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Good Practices

EcoBus service in the rural area of Bad Gandersheim

EcoBus in Bad Gandersheim

City: Bad Gandersheim
Audience: Rural area
Topic: Collective passenger transport
Step in the SUMP cycle: Step 12: Review and learn lessons

More Information:
EcoBus

Activity description

The EcoBus service was a pilot project operating in the rural area of Bad Gandersheim from June until August 2018. It combined different routes with similar starts and destinations calculated by an algorithm. Passengers could request door to door rides within an area of 100 km², which comprised the railway hub of Kreiensen, thus ensuring good connections with longer-distant means of transport. The population served was around 14.000 inhabitants, with an average of 4 buses operating simultaneously, and with operating hours (daily 8 AM until 11 PM, Mon – Fri starting at 6 AM, Fri and Sat nights until 2 AM next day) that covered different mobility needs. The price was the same as for scheduled public line service and tickets for EcoBus were integrated with those for scheduled bus and train service. Booking was managed via app, internet or telephone, ensuring to be easily accessible by different target groups. Reservations could be made for spontaneous requests or hours ahead for the same day. The routes were calculated in real time so that the passenger received a confirmation only after a few seconds.

Lessons learned

Lessons learned from this project are that reservations by phone are a considerable cost factor. The human factor is a big challenge (humans as passengers, drivers or call-center agents). Electronic maps must constantly be updated and adjusted. The realistic ratio between the number of EcoBuses and the service area is absolutely crucial. Also, the practice showed that demand responsive transit like EcoBus is not suitable for peak hours (especially school children traffic) and for long distance rides (> 10 km) as pooling and bus allocation becomes more and more difficult.