Multi-operator tool for managing Demand Responsive Transport (MultiDEPART)

The MultiDEPART project aims to develop tools to plan, manage, and monitor Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) solutions, targeting Public Transport Authorities (PTAs), and facilitate the harmonization and scalability of DRT services across European cities.

DRT services are living a gathering momentum in Europe, especially in medium and small size cities and low-density suburbs surrounding large metropolitan areas. DRT, also known as Bus On Demand or Microtransit, allows the provision of public transport service through flexible routes and schedules, based on actual demand collected from users through digital or other communication tools. A concept widely known and exploited for many years in rural areas (mostly based on telephone calls and manual routing of the services), has a growing potential to solve accessibility to urban low-demand areas thanks to the digitalization of public transport and mass adoption of mobile phones by many segments of the population.

The project will aim at facing these challenges by:

• Defining a common methodology and KPIs to plan, design and monitor a DRT service
• Develop the simulation and decision support tools required by PTAs to plan and manage DRT services
• To characterize the different operational models, public-private collaboration frameworks and economic models most suitable for different scenarios, synthetizing the best-practices in each type of area

This solution will be applied to Lisbon, Barcelona Metropolitan Area and Thessaloniki.

The project is developed by a consortium of 12 partners from different European countries. The consortium brings together universities, research centers, transport operators, public authorities and industry players.

UPC participates in the Task 2 A2102 - Requirements and Methodology and the task A2103 - DRT Planning Tools.

These tasks will be implemented with collaboration of inLab FIB, BIT research groups and CERTH. BIT research group will be responsible to develop a set of compact formulas to estimate the both the performance and operating cost of demand, CERTH will be responsible for the development of the Python models and inLab FIB will be responsible for the implementation of web application technology.