A Scheme to Improve the Effectiveness of the Bus Services in Lombardy Through Tenders

In Lombardy public subsidies to bus companies have increased in the last ten years, while market share and quality of public transport have declined. In 1996, the Lombardy Region began a reform of public local transport. In line with EU regulations, the regional transport acts 13/1995 and 22/1998 aim to improve the effectiveness of the public transport through competition and economic incentives. This paper describes the scheme developed for the tenders. In the present concession system, the routes and the schedules for each service are decided by the Region. The reform calls for tenders for a network divided into areas. The areas must be homogeneous in terms of transport demand and attractive for the tenderisers. Their size is chosen to make the management of the services affordable for sufficient competitors. A methodology has been developed to support the grantor in setting the following service requirements for each area: the links to be included in the network and the minimum number of seats to be assured by each route. Further requirements concerning fares, environmental and quality standards, and the information provided to users and to the transport authority are also set. The effectiveness of the planned services is encouraged by economic incentives: part of the subsidy is paid only if specific objectives set by the public authorities are met. The criteria to compare the offers are complex, because of the need to evaluate not only the tendered price, but also the effectiveness of the network and schedule proposals, as well as the usefulness of the additional routes and seats served or the improved quality. A Decision Support System (DSS) software application based on multi-criteria analysis automatically chooses the best project, ensuring a transparent procedure. The reliability of this evaluation system has been tested in simulated tender involving representatives of Lombardy bus companies.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

MISTRAL: An Information System for Local Public Transport Services in Lombardy

The local public transport system in the Lombardy Region is to be restructured in order to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public transportation. In line with EU and national legislation, public authorities are to be directly responsible for the planning and financial support of public transport, stipulating contracts with train and bus companies setting out specific requirements on both sides for the supply of transportation services (regional authorities for rail transport and local authorities for bus transport). Monitoring of the transport system is therefore a key activity for the Region in planning local railway services and promoting – in agreement with Provinces – a regional, trans-modal transport network which makes better use of transport facilities. MISTRAL is a project which aims to define an information system to support regional and local authority planning of transport activities by: · monitoring the contracts for transportation services that public authorities are to stipulate with train and bus companies; · evaluating the transport system through indicators related to mobility and transport demand, bus and train supply (involving both transportation and economic aspects) and all issues affecting public transport (e.g.: distribution of public facilities such as schools, possibility of park-and-ride etc.); · providing support to decision and negotiation processes with methodologies based on multicriteria analysis, sensitivity analysis and analytical techniques for solving conflict; · providing standard information and procedures regarding the regional transport system to public authorities, transport companies and users.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

The Role of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Transportation

In line with EU regulations, the Italian Government started the reform of public local transport in order to transfer competences to Regional and Local Administrations and to move to a competitive tendering system. To pursue the reform at the local level it is crucial to define a common framework (by sharing information and a quantitative methodology) where Regions and Local Administrations can operate. Decision support systems (DSS) and information systems are valuable tools to support these activities and, in general, transportation planning. An information system, such as the one Poliedra-Politecnico di Milano is designing for the Lombardy Region and its Plan of Mobility and Transports, has to accomplish the following tasks: • the monitoring of the Plan, by comparing information among different years, Administrations or fields (e.g. public or freight transport), also in relation to standard reference values; • its assessment, to check the performance of the Plan as a whole and of each field and to reveal possible imbalances and critical situations; • the appraisal of projects, to introduce homogeneous informative contents into the projects; this helps to carry out project assessment according to a standard and transparent procedure and provides the decision maker with appropriate tools to identify priorities; • the appraisal in the tendering process, to define the tendering scheme and the criteria to evaluate offers

The Role of Decision Support Systems (DSS) in Transportation

In line with EU regulations, the Italian Government started the reform of public local transport in order to transfer competences to Regional and Local Administrations and to move to a competitive tendering system. To pursue the reform at the local level it is crucial to define a common framework (by sharing information and a quantitative methodology) where Regions and Local Administrations can operate. Decision support systems (DSS) and information systems are valuable tools to support these activities and, in general, transportation planning. An information system, such as the one Poliedra-Politecnico di Milano is designing for the Lombardy Region and its Plan of Mobility and Transports, has to accomplish the following tasks: • the monitoring of the Plan, by comparing information among different years, Administrations or fields (e.g. public or freight transport), also in relation to standard reference values; • its assessment, to check the performance of the Plan as a whole and of each field and to reveal possible imbalances and critical situations; • the appraisal of projects, to introduce homogeneous informative contents into the projects; this helps to carry out project assessment according to a standard and transparent procedure and provides the decision maker with appropriate tools to identify priorities; • the appraisal in the tendering process, to define the tendering scheme and the criteria to evaluate offers

Participation in multi-criteria decisions: a software tool and a case study

The paper describes AMACI, a software prototype supporting the decision process in the choice among alternatives. AMACI has been designed in the context of environmental assessment, considering participation essential to elicit interests and judgment parameters of the different groups involved in the decision. Therefore, the software makes possible a clear and transparent communication and supports the active involvement of the stakeholders. The main features of AMACI are the following: it provides a framework for the description of a decision problem and structures the decision making process for each decision-maker with the integrated use of trees and matrices; it makes use of the classical multiattribute decision analysis, including tools to define utility functions; it computes the ranking of the alternatives; it helps a group of decision-makers in dealing with uncertainty and in managing the possible conflict. AMACI has been used to perform the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the local planning process of the Municipality of Trezzo sull’Adda (Italy). The main steps of the procedure and the use of AMACI are briefly described: identification of stakeholders (public, relevant authorities); definition of alternatives; identification of the evaluation criteria; elicitation of the decision-maker preferences; estimation of the effects of the alternatives; comparison between alternatives; sensitivity analysis

La ricerca e le sue fasi

Nel rapporto finale della ricerca Interreg Progetto Mapsharing. Individuazione di strumenti e metodologie condivise per l'applicazione della VAS tra il Friuli Venezia Giulia e la Sloveni