The Definition of a Common Framework for Public Local Transport: Tools to Support Transport Planning in the Lombardy Region

In line with EU regulations, the Italian Government started the reform of public transport, aiming to liberalise and to privatise the public transport market and to transfer competence from central Government to Regions for railway networks and from Regions to Local Administrations for bus services. Beginning from 2001 each Local Administration will be called upon every three years to define or to update the strategies about its own bus network. In the Triennial Services Programme each Administration will have to redesign the bus services in order to answer the citizens needs in the best way and to split each network in different areas to set up tenders. This paper introduces the activities and tools that Poliedra developed to support the Lombardy Region in governing and in co-ordinating Local Administrations with Triennial Services Programmes tasks. The main activities are the definition of a common framework where Local Administrations can operate and the development of some software tools to support the analysis of the bus network and its critical situations. All the activities and software tools are supported by a quantitative methodology, based on the definition of some meaningful indicators which can be used to measure and to compare the different local situations and to quantify the targets Local Administrations have to achieve. Software tools, integrated within the Regional Information System for Local Public Transport Services (MISTRAL), support the redesign of the bus network in strong co-ordination with railways and also identifying potential low demand areas which could be better dealt with an innovative transport system.