Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

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MAJOR
INFRASTRUCTURE
PROJECT
Focus groups and surveys
The focus in relation to GUIDEMAPS was on the urban and
suburban buses connecting to MetroSur. The location of bus
stops was also investigated. The conclusions of these surveys
have led to proposals to change the itineraries of some of the
lines, frequencies and improvements to the bus stop location
close to MetroSur stations. These proposals were presented to
all stakeholders in Móstoles and many comments were received,
some of them were incorporated, but, in any case, all have been
answered by the CRTM technicians and commercial staff.
Different groups participated in the preparation of the
questionnaires. Mainly CRTM staff, bus operating company,
consultants and technicians of the municipalities served by
MetroSur took part in this task. They all agreed to allocate some
free space in the survey sheet to allow the respondent to
highlight any aspect not covered by the questionnaire and
relevant to his/her opinion according to his/her mobility needs.
Following the field work, specific counts and surveys were
conducted in March 2004 for suburban buses, with the
advantage that during November 2003, further field work was
carried out in order to compare the before/after scenario. To
provide information and receive feedback, the official CRTM
website and the phone information service was used. This field
work gave interesting results that coincided with the expectations
of CRTM technicians. For example:
Current bus lines lost about 30% demand when MetroSur
started to work.
The surveys also indicate that only 4% of the demand
arrives at MetroSur using bus interurban lines. This means
that in the beginning of MetroSur these lines were not a
complementary network for the main public mode that is
MetroSur.
The measures, that resulted from the participatory processes,
included e.g. the adjustment of the fixed supply during the one
year transition period; this measure was also brought forward to
other municipalities, trying to optimise the transport system as a
whole. Additionally, the surrounding area of MetroSur stations in
Móstoles was redesigned with better location of stops and
pedestrian accessibility.
Information campaigns
An extensive information campaign was conducted with leaflets,
press, TV spots, marketing campaigns and a total of 430.000
transport maps printed for all the households in the area (around
one million inhabitants), 100.000 being specifically from
Móstoles,, including the new routes of lines, services and
location of stops. In the meantime, a special contract (called
"Contrato-Programa") was signed with the operator for one year,
this timespan allocated to complete the major redesign of the bus
network in the area. As transport planners know it is a continuous
task that evolves with the City itself.
Lessons learned
The participation spectrum has been impressively
increased since the original conception of the
MetroSur project (construction of the Underground
Metro line as described before).
In general, the GUIDEMAPS tools applied have
improved the process and all stakeholders revealed,
in an informal or formal way, their satisfaction with
the way the project has been developed.
This process, still under analysis, reflects a positive
feeling from residents and users in relation to the
measures adopted, following their suggestions after
applying the GUIDEMAPS tools.
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