on specific issues can be promoted through ad hoc surveys, after identifying geographical areas and/or specific topics for the surveys. In its role as coordinator of the LL of Bologna, the SRM will encourage grassroots participation, in case promoting public events in collaboration with the LL stakeholders for presenting the DREAM_PACE achievements and collecting feedback and proposals.
As working method, the Bologna LL will analyse the DRT in all its aspects: it will not identify specific areas for a DRT service establishment, but will proceed with their “typological” identification, focusing on the definition and identification of “weak demand” areas to be served with the DRT service from scratch or through the remodulation of existing traditional line services into DRT services, thus optimizing the use of the resources available for public transport. The work of the Bologna LL stakeholder group will define a strategic evaluation and planning structure scalable at a regional level. In particular, it will define the characteristics of optimal DRT for the Bologna context and in which context it will be appropriate and rational to use DRT to provide the public transport service: the shared final objective of the LL is to include DRT already in the public transport planning phase, thus integrating it into the public transport network.
The next meeting of the Bologna LL stakeholder group, which will be held approximately in spring 2024, will continue the development of the future scenario by defining the limits within which it is functional to develop the DRT scheme for the Bologna context, simultaneously evaluating the involvement of mobility operators to design one or more possible DRT schemes. The activities of the LL will be supported by an external technical support that will be contracted by SRM.
Stay tuned!