nova terra special on the eu supported project ‘connected cities’ / june 2006

Special Edition
3 connected cities: the sequeL
4 discovering a neglected backyard
9 ‘free’ public transport
14 accessibility for all – eliminating barriers across europe
18 paratransit systems
23 supporting sustainable urban planning and development:
three approaches
31 the mobilien high-performance bus network
Nova Terra Special on the EU
Content 4 9 14
supported project
‘Connected Cities’, June 2006.
http://connectedcities.net

Publisher
Nirov, The Hague,
The Netherlands
(www.nirov.nl)

Editorial Board
Jan Hein Boersma
Evelien Brandes
Yttje Feddes
Huib Haccou
Frank van der Hoeven
(issue editor)
Derek Middleton
(English editing)
Michiel Smit (editor in chief)
Josja van der Veer
Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos
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Editorial A case study for the Mount Pelion region in Greece

3 connected cities: the sequel 18 paratransit systems

Frank van der Hoeven Christine Mastrogiannidou, George Kozanidis and Athanasios

Ziliaskopoulos

Project part-financed 4 discovering a neglected backyard

by the European Union Berry de Jong and Frank van der Hoeven supporting sustainable urban
23
planning and development: three
9 ‘free’ public transport approaches
Michel van Hulten Robin Seijdel, Pieter Bots. and Anne Dullemond

accessibility for all – eliminating

14 the mobilien high-performance
31
barriers across europe bus network
Thomas Wagener and Stefan van der Spek Sophie Labbouz, Youssef Diab and Michel Christen

The regular Nova Terra Cover photo: Ellen Houtman, The Hague, The Netherlands
magazine is a Habiforum
initiative
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 3
Connected cities: the sequel
Frank van der Hoeven, TU Delft/ Faculty of Architecture, Lead Partner Connected Cities
At the time of writing we are well into the second
semester of the EU Interreg IIIC Connected Cities
project. In each semester the major events take place in
a new location. This time we will be at Mount Pelion,
east of Volos in central Greece. The topics and issues
shift as well. The first semester focused on Dutch
practices. As lead partner, we invited experts from the
province of Zuid-Holland to organise a showcase
workshop. They organised activities in which the other
partners were invited to learn from and contribute to
their own policies and design tasks for linking
sustainable mobility and urban (or rural) development
within a complex urban network. What Zuid-Holland
demonstrated was the Stedenbaan project. Its aim is to
concentrate much of the new housing demand in close
proximity to existing and new train stations in the
province, closely matching the Transport Development
Area (TDA) philosophy advocated by the Royal Institution
of Chartered Surveyors. Our colleagues at the provincial
council wanted to discuss which station areas they
should prioritise in the development of the network.
It was only when I travelled for the first time to Volos
that I became fully aware of the complexity of that task.
Of course I was somewhat worried that it would not be
easy to grasp the difference between station areas in
Leiden, The Hague, Delft, Rotterdam and Dordrecht.
And it could prove even more difficult to say we should
prefer a station area in Capelle aan den IJssel over one in
Zoetermeer. Moreover, the representatives of the
European New Town Platform might have an opinion –
after all, Capelle and Zoetermeer are two members of
their organisation. But for someone who has just arrived
from Patras in Greece? Yes, we expected that the local
context would be confusing.
So I stood for the first time at Athens central station
(Larissa Station), ready to take the next intercity to
Larissa. Athens is a city of four million inhabitants, but
Larissa Station is equal in size and number of train
services to Delft in Zuid-Holland, a town of less than
100,000 inhabitants. Near Larissa Station there are no
urban projects, no plans for urban transformations
centred on the station. And the station itself does not
reflect such ambition. Transport development is
nowhere to be seen at what we would expect to be the
main public transport hub in the country. Before starting
a delicate discussion on what stations to prioritise in
Zuid-Holland, we could have started by explaining the
main idea of the Stedenbaan project from the very
beginning. But we should not refrain from exchanging
our ideas because of the tectonic differences that may
exist between our cities. These hiccups are bound to
happen and might just be part of the learning process.
In this Nova Terra special edition we report back on
some of the showcases and lectures held in Brussels.
Berry de Jong reflects on Eindhoven’s backyard,
discovered through our Connected Cities project.
Michel van Hulten advocates the benefits of the Flemish
practice of ‘free’ public transport, which began in
Eindhoven’s backyard. Thomas Wagener addresses
another obstacle to users of public transport: physical
barriers. Christine Mastrogiannidou looks ahead to one
of the showcase workshops in Greece with her article on
paratransit. She addresses the social dimension of
sustainable mobility. How can we prevent social
exclusion caused by inadequate transport opportunities?
Robin Seijdel discusses various ways to support
sustainable urban planning and development. His tools
will be deployed in Magnesia’s harbour workshop.
Finally, Sophie Labbouz reports on one of the largest Bus
Rapid Transit projects in Europe today, le Mobilien. Z
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 4

Discovering Location of SRE in The Netherlands.

a neglected backyard
Eindhoven has always kept its eyes on Randstad Holland, content to
be a Dutch ‘brainport’. But in an era of open borders the region now
looks to Leuven (Belgium) and Aachen (Germany) for greater critical
mass to compete on a European scale. For too long Eindhoven has
ignored its ‘backyard’: the Belgian province of Limburg.

Berry de Jong, SRE, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Frank van der Hoeven, TU Delft, Faculty of Architecture, The Netherlands + Connected Cities
Illustrations: Frank van der Hoeven (unless indicated otherwise)

The Eindhoven region (700,000 inhabitants)
is a major high-technology cluster. This
position is recognised in Dutch economic,
innovation and planning policies with
designations like ‘Brainport Eindhoven’ and
‘Top Technology Region’. The region is a
‘technology and innovation hotspot’ with
strongly developed R&D activities. It has the
highest patent density in Europe and a top
quality knowledge infrastructure. The
leading regional clusters of mechatronics,
automotive, medical and information
technology have prospered, while new
technologies such as embedded systems,
nanotechnology and life sciences are
evolving alongside a dynamic cluster of
design, business development, education
and creative industries. It is due to the
Eindhoven region that Noord-Brabant is the
only Dutch province to meet the EU goal of
spending at least 3.0% of gross domestic
product (GDP) on research and development.
Forty per cent of private R&D investment in
the Netherlands finds its way into the region.
The 21 municipal councils in the Eindhoven
region collaborate in the Eindhoven Regional
Partnership (SRE) to promote their common
interests. The SRE coordinates local
government activities in the field of spatial
planning, traffic and transport, housing, the
environment, recreation and tourism,
education, health, culture and social and
economic policy. The purpose is to bring
about balanced development across the
region. But to compete on European and
global levels the region needs to create
economies of scale and scope. If Eindhoven
collaborates with other regions it can create
a critical mass in research, development and
innovation.
the eindhoven-leuven-aachen triangle
(elat)
More recently, SRE has been working in the
Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen Technology
Triangle (ELAT) with Leuven and Aachen.
Their proximity on a European scale gives the
cities the additional mass they need to act as
a single region. The main goal of the ELAT
project is to develop and implement a joint
innovation strategy for the technology
triangle, using ICT to tie in knowledge
institutes, businesses and public authorities.
The strategy is to make the ELAT an
internationally recognised top region for
technology and improve the economic
climate. Transnational cooperation between
Eindhoven, Leuven and Aachen means a
larger knowledge base, a wider urban scale
and greater urban diversity. Because
specialised companies in the knowledge
economy need to cooperate to develop new
products, services, techniques and concepts,
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 5

5NIVERSITY
,EADINGßTECHNOLOGYßINSTITUTE
2ESEARCHßCAMPUS
,EADINGßTECHNOLOGYßCOMPANY
3PARTACUSßREGIOTRAM
(IGHßSPEEDßTRAIN
2EGIONALßAIRPORT

ELAT placed between the Regions of Excellence taking part in the EU sponsored PAXIS ELAT (including Liège): the regional distribution of high-tech industry,
programme (Pilot Action of Excellence on Innovative Start-ups). knowledge institutes and major infrastructure.

The ELAT-project is still driven exclusively by

economic initiatives, but it raises questions
about the wider benefits of cross-border
development
direct contacts are needed for the exchange
of tacit knowledge. This network economy
and acts more and more like an ecosystem
and ELAT offers the opportunity for its
further development.
The relatively young ELAT project is still
driven exclusively by economic initiatives,
but it raises questions about the wider
benefits of cross-border development. The
regions of Eindhoven, Aachen and Leuven
have always looked away from each other.
The Eindhoven region has strong economic
relations with the nearby Dutch city regions
of Tilburg, ’s-Hertogenbosch and Breda, and
with the Randstad (Amsterdam, The Hague,
Utrecht and Rotterdam). The Aachen region
traditionally looks to the Rhine-Ruhr area,
and the Leuven region has links with the
Flemish Diamond (Brussels, Antwerp, Ghent).
Their traditional ‘backyard’ is relatively
underdeveloped. Whereas in the past, the
national borders hampered the development
of these regions, now the open borders and
new economics offer opportunities for the
economic growth and spatial development of
Eindhoven, Leuven and Aachen. But renewed
regional growth will not automatically mould
these three regions into a single new urban
network. They need to strengthen their real-
world ties as well.
connected cities
Making these physical links is the aim of the
Connected Cities project launched by the
SRE. The idea is to create a sustainable
connection between Eindhoven and Hasselt,
the capital of the Belgian province of
Limburg. Hasselt lies in the very heart of
Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen Triangle and
could become an important public transport
hub connecting these cities. Liège cannot be
excluded from this transport network, as a
single look at the map confirms. The resulting
diamond shaped region includes the
Eindhoven area (SRE), the Leuven area
(eastern part of Flemish Brabant), the
Belgian province of Limburg, the Maastricht-
Aachen area and the Liège urban region.
There is even a historic precedent for
including Liège in such a scheme. Between
1866 and the Second World War a direct rail
link between Eindhoven and Liège did exist,
providing direct connections between
Amsterdam and Liège three times a day.
It was shut down gradually during the
second half of the century. Although the rails
have gone, the routes are still there. Recently
they have re-emerged as key components in
the Spartacus plan by the Belgian transport
authority De Lijn, an ambitious new plan to
improve the quality of public transport in the
province of Limburg. Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 6
spartacus regional transport initiative
Like many other European regions Limburg
possesses a rudimentary rail network, which
provides connections to the cities of Antwerp,
Brussels and Liège. These connections are
relatively slow and infrequent and make a
very modest contribution to the modal split.
There are no connections with the
neighbouring Dutch provinces Limburg and
Noord-Brabant (Maastricht, Eindhoven).
In recent years De Lijn Limburg has pursued a
successful strategy for attracting new
passengers. They have made deals with the
local authorities in several towns and cities
to provide ‘free’ public transport for all their
inhabitants or selected target groups. Local
bus lines in particular have been used more
intensively. But it has not stimulated the use
of public transport over longer distances.
This is what the Spartacus plan sets out to
achieve. It involves no less than a
restructuring of the entire public transport
The Spartacus regiotram lines extended into the
Eindhoven region an Noord-Limburg (Lommel).
Linking public transport
networks is just a small
first step, but it could be
a breakthrough in the
cross-border thinking that
Europe is all about
network in Limburg. And it is no academic
exercise, or one of those mobility plans that
regions love to develop but fail to realise.
The Spartacus plan rests on solid ground: it is
explicitly mentioned in the Flemish coalition
agreement and the necessary funds have
been secured.
At first glance Limburg might seem an odd
place for innovations in public transport.
The Belgian province of Limburg (800,000
inhabitants) lacks most of the ‘urban’
characteristics experts would consider
necessary for developing a successful public
transport network. The urban area is very
dispersed and densities rather low. But in
1997 the regional capital Hasselt launched a
unique experiment with ‘free’ public
transport. It resulted in a significant increase
in the use of local buses. Whereas in January
1997 only 32,000 passengers used the bus in
Limburg’s capital, in January 1998 the
number of passengers had risen to 269,000,
more than eight times as many. Hasselt
became a model for many other towns
throughout Belgium. The ‘free’ public
transport initiative was the brainchild of
Hasselt’s mayor Steve Stevaert, who went on
to become Flemish Minister of Mobility and
Spatial Planning and in 2005 regional
governor of Limburg. Public transport in
Limburg clearly has solid political backing.
In the case of Spartacus there is also a sense
of urgency. The regional and national public
transport services in the province are in a
poor state and it is widely acknowledged
that something has to be done. It helps that
Spartacus is not a mega project absorbing
billions of euros, but requires a rather
modest investment in the infrastructure
of between 150 and 200 million euros.
An additional 10 million euros per year are
needed to operate the network.
The Spartacus plan proposes a network of
improved rail links with the larger cities in
Belgium, supported by regional light rail and
regional connections. Public transport hubs
tie this network together. In essence,
Spartacus consists of four main components:
1 De Lijn plans to upgrade existing rail
connections with Brussels, Antwerp, Liège
and Leuven. Frequent and direct services
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 7
will eliminate the need to transfer and cut
travel time significantly.
2 Spartacus proposes the introduction of
regional light rail, or regiotram. Most of
these regiotram connections use railway
lines that were closed during the second
half of the twentieth century. Large
stretches of these routes are now used as
cycle paths. The Limburg regional plan
identified such routes as lines that can be
converted back to rail with only relatively
light investment. Three regiotram lines
connecting Maastricht, Maasmechelen
and Noord Limburg are proposed. The
Noord Limburg line includes the option to
reach into the Eindhoven region.
3 Where passenger volume is modest,
regional bus lines are proposed.
Significant reductions in travel time are
foreseen.
4 Finally, the Spartacus plan includes the
development of a number of public
transport hubs where all these systems
meet and connect, including Hasselt,
Genk, Maasmechelen and Noord Limburg.
For the time being Spartacus will reach into
Noord Limburg, covering more than half the
distance between Hasselt and Eindhoven.
The question is whether Eindhoven can
bridge the remaining half. The Connected
Cities network organised several expert
meetings and workshops on this task, which
generated a step-by-step approach that
offers a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ to
make an adequate response that bridges the
gap. The SRE would have to determine with
De Lijn Limburg how the link between
Eindhoven and Hasselt affects the position
of the Noord Limburg public transport hub.
The advanced public transport system
developed for the Eindhoven region over the
last ten years is not a regiotram, as in Belgian
Limburg, but the Phileas Bus Rapid Transit
system, which uses dedicated traffic lanes
and futuristic vehicles. Somehow these
systems, regiotram and Phileas, have to be
knitted together.
connecting elat
All in all these are not easy questions to
answer. The steps to be taken in this process
are nevertheless straightforward:
1 SRE needs a vision that provides a context
for the sustainable link between
Eindhoven and Hasselt. The Eindhoven-
Leuven-Aachen Triangle (Liège included)
can provide just that. The Eindhoven-
Hasselt link should be instrumental in
strengthening the real world ties
High Tech Campus Eindhoven, in future serviced by
Spartacus? (source: High Tech Campus Eindhoven)
between Limburg (the neglected
backyard) and the ELAT cities.
2 The scales of operation have to be
determined. Initial studies show that the
travel time between Eindhoven and
Hasselt can be kept close to 60 minutes.
In that case the link can serve all
necessary scales: inter-regional, regional
and intra-regional. Although this seems
contrary to generally accepted wisdom, in
this case public transport services on all
scales are lacking in this border area and
introducing one system will provide a
significant improvement on all scales.
A link that bridges the distance between
Eindhoven and Hasselt in 60 minutes will
provide reduced travel times on long and
short journeys. It will improve the
connection Eindhoven-Brussels, Hasselt-
Amsterdam, Eindhoven-Leuven, Eindhoven-
Hasselt, Eindhoven-Noord Limburg, and
even Eindhoven-Valkenswaard.
3 The desirable and possible connections
should be determined. Working with a
trunk line with branches offers a flexible
solution that fits the Limburg context.
This trunk line runs straight from
Eindhoven to Hasselt, with as few detours
as possible to keep travel time close to
60 minutes. The trunk can branch off in Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 8
Stedelijke drager
Woonkern
Woondorp
Woonpark
Woonlint
Stedelijke open ruimte
Te reserveren woonuitbreidingsgebied
Erkende woninggroep
Te verwijderen woninggroep
Te verdichten knooppunt / centrumgebied
Suggestie tot selectie van heide-heuvel als één woonkern
Suggestie tot selectie als woonkern
Uit te rusten regionaal bedrijventerrein
Bouwrijp bedrijventerrein
Bestaande industriezone
KMO-zone (na gebruik te herbestemmen)
(Toekomstig) Zandontginning
Reservegebied grootschalige stedelijke ontwikkeling
Stedelijke boulevard
Kernwinkelgebied
Noord Limburg towards Lommel, a city
that is expanding to 40 – 50,000
inhabitants.
4 Locating the Noord Limburg transport
hub and related urban development
requires careful consideration in
weighing up the different alternatives.
This will take some time. From the
perspective of ELAT the capacity of the
hub to provide space for the next
university, technology institute, research
campus or technology cluster should be
examined.
5 The overall routing of the line is in part
pre-determined by the existing and past
rail infrastructure.
6 The final choice of system (regiotram or
Phileas) is a tricky one. Further work could
Masterplan for Lommel, set to accommodate
40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. (source: gemeente
Lommel, Belgium)
Somehow these
systems, regiotram
and Phileas,
have to be knitted
together
Zoekzone overslagactiviteiten
Station
Suggestie toplocatie kleinhandel
Zone voor specifieke voorzieningen
Gebied met overwegend natuurfunctie
Grootschalig bos-, natuur- of heiecomplex
Toeristisch-recreatieve voorziening
Toeristisch-recreatieve voorziening in groen kader
Zoekzone uitbreiding toeristisch-recreatieve voorziening
Beekvallei
Open ruimte-verbinding
Natuurverbinding
Bufferstrook
Primaire weg I
Secundaire weg II (suggestie)
Secundaire weg III (suggestie)
Tracé n769 in onderzoek
Lokale weg I
Lokale weg II
focus on the possibility of these systems step towards a network that strengthens the
sharing one and the same track between real world ties between Eindhoven, Aachen,
Eindhoven and Noord Limburg (Lommel). Leuven and Liège and their central backyard.
Both regiotram and Phileas use guided Linking public transport networks is just a
vehicles. If regiotram and Phileas can be small first step, but it could be a
combined, it would make ELAT the first breakthrough in the cross border thinking
testing ground in the world for comparing that Europe is all about. Z
Bus Rapid Transit with Light Rail on a one
to one basis. The results may surprise us.
real world ties
Arriving from two rather different
backgrounds, the Dutch region of Eindhoven
and the Belgian province of Limburg are
looking for ways to connect to each others
region’s by advanced public transport.
Establishing a sustainable link between
Eindhoven and Hasselt could become a first
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 9

‘Free’ Public Transport

Michel van Hulten

Many governments are willing to invest hundreds of millions or even

billions of euros to improve public transport systems. But they usually
fail to ensure that capacity is used to the full. One answer is to change
how we pay for public transport.

Forty years ago, the Dutch used 100 m2 of

urbanised space per person. Now this is 400 m2.
Theoretical this means that the average
distance from person to person has grown
from 10 to 20 meters. It has doubled. This is
the basic explanation for our growing
mobility. The average person uses more space
and the distances between destinations are
growing.

The expansion of urbanised space is caused

not so much by our growing population, but
to a greater degree by our increasing wealth.
Richer people have bigger houses and
gardens, greater assets and more cars.
A reliable expectation is that our wealth and
income will grow by an additional 45 per cent
over the next thirty years. As people become
richer, commuting and other journeys
become relatively cheaper, while the average
commuting time remains relatively constant.
Now able to travel longer distances to work,
people look for places to live, work and spend
leisure time at ever more distant locations.

Culture is changing too. The number of single

households is growing. More people of
foreign descent and more women are driving
instead of using public transport. Travel
patterns are becoming more criss-cross,
reflecting the rise in multiple purpose
journeys for work, childcare, shopping and
recreation, for which cars are extremely well
suited. Moreover, people continue to use their
cars as they get older as long they feel
healthy and fit enough. The attractions of the
Illustration: Wendy Ramaekers, Maastricht, The Netherlands private car are obvious. Y
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 10
Private and public payments for transport in the Netherlands
amount to about € 25 billion (not counting freight transport, which
accounts for an additional € 15 billion). Just a small fraction of this,
between € 4 and € 5 billion per year, is for public transport. Most car
drivers think that the state takes more from them than they receive
in the form of roads and services. But just to park all our cars costs
national, provincial and municipal government € 5.5 billion each year
(excluding parking costs on private land or privately owned garages).
In return, car users pay the authorities about € 1 billion in parking
fees and parking tickets. On average each car owner receives a
public subsidy of some € 600, double the amount we pay as a
subsidy for the whole of the public transport system. This is rarely
mentioned when politicians and transport researchers discuss the
subsidies (around 60 per cent of costs) paid to public transport by
the state.
On average each car
owner receives a public
subsidy of some € 600,
double the amount we
pay as a subsidy for the
whole of the public
transport system
grim future
If we look at the mobility and urbanisation problems in the
Netherlands, we face a grim future. The 16 million people in the
Netherlands use in total 6,400 km 2 of urbanised space (including all
infrastructure) out of a national territory of 36,000 km 2. The rest is
agricultural land, forest and water. We have 200 cars per km2,
or 7 million cars in total (not counting the million lorries). In 2000,
the Dutch had 423 private cars per 1,000 inhabitants, far less than
the 785 in the USA, which passed 423 in 1970. The picture from
America backs up the forecasted rise in the number of cars in the
Netherlands to 630 per 1,000 inhabitants in about 20 years from
now. With a population growing to 17 to 18 million in 2030/40, this
will mean more than 300 cars per km2, with less than 3.500 m2 of
the national territory available for each car. Few can imagine what it
will be like, in less than 25 years time, to have three cars parked or
driving for every two now.
Given these expected numbers of people and cars in the near future,
it is no wonder that reliable sources predict road traffic to increase
to between 1.5 and 2.8 times present levels in 2030, possibly more if
the trend towards fewer passengers per car continues. Car occupancy
rates went down from 1.71 per car in 1985 to 1.57 in 2002. In the same
period the number of vehicle-kilometres rose by 47 per cent from
62.7 to 91.9 billion. This would not have been a problem, had the
available road length per car not gone down, and continues to fall.
At its present level, if all the cars in the country were on the roads at
the same time, traffic everywhere would grind to a halt. Luckily, on
average the Dutch drive only about 16,000 km per year. Even at a
low average speed of 50 km/hr, this is less than one hour a day.
The road length available per car is diminishing year after year.
In 1993 each car could claim 17.47 m of road. In 2002 this had shrunk
to 15.25, despite the construction in this period of 12.599 km of
roads. To have maintained this 17.47 m per car, an additional 17,089
km or roads would have been necessary, or 1,700 km each year, at a
cost of at least € 4 million/km. Annual costs would have risen by an
additional € 6.8 billion, if not more. None of the political parties in
Parliament, not to mention the Government, has been or is inclined
to do this.
This picture is familiar to all who live and work in circumstances
that resemble those in the Netherlands. A rising population,
increasing wealth, changing habits, greater use of private cars, more
daily trips and multipurpose journeys of ever increasing length, and
a road network that provides a decreasing amount of space per car.
On top of all this, costs per vehicle-kilometre are falling in relation
to the passenger-prices per kilometre by public transport and
growing personal incomes. The pattern is familiar to anyone from
any urbanised area in the Western world. Car parks and roads
everywhere are overcrowded, while many public transport services
run with empty vehicles, the logical precursor to the closure of lines
and stops. We need a way to reverse this trend.
the road pricing stick
The most drastic remedy is to stop funding public transport and
spend the money on road widening schemes and the construction of
new roads and car parks. This would satisfy the continuing call by
politicians (in response to public demand) to build more roads to
solve the problem of the diminishing road length per car. The latest
proposed remedy is road pricing. In essence, the aim is to make room
on the roads for those who need to drive and can afford to pay.
It would force others (including those with similar needs) who are
less inclined – or less able to pay – to use other roads, or travel at
different times or to other destinations.
Road pricing sounds like a healthy economic proposition. The price
put on the use of roads and car parks can be increased to the level
at which the demand for space balances the supply of space.
Free market competition will do the rest. Raising the price of using
private cars will be more effective in limiting the use of cars than
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 11
Perception costs disappear... (photo: Justin Jin/ HH)
Relative development of public transport in the Netherlands and Flanders. 1997=100.
(source: Frank van der Hoeven, TU Delft)
any other measure and will end congestion. Those who can pay,
or who can make the tax office pay, or their employer, will be the
private car drivers of the future.
Whether this is the best choice for society, is another question.
Road-pricing is a good economic proposition for all those who have
the free choice to satisfy their individual mobility needs, either by
walking, bicycle or private car, or by taking the bus, tram, metro or
train. But not everybody has that choice. It is not a healthy
proposition for those who, for a wide variety of reasons, cannot
make that choice between private or collective transport. Between
7 am and 7 pm this is true for about half the population in our type
of urbanised areas.
transport poverty
Dutch national statistics show that for years about a quarter of
all households have had no car at their disposal, 22 per cent because
they are too poor and 3 per cent because they are very
environmentally conscious and do not want to use a private car.
With a fast growing elderly population, we can expect that in the
near future more and more people will rely on public transport
because they are no longer physically or financially able to drive.
Other people, particular in heavy urbanised areas, will view the
rising density of cars and conclude that the car is no longer a useful
mode of transport. A second quarter of Dutch households have a car
available, but it leaves in the morning when (in most cases) father
goes to work. Mother stays at home with the children.
This combined half of the population depend on public transport for
all trips that cannot be made on foot or by bicycle. Unless we want
to isolate these people and exclude them from public life, we cannot
choose the most drastic remedy of dismantling all public transport.
Moreover, the total disappearance from our streets of all public
vehicles would not save enough money to finance all the additional
roads we would have to build. Assuming that mobility needs would
remain the same, the result would be rising congestion on the roads,
which is in nobody’s interest. Neither would it help us to lower
ambient concentrations of CO 2 and particulates to meet our
obligations under international treaties. Buses have a bad
reputation for pollution, but this is not justified by comparative
emission data per person per kilometre, which clearly show that
even the cleanest car is more polluting than airplanes, buses and
trains (in descending order) at ‘normal’ occupancy rates. The total Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 12

The Belgian model takes an opposite

approach: not the stick, but a carrot.

Vertical v horizontal. Why do lifts and escalators in buildings offer ‘free’ vertical traffic (paid for collectively), whereas we have to pay individually for horizontal trips
between buildings by public transport? (Photo: Cote Maison / Hollandse Hoogte)
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 13
To be successful, ‘free’ public
transport must be backed by
additional measures
surface area covered by traffic infrastructure would also expand,
which is not exactly in line with our endeavours to save the
environment. The number of traffic accidents would most probably
rise, with more dead and wounded.
the carrot – collectively paid transport
Recent Belgian experience shows that another approach is likely
to be less expensive and more effective: ‘free’ public transport on
local and regional busses, trams and metro. First introduced in 1997
in Hasselt and in Brussels in 2002, it was extended the same year
throughout Belgium for the elderly (65+), the recognised handicapped
and the under sixes. Their travel is paid for by regional government.
Any other contracting party, such as a municipality or a company,
can make similar agreements with the public transport companies.
The Postal Service, Belgacom and the Federal Government have
already made such agreements for their staff, sometimes including
their partners. The Flemish Government paid € 15 million for the first
year of ‘free’ public transport in 2001 for the 1 million elderly.
The Federal Government agreed to pay € 79 million each year for its
65,000 employees (including railway workers), beginning in late
2004. Some private companies (the minister recently mentioned
‘1100 companies’) have already followed this example, including the
offer of ‘free’ public transport in labour contracts with their staff.
The companies pay 80 per cent, the government 20 per cent.
About 100 of the 300 Flemish municipalities have reached
agreements with the regional public transport company ‘De Lijn’
covering additional segments of their populations.
Young people aged 12 to 24 enjoy cheap annual season tickets for
local and regional lines, which have become highly popular. Belgian
Railways is not included in the ‘free’ public transport programme,
but for the elderly (including foreigners) any return fare after
09.00 am costs only € 4 in second class.
The Belgian model takes an opposite approach to pricing transport:
not raising the cost of using private cars, but reducing the price of
public transport. Not the stick, but a carrot. The results are
miraculous. In the five Flemish provinces with 6 million inhabitants
offering free local and regional transport to all seniors, handicapped
and young children, the number of users grew from 260 million trips
in 2001 to 360 million in 2003 and 518 million in 2005. Further
growth is expected.
social and economic policy
Discussions on ‘free’ public transport tend to treat this topic as a
traffic issue. In my view it is social and economic policy. It is social
policy because as it helps to prevent social isolation of the elderly
and the handicapped, and it redistributes income and the costs of
living. Under Belgian progressive income taxes (as in most other
countries) ‘the rich’ pay relatively more into the public purse, from
which ‘free’ public transport is paid, and make less use of that
privilege; ‘the poor’ pay less and use it more. Free choice of transport
mode is not harmed, as those who are willing and able to pay can
still use their private car. There will even be fewer cars on the road,
as others use public transport instead.
It is economic policy because it fills up the empty seats in previously
empty buses and trams, for which all the operational and
environmental costs have been made. Moreover, perception costs
disappear (normally between 10 and 15 per cent of the income
collected from ticketing the passengers) and the very expensive
public transport infrastructure is more heavily used. Making the
Brussels metro ‘free’ for the elderly was a very welcome input into
the economy of the urban core, which received many more
(spending) visitors. As vehicles fill up, more are brought into
operation, which in turn improves the public service and makes
public transport more attractive for new paying passengers.
To be successful, ‘free’ public transport must be backed by additional
measures such as restrictions on parking in central and inner city
areas, more and better bicycle paths, pavements and pedestrian
areas, car-restricted areas in inner cities, timeslots for cars entering
the city, and probably a special regime for deliveries to shops,
studios and workshops.
The tighter the city and the busier its streets, the more we need
‘free’ public transport to ensure the city remains accessible to
everyone. It can accommodate the numbers of people essential for
city life and keep traffic flowing between destinations in the city,
which is basic to all exchange of people, ideas and goods. We need it
to prevent cars clogging up the city. ‘Free’ public transport is
urbanism.
Website
– www.gratisopenbaarvervoer.nl Z
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 14

Accessibility for all – eliminating

barriers across Europe

(photo: MVV/München)

Ten years ago the European Union launched a campaign for barrier-free transport to
meet the needs and rights of people with disabilities. But we can all benefit from
barrier-free transport. The key lies in integrating architectural, planning and transport
measures throughout the mobility chain.

Thomas Wagener, STUVA – Research Association for Underground Transportation Facilities, Cologne, Germany
Stefan van der Spek, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Netherlands
Photos: Stefan van der Spek (unless indicated otherwise)

By 2020 there will be twice as many people in Europe over 65 than in
the 1960s, and a significant and growing proportion of Europe’s
ageing population are disabled. In response to this trend, in 1995,
the European Union launched a programme for achieving better
accessibility of regional, rail, air, and water transportation. This was
followed in 2000 by the European Commission communication
Towards a Barrier Free Europe for people with disabilities, 1 which
covers spatial, environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects
of accessibility. It gives four rules for access to transport services:
1 Everyone must have an opportunity to live independently: public
buildings, the transport system and infrastructure must be
barrier free.
2 New infrastructure must accommodate the needs of people with
disabilities. Transport equipment and infrastructure can have an
extremely long lifetime and so it is essential that it meets the
needs of disabled people. This will benefit everyone.
3 Governments must ensure accessibility.
4 Accessibility principles must be followed when planning,
designing and building infrastructure and vehicles. These require
full accessibility to approved standards or recognised best
practices, with approval by experts, minimum accessibility
requirements for wheelchairs, features for people with walking
difficulties, and facilities to assist the blind, deaf or hearing
impaired people.
In 2003 a Group of Experts appointed by the European Commission
published the report 2010: A Europe Accessible for All,2 in which they
defined accessibility in a wider perspective. Accessibility is of
concern to everyone, not only for a minority with physical disabilities.
Accessibility should be dealt with in a global and integrated way.
It should not be the domain of building or transport experts alone,
but should be achieved by coordination of all the actors involved.
They also argue that accessibility policies can only be designed and
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 15

implemented with the participation of the people and representative
NGOs. Moreover, accessibility is a key part of sustainable development
because it enhances the quality of life and makes the environment
more liveable.
designing accessibility for all
Accessibility for all is about creating barrier-free mobility chains
from door to door and implies more than just customised
engineering solutions. It takes a holistic approach that integrates
town planning, architectural and transport engineering measures, as

European Commission:
well as product and process design. Special design solutions or add-
ons for specific user groups only make situations complex and divide

‘Governments must
social groups; design features should have wider uses and raise the
standard for everyone. The disabled people’s access to the Rotterdam

ensure accessibility’
barrier-free mobility
There are three major types of barriers to access and mobility:
social barriers, psychological barriers and structural barriers.3
According to the European Group of Experts these barriers are found
in buildings, the space between and around buildings, and in the
‘virtual environment’. In this context, freedom from barriers means:
1 eliminating obstacles in the built environment and enabling
access to public transport,
2 eliminating obstacles within vehicles, enabling easy boarding and
alighting, and
3 making information and communication services suitable for use
by all.
metro is an example if how not to do it. Disabled access is by lift, but
this is not a realistic option because the lift is unsafe and used as a
toilet. Moreover, it takes only one wheelchair; bicycles are permitted,
but do not fit.
The kind of problems people encounter daily depends on the type of
mobility restriction they have. The needs and problems of different
users or user groups coincide or clash in many key areas.
Understandably, the design criteria also differ. Although objectives
seem to conflict, for example ensuring optimal seating capacity
while providing sufficient space for wheelchair users and prams,
resolving such conflicts can create opportunities, in this case greater
flexibility in use and extra standing space, thus increasing capacity.
It is important to find solutions which benefit as many people as
possible. Y

Mobility requirements are not limited to the activities for meeting

basic needs such as work, education, medical care and so on, but
also to a broader range of activities in the spheres of social life and
shopping, sports and leisure, education or voluntary work.
Unimpeded access is a vital factor in personal development. And
because mobility is a basic human need, it should be possible for
everyone.

The 'Zuidtangent' bus service between Haarlem, Schiphol

Airport and Amsterdam (Netherlands): level access.

What is mobility restriction?

Disabled and mobility-restricted people
have widely differing capabilities and
experience a wide range of difficulties
when using conventional public transport
facilities, modes of transport and
information and services.
In the narrow sense, mobility-restricted
people are those whose mobility is
severely restricted due to permanent
handicap or acute illness. These include:
physically disabled people, for example
who have difficulty walking, standing or
using their hands, have disabilities of the
upper body or a small stature, people
with speech impediments, and people
who are blind, visually impaired, deaf, or
hearing impaired.
In the broader sense, some mobility-
restricted people may be temporarily
affected or hampered, or their mobility is
restricted in certain situations only.
This group consists of the elderly and
the infirm, children, expectant mothers,
people who are recovering from an
accident, illness or post-operative
ailments, and people with prams or
travelling with heavy or unwieldy
luggage. The EU recognises these groups,
except for the people travelling with
heavy or unwieldy luggage.
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 16
good practices
Essentially, barrier-free public transport boils down to the
elimination of barriers in the built environment. A whole range of
measures can be taken to eliminate obstacles under the headings
‘infrastructure’, ‘vehicles’ and ‘information and services’:
– Infrastructure measures include creating suitable areas around
stops, for example with broad pavements, dropped kerbs, safe
pedestrian crossings and signposting, sufficient dimensioning of
movement spaces and services, and aids to overcome height
differences, such as fixed stairs, ramps, escalators, lifts or moving
walkways.
– Vehicles can be altered to improve accessibility. Measures include
sufficient dimensioning of the vehicle doors and the interior,
placing devices for passenger safety, such as grips, bars and
barriers, matching vehicle and platform levels, and providing
boarding aids.
– Information, communication and service systems can be made
suitable for all by making sure that service points are accessible
and within easy reach and their interior dimensions are adequate,
and by providing information at stops and in the vehicle, such as
information displays and timetables, external and on-board
displays, announcements, other information elements and
orientation aids. Ticket machines should be reachable and easy
to service.
Low-floor tram in Rotterdam. (photo: Frank van der Hoeven)
Why not use private or semi-private
alternatives for the feeder parts of the chain?
The problem with technical solutions is that they are not holistic.
Kneeling buses, wheelchair lifts and ramps are expensive, liable to
breakdown and maintenance intensive. There are several examples
of good practices that get around such problems. In Paris the
sidewalks are not adjusted, but a dip in the road at the stop ensures
the bus entrance is level with the pavement. This is likely to be more
sustainable because there are no mechanical parts and no ramps for
pedestrians. In Heilbron the S-Bahn runs through the city, where the
higher platforms are broad and have long ramps for easy access by
mobility-restricted people. In Lyon and Strasbourg the tramway
infrastructure and low-floor vehicles were designed to create a
recognisable and easily accessible transport system. This can be
applied to bus systems as well. The stops of the Zuidtangent, a
dedicated bus service between Haarlem and Amsterdam South-East
via Schiphol, have level access, with small gaps between the vehicle
and the platform – but the legibility of the information and the
comfort of the shelter leave much to be desired.
When eliminating barriers and problems associated with using
public transport, planners and operators must constantly have the
needs of mobility-restricted persons in mind. Expanding the circle of
potential customers not only makes good economic sense, but also
raises awareness and acceptance of measures designed to improve
access for the disabled. Measures of this kind serve to foster and
accelerate the social integration of the disabled and can also lead to
an improvement in quality for everyone.
Low-floor tram in Lyon. (photo: Alstom, France)
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 17
scale
The measures and means at our disposal must be used at the right
scale. For example, even if all city buses were technically adapted for
wheelchair access, there is no guarantee that the specific needs of
these passengers will always be met because specially equipped
buses alone will not do. 5 General public transport services are not
reliable enough, and it would make more sense to use dedicated
transport companies which meet the needs of mobility-restricted
persons. On the other hand, investments in low-floor trams, as in
Rotterdam, Dresden, Lyon or Strasbourg, can benefit everyone. The
level entrance and broader doors give unimpeded access to all.
Trams in most other cities are not accessible to wheelchairs at all.
Their floors are more than half a meter above the pavement and the
small doors are difficult to negotiate for people with buggies or
shopping bags and offer no access for mobility-restricted people.
The difficulty in the Netherlands is that almost every city, every
company – or in the case of rail transport, almost every line – has its
own, unique vehicles. Rail vehicles in particular cannot usually be
used on other lines or in other cities, where the stops are designed
and built to match their own vehicles. This is one area where
European legislation and best practices could guide future
development towards more uniform standards and practices.
Low-floor tram in Strasbourg.
The question regarding European legislation is whether all forms of
transport should be covered. There are real differences between local,
short-distance transport and (inter)regional, long-distance transport.
Air and high speed train connections are relatively infrequent and
seating capacity limited and legislation is necessary to protect
passengers. In local to national rail and bus transport, frequencies
are higher and seats are not reserved and the stops are each subject
to local conditions. The question is whether in this case the traveller
would benefit more from EU legislation or from agreements between
the local authority and the local transport company.
The mobility chain offers new perspectives as well. If it is not possible
to offer barrier-free door-to-door chains using public transport, why
not use private or semi-private alternatives for the feeder parts of
the chain? This could be cheaper, more reliable and more efficient for
both the traveller and transport company. EU involvement could
promote the exchange of good and bad practices for the trunk and
feeder lines.
Notes
1 European Commission, Towards a barrier free Europe
for people with disabilities, COMM (2000) 284 final.
2 European Commission Group of Experts, 2010:
A Europe Accessible for All (PDF), Brussels, 2003
3 Venter C., Savill T., Rickert T. and others, Enhanced
Accessibility for People with Disabilites Living in
Urban Areas (PDF), Brussels, 2003
4 Blenneman F., Girnau G., Grossmann H. and others,
Barrierefreirer ÖPNV in Deutschland – Barrier-free
public transport in Germany, Verband Deutscher
Verkehrsunternehmen, (VDV) ISBN 3-87094-656-3,
Düsseldorf, 2003
5 Kessler V., Statement on the paper rights of
passengers in international bus and coach transport,
Wirtschaftskammer Österreich (WKO), Vienna, 2005
References
European Disability Forum, Universal Access,
http://www.edf-feph.org/, 2000
Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee
(DPTAC), Charter on Access to Transport Services and
Infrastructure, http://www.dptac.gov.uk/,
Annual Report, 2000
Diamantopoulou A., ‘Towards a Barrier Free Europe
for People with Disabilities’, speech /02/122, press
release, http://europa.eu.int/, Madrid, 2002
Bonk R., Muller-Baron I., Greater mobility in Europe –
current European developments for barrier-free
transportation, http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, Stuttgart,
1995
European Commission of the European Communities
(COM), ‘Strengthening passenger rights within the
European Union’ (PDF), Brussels, 2005 Z
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 18

A case study for the Mount Pelion region in Greece

Paratransit systems

Local transport in the Mount Pelion region of Greece is hampered by

the sparse road network and difficult mountain conditions. Public
transport services are limited and inadequate, a major problem
for both residents and visitors to this all-round tourist destination.
An innovative ‘dial-a-ride’ system could be the answer.

Christine Mastrogiannidou, George Kozanidis and Athanasios Ziliaskopoulos, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
Illustration: Witmor, Madrid

Mount Pelion in Volos is one of the best
known national and international tourist
destinations in Greece. The region offers
pristine mountainous forests, a ski resort for
the winter period and attractive beaches for
the summer season. However, the high
altitude and the steep slopes of the area
make the design and construction of an
efficient road system a difficult task and the
existing road network is quite sparse. These
conditions present the local authorities with
one of their most challenging problems: how
to operate the existing public transportation
system efficiently.
The only public transport system operating
in the area is the KTEL of Magnesia (the
traditional train of Pelion runs only as a
tourist attraction). Services to and from
many villages are infrequent (see Table 1)
because the large buses have difficulty
negotiating the narrow mountain roads.
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 19

itineraries departures

Volos-Agios Lavrentios 06:00 13:45

Agios Lavrentios-Volos 07:00 14:45
Volos-Pinakates 06:00 14:00
Pinakates-Volos 07:00 15:00
Volos-Agios Vlassios 06:00 12:30 14:00
Agios Vlassios-Volos 07:15 13:15 15:15
Volos-Milies-Vizitsa 05:45 06:45 09:00 12:00 13:30 18:00
Vizitsa-Milies-Volos 07:00 08:00 10:15 13:45 14:45 19:15
Volos-Zagora 05:15 08:30 14:15 (through Hania) 08:20 (through Neochori)
Zagora-Volos 08:45 14:30 17:45 (through Hania) 13:55 (through Neochori)
Zagora-Horefto 07:45 16:45
Horefto-Zagora 08:15 17:15
Volos-Neochori 05:15 08:20 12:30 13:30 16:30
Neochori-Volos 06:55 14:00 17:45
Volos-Katigiorgis 04:15 10:15
Katigiorgis-Volos 06:30 15:30
Volos-Platanias 04:30 10:15 16:30
Volos-Portaria-Makrinitsa 06:15 08:00 10:00 12:30 13:45 14:30 16:30 19:45 20:45
Makrinitsa-Portaria-Volos 07:00 08:45 10:45 13:15 14:30 15:15 17:15 20:30 21:30
Volos-Agios Ioannis 04:45 13:30
Agios Ioannis-Volos 07:00 15:30 16:30 15:00
Volos-Afissos 05:15 11:00 12:30 14:00 16:30 21:00
Afissos-Volos 07:00 12:00 14:15 15:00 18:15 22:00
Volos-Kala Nera 04:00 04:15 04:30 04:45 05:00 05:15 05:45 06:30 06:45 08:20 09:00 10:15
11:00 12:00 12:30 13:30 14:00 16:30 18:00 21:00
Kala Nera-Volos 07:30 07:40 07:45 08:30 08:40 08:45 09:00 10:45 12:15 14:30 14:45 15:15
15:30 16:00 16:10 16:50 17:00 18:00 18:45 19:45 20:30 22:15
Volos-Trikeri 04:00 12:30
Trikeri-Volos 06:45 16:00
Volos-Milina 04:30 10:15 12:30
Milina-Volos 07:30 16:15 16:30 19:30

Table 1 Itineraries of the KTEL of Magnesia.

The lack of easy access to the villages
reduces the attractiveness of the region and
creates major mobility problems both for the
tou rists and the permanent residents of the
area.
During the late 1970s, the concept evolved regular taxi (40-80 euros). In Turkey the
into its present form as a specialised door-to- popular dolmus, while not exactly a door-to-
door service for disabled passengers who are door paratransit service, is more flexible than
unable to use conventional public transport. the bus and more affordable than a taxi or

Past experience indicates that for problems
like these a paratransit system can provide a
useful demand responsive service. The
minibuses often employed by such systems
can operate more efficiently on the narrow,
steep roads of Mount Pelion. Travel between
the villages would be easier, even for
handicapped and elderly people, and most
journey times would be significant shorter
than the services run by KTEL of Magnesia.
door-to-door service
The UK and the US were among the first
countries to introduce dial-a-ride systems, in
the early 1970s, as an element of public
transport services in low-density areas.
How to operate the existing
public transportation system
efficiently?
The most commonly used vehicle is the minibus.
Dial-a-ride systems are currently operating in
low density areas of the province of Bologna.
They are also used extensively in the USA,
under the American with Disabilities Act
(ADA), and in Canada. Cyprus has a less
organised paratransit taxi-based system,
mainly for airport service and other intercity
trips from 50 to 100 km per trip, which offers
a cheaper alternative (10-20 euros) to a
private car. The dolmus service can be
described as a privately operated minibus
with a capacity of 12 to 14 passengers (but
sometimes taxis with a four-passenger
capacity) which depart as soon as they are
full (dolmus means ‘full’) and run on
predetermined routes with fixed stops.
Many EU countries, including Finland,
Sweden, the Netherlands and Belgium, Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / juli 2006 / 20
The vehicle routing problem
One of the most rapidly developing areas of
mathematical programming in recent
decades has been transport management.
This stems from the importance of logistics
management in the economy and the great
complexity of the related problems. One of
the most important transport management
problems to attract the attention of both
researchers and practitioners in recent years
is the vehicle routing problem.
The vehicle routing problem consists of
finding a set of optimal routes for a fleet of
vehicles to fulfil a set of transportation
requests. In general, the objective function
takes into consideration the cost of
satisfying the requests, which may include a
fixed cost per vehicle used, and the
transportation cost, which depends on the
time or distance travelled. Additional
elements may also be incorporated in the
objective function, such as the quality of
have introduced dial-a-ride systems, mainly
funded by the European Commission.
European experience shows that it is more
straightforward to implement paratransit
systems in regulated environments because
this reduces conflict with other public
transport modes.
The UK Government’s Transport Ten Year
Plan, published in 2000, pledges to remove or
at least relax constraints (e.g. route
registration) on the development of flexibly
routed bus services and promote a greater
role for community-based services. In
addition, research commissioned by the
(then) UK Department of the Environment,
Transport and the Regions (DETR) argues that
flexible public transport services provided by
local authorities and bus operators in
partnerships with employers, stores and
leisure centres would help to break down
social exclusion. Similar findings were
reported in Ireland in 1999. The UK Rural
White Paper proposals to extend the Bus
Service Operators Grant (BSOG) to
service provided. Each request is defined by a
geographic location and associated with a
load. A time window, which defines a time
frame for the service of the associated
request, may also be specified for each
location. There is a static and a dynamic
version of the problem, depending on
whether the list of requests is fixed or if it is
allowed to change over time. All vehicles
depart from a start depot and must arrive at
a destination depot after they complete their
route.
One of the earliest vehicle routing problems
studied is the so-called travelling salesman
problem. This problem involves a single
vehicle without capacity constraints. The
objective is to design the shortest possible
route that begins at an origin node, visits
each node of a given network exactly once
and returns to its origin node. In the pick-up
and delivery problem, a pick-up and a
community transport were adopted in 2001.
More recently, this interest in flexible forms
of transport has been backed up by
substantial funding from the Rural and
Urban Bus Challenge programmes for local
authorities to establish demand responsive
transport services.
the dial-a-ride problem
Paratransit systems hinge around the
‘dial-a-ride problem’, in which a fleet of m
vehicles must transport n passengers. All
vehicles depart from a start depot and must
return to a finish depot after they complete
their route. The start and finish depots do
not need to coincide. For each passenger an
origin and a destination location (node) are
specified, with a time window for each node
within which the passenger must be
delivered or picked up. Time windows may
also be defined for the start and finish
depots. The objective is to satisfy the given
requests while optimising an appropriate
parameter related to the operation of the
system.
delivery node are specified for each request.
Among the additional constraints that apply
to this problem are the precedence
constraints, which state that each pick-up
location has to be visited prior to the
corresponding delivery location. Pairing
constraints restrict the set of admissible
routes to those in which both the pick-up
and the delivery of each transportation
request are by the same vehicle.
Variants of the vehicle routing problem
include several important applications:
1 Bus and taxi services
2 Fleet management for the purpose of
collecting or delivering shipments
3 Inventory distribution systems
4 Door-to-door disabled transport
5 Emergency rescue or repair services
Each vehicle may serve more than one person
simultaneously, as long as the number of
passengers riding on the vehicle at any time
does not exceed the capacity of the vehicle.
Some passengers may not be taken straight
to their destination point, and the
inconvenience experienced by the
passengers is factored into the problem as a
set of constraints, such as the total time or
distance passengers may travel before they
arrive at their destinations, the total number
of nodes each passenger may visit before
arriving at their destination, and whether or
not the time windows are strictly observed.
Dial-a-ride systems come in many forms.
Most try to optimise performance by
manipulating the restrictions arising from
the specific constraints in each case. Dial-a-
ride systems can therefore be classified
according to their flexibility: systems with
fixed routes and stops; systems that allow a
choice from a set of predetermined routes
and stops; and systems with no fixed sets of
routes and stops, but which can be adapted
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 21

request pick-up node earliest latest delivery node

pick-up time pick-up time

1 (Anakasia) 1 0 20 21 (Trikeri)
2 (Portaria) 2 20 40 22 (Volos)
3 (Makrinitsa) 3 0 20 23 (Portaria)
4 (Zagora) 4 150 170 24 (Tsagarada)
5 (Tsagarada) 5 180 200 25 (Argalasti)
6 (Milies) 6 110 130 26 (Tsagarada)
7 (Neochori) 7 120 140 27 (Platanias)
8 (Argalasti) 8 100 120 28 (Gatzea)
9 (Lafkos) 9 30 50 29 (Milina)
10 (Platanias) 10 40 60 30 (Milina)
11 (Trikeri) 11 40 60 31 (Milina)
12 (Agria) 12 35 55 32 (Kala Nera)
13 (Gatzea) 13 50 70 33 (Afissos)
14 (Kala Nera) 14 65 85 34 (Agios Ioannis)
15 (Afissos) 15 100 120 35 (Agria)
16 (Milina) 16 75 95 36 (Kalamaki)
17 (Agios Ioannis) 17 100 120 37 (Horefto)
18 (Horefto) 18 125 145 38 (Zagora)
19 (Kalamaki) 19 140 160 39 (Promiri)
20 (Promiri) 20 190 210 40 (Lafkos)

Table 2 List of requests.

to the special needs of each user. They can
also be classified into one of two ways of
processing the requests and designing the
routes: the static system, in which all the
requests are known in advance and cannot
change thereafter; and the dynamic system,
in which the requests are allowed to change
dynamically over time. Paratransit systems
may also operate in an online or an offline
mode, depending on whether the system
uses new information gathered en route. In
an online system a mini-bus would probably
deviate from the planned route if this route
was heavily congested.
The paratransit case study for Mount Pelion
We designed a paratransit system for the
villages around Mount Pelion based on a
concept very similar to paratransit systems
operating elsewhere in the world. The model
presented here is the static case of the
problem, without fixed sets of routes and
stops, but it can easily be modified into a
dynamic system. The challenge is how to
modify the general concept to meet the
special needs of the case. The aim is to make
the operation of the system as effective as
possible and bring the cost of each
passenger trip close to the cost of using
fixed-route services.
Take a case in which twenty random
inhabitants request transport between two
given locations in this region. Several
physical constraints, which may be related
to age, health or time, make it impractical
for these people to use the existing public
transport system. In our case, the system
used for the transportation of the twenty

The intractable nature of these

requests consists of three vehicles starting
and finishing in the city of Volos, the capital

problems means that they of Magnesia Prefecture. Each vehicle can

become prohibitive for larger

accommodate at most 6 passengers at the
same time. Table 2 lists the origins (pick-up

scales of operation
node) and destinations (delivery node) of
each of the twenty requests and the
specified time windows. Note that these
time windows are only specified for the
pick-up location of each request. This is not
a physical restriction of the problem, but Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 22
Optimal routes for the Mount Pelion case study.
rather a situation that arises naturally in
practice, since each request usually imposes
a unique time window, either for the
departure from or for the arrival to some
location The road network is symmetric,
since transportation is allowed in both
directions for each pair of nodes. The direct
travel time (in minutes) between each pair
of nodes in the network can be easily
computed. We assume a service time of 10
minutes at each node of the network for the
passengers to board or alight from the
vehicle.
The number of possible routes that the three
vehicles could follow to satisfy the requests
is very large. Our goal is to find the set of
routes that optimises some appropriate
performance measure (the objective
function), while also ensuring that all the
constraints of the problem are satisfied.
Because the financial aspect is one of the
most important, the most reasonable choice
for the objective function is usually to
minimise the total cost of the system. Total
costs are made up largely of two items: the
total operational cost of the vehicles, and the
total cost resulting from the dissatisfaction
of the travellers. Incorporating additional
financial aspects of the problem is
straightforward process.
This is a difficult problem, even for very small
networks. It belongs to a special class of
vehicle routing problems that require
enormous effort to find the exact optimal
solution. Using mathematical programming
algorithms we found a solution for the three
vehicle routes to service the requests: [0-1-11-
21-16-31-8-7-19-36-20-39-27-40-28-41],
[0-3-23-2-12-13-14-32-17-34-18-37-4-38-5-24-
25-33-22-41] and [0-9-10-30-29-15-6-26-35-
41]. In each of these routes, nodes 0 and 41
are the origin and destination nodes of the
three vehicle routes, which is the same
location in the city of Volos.
optimal routes
The map shows the optimal routes. The
blue lines correspond to the first vehicle, the
green route is for the second vehicle, and the
orange route is the third vehicle. All the
vehicle routes are feasible and observe the
physical constraints of the system: each
request is picked up and delivered by the
same vehicle; each request is picked up
before it is delivered; the capacity of the
vehicle is not exceeded at any time; the time
windows of each request are observed; the
vehicle starts its service as soon as it arrives
at a node, and leaves the node immediately
after it finishes service.
The total travel time is 299.33 minutes for
the first vehicle, 293.21 minutes for the
second and 186.06 minutes for the third.
This solution is equivalent to the operation
of a 6-passenger minibus for approximately
13 hours (= 780 minutes). The total travel
times from pick-up to destination for this
situation reveal a high level of satisfaction by
the passengers. Although the cost of the
system is very close to that of a fixed-route
service, its performance, as measured by the
quality of service provided, is closer to that of
a taxi service.
The intractable nature of these problems
means that they become prohibitive for
larger scales of operation. In recent years
researchers have focused on the
development of heuristic techniques, which
usually provide high quality solutions (close
to optimum) even for very large problems.
Their main drawback is that in some extreme
cases they may provide a solution which is
very far from optimal. In general, the
complexity of the problem requires a
compromise between time efficiency and
solution accuracy.
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 23

Supporting sustainable urban

planning and development:
three approaches
R.R. Seijdel, StrateGis Groep / TNO Built Environment and Geosciences, Delft, The Netherlands
Co-authors: P.W.G Bots. Delft University of Technology / Cemagref (France); A.T Dullemond,
Strategis Groep / TNO Environment and Geosciences
Acknowledgements: J. Kortman. IVAM, Research and Consultancy on Sustainability, Amsterdam
Photo: Rob Huibers / Hollandse Hoogte

Cities are among the most complex of man-made systems. Interventions in these systems are
never simple. The essential cooperation between all stakeholders can be improved by tools that
clarify urban development processes and quantify impacts. TNO and its partners have
developed three promising decision support systems.

The complexity of urban development will present us with one of
our main challenges in the years to come. This complexity will
increase further as new European directives come into force (e.g.
on air quality) and the supply of land for greenfield development
diminishes. Urban development will also increasingly be shaped by
transport infrastructure, as in the Transport Development Areas
(TDA) concept. So what exactly is this complexity? We can break it
down into three types: content-oriented complexity, political
complexity and the complexity of urban systems. Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 24

criteria assessment of the tno city approach score

Integrative TNO City in its basic form is primarily geared to financial assessments, but it can be extended to ++
perform integrated assessments. It can be applied to different spatial levels and decision making
levels.

Dynamic TNO City is able to calculate the performance of alternatives. If specific indicators are needed, +
this could require additional modelling.

Interactive The very communicative interface and real-time calculations make for a very interactive tool. ++
The approach has been observed to act as a ‘mediator’ in multi-actor settings.

Transparent The underlying models are transparent and relatively easy to demonstrate. The first sessions ++
with the model are used to validate all the underlying models and data with the stakeholders.

Flexible and The use of intelligent interfaces that link data and models to the GIS makes the approach very ++
Reusable flexible and reusable. Default situations require no specific action.

Fast and easy Experts should build the TNO City models. Experience is that non-experts can use the model with +
limited instruction, but expertise is required to use the software.

Communicative Because of the GIS background, the approach is very communicative. However, the approach +
and educational does not contain a specifically educational element.

Authoritative The basic databases and models are derived from expert models and databases used by TNO +
experts. TNO City easily handles financial data and can accommodate user specific data entered
by stakeholders.

Sustainable development as a
concept is far from unambiguous
content-oriented complexity
Sustainable development as a concept is far from unambiguous.1
Many attempts have been made to provide definitions of
sustainable development. Generic definitions suffer from the fact
that they can be interpreted in many ways, whereas more specific
definitions inevitably reflect the value judgments of the definer.
Generally accepted definitions2 leave room for interpretation and
pose new questions which cannot be answered unequivocally. This
ambiguity manifests itself on philosophical, political and
operational levels.
It is fair to say that sustainable development is a concept that
should be further defined and negotiated in a political context. If all
the stakeholders involved want a sustainable and high quality
public transport system, the trick is to bring together the rationality
of the design process (making of design choices for the reorganisation
of the urban system) and the political and administrative rationality
(the acquisition of sufficient political and public support).
political complexity
Acquisition of sufficient political support for urban development
and infrastructural projects typically involves a complex network of
stakeholders, who strive to achieve their ambitions and protect their
interests.3 Their activities are not governed by objective rationality,
but determined by the perceptions and value systems of the actors
involved. 4 They make competing assumptions about problems and
solutions, means and ends, and cause and effect. From an actor
network perspective, there is no single correct approach to policy
problems and their solution. Decisions are made in a complex
process of negotiation between actors and both the quality of the
outcomes of these interactions and the level of support they enjoy
are often suboptimal. Answers to this problem are sought in process
management5 but this does not make urban development projects
themselves any simpler.
complexity of urban systems
Urban systems are extremely complicated and consist of many
interdependent physical and social variables. Large projects typically
require hundreds of major design decisions and many thousands of
detailed choices have to be made. These decisions are often
interdependent, and they contribute to a vast number of
environmental, social and economic impacts, making the effects of
decisions difficult to assess and complicating the design of
alternatives.
Reductionist approaches to deal with this complexity tend towards
monodisciplinary models which, while scientifically valid, lack an
overall picture of the problem in a societal context. More pragmatic
and holistic approaches, on the other hand, are often not
transparent, and for that reason not acceptable for generic use.
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 25

&UNCTIONßOFßGREENßAREA´S 5SEßOFßHERBICIDES

0RECLUSION

%COLOGICAL "IODEGRADABLEß
HERBICIDES

3ECONDARY 2ECREATION
4RADITIONALßHERBICIDES
)DEAL
)MPOSSIBLE

0ROBLEMATIC

0ROMISING
5NLIKELY
)MPROBABLE
)MPROBABLE

)MPOSSIBLE
)NTEGRALß 0ARTIAL %COLOGICAL

ELEVATION ELEVATION
)MPOSSIBLE

3ECONDARY 2ECREATION
.OßELEVATION

0REPARATIONßOFßBUILDINGßSITE 0REPARATIONßOFßBUILDINGßSITE
Figure 1: Interconnected decision areas.

Others have described this as the dilemma of the choice between What we need for sustainable urban development are decision
scientific disciplinary rigour and practical relevance. What is needed support methods that cope with both the substantive (content) as
is a balance between integration on the one hand and scientific well as the political (context) dimensions. Such methods and
validity and precision on the other. approaches should meet the following criteria: 8
– Integrative: consider different aspects and levels of design and
sustainable decision making for urban development decision making in a holistic approach.
System complexity, political complexity and the ambiguity of the – Dynamic: show the ‘performance’ of various alternatives in
concept of sustainable development make it difficult to manage relation to the preferences and the ‘behaviour’ of stakeholders.
sustainable urban development projects. What does ‘sustainability’ – Interactive: support the negotiation process between
mean precisely to the various parties involved, and how can the stakeholders.
goals of all the stakeholders be achieved? – Transparent: produce results that are clear and understandable to
all stakeholders, i.e. no ‘black box’.
System complexity alone could be addressed by modelling, focusing – Flexible and reusable: usable for, or adaptable to, a range of
on the substantive issues. Unfortunately, many of these tools lack similar situations.
the transparency and flexibility required to accommodate the – Fast and easy to use: relatively quick to implement by non-experts,
variety of perspectives on sustainability and the dynamics of e.g. residents and politicians.
political decision processes. – Communicative and educational: enlighten stakeholders about
problem structure, alternatives and different perspectives.
Political and administrative complexity alone could be addressed by – Authoritative: the process and the results meet analytical (e.g.
a participatory planning approach or by process management.6 But validity) and political standards (e.g. safeguarding core values,
without substantive knowledge, participatory decision-making timeliness) to increase the likelihood that the results are used.
processes are void. Participatory planning approaches, such as open
forum discussions with residents, can easily degenerate into a rather Three approaches developed by TNO and its partners are briefly
one-sided venting of opinions at a time when the plans have already described and discussed with reference to this list of criteria. Y
reached an advanced stage. 7
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 26
$ECISIONßAREAß
/PTIONß /PTIONß
1UALIFIERS
1
/PTIONß
1
1
1
1
$ECISIONßAREAßN
/PTIONß
/PTIONß /PTIONß
Figure 2: Impact assessment within MEDIA.
The DPL approach is very easy to use,
also for non-experts
codes
Codes stands for ‘Consequences of Decision making in urban
planning and infrastructure’. The approach has been developed
within the Delft Cluster research programme by TNO Built
Environment and Geosciences and the Delft University of
Technology.9 It consists of an innovative and comprehensive decision
support system – the software model MEDIA – in combination with
gaming and simulation techniques.
Codes is aimed at supporting the early stages of urban planning
(development brief and master planning). It can be used for plans at
different spatial levels, from individual dwellings to cities and
regions, although presently it is mainly used for districts. It has been
designed to deal with both the complexity of urban systems and the
political complexity.
At the core of Codes is the MEDIA software model, based on the
Analysis of Interconnected Decision Areas (AIDA) concept.10
makes major design challenges transparent and manageable.
Design challenges are described as a set of decision areas, with two
or more decision options. Relations between decision areas and
options are formalised, creating transparency and insight into the
direct and indirect consequences of one specific decision or
comprehensive set of decisions (scenario). Four typical decision
areas are presented as an example in Figure 1.
6ARIABLES )NDICATORS
6 )
6 &UNCTIONß ) -ETHODß )
6 F M
6 &UNCTIONß )
6 F
Originally, AIDA identified only preclusions (between a decision
option and a decision area) and exclusions (between decision
options of different decision areas). This has been implemented in
MEDIA, with some adaptations. First, MEDIA differentiates between
the severity of exclusions, distinguishing impossible, problematic
and unlikely relationships. Second, the concept of positive
relationships between options has been introduced (ideal,
favourable, promising).
Another addition is the impact assessment functionality of MEDIA,
which is closely related to the problem regarding the ambiguity of
sustainable development. It is through the choice of indicators and
impact assessment models that we, implicitly or explicitly,
implement our views about what sustainability is. Any attempt to
develop a generic set of indicators and calculation models can be
regarded as ‘yet another interpretation’ of this concept. To deal with
AIDA this problem, MEDIA has been designed to accommodate different
definitions. MEDIA uses three major elements in dealing with
impact assessment: variables and functions, methods, and qualifiers.
Variables are the direct effects (impacts) caused by decision options
(e.g. more parking space means increasing the area of hard
surfacing). Variables can be combined by more or less complicated
functions to give aggregated and/or comprehensive variables
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 27

criteria assessment of the dpl approach score

Integrative DPL is integrative as far as substantive aspects concerns. +

Dynamic DPL is suitable for calculating the performance of alternatives; however it does not link such ++
results to the preferences of the stakeholders. It does facilitate discussion however.

Interactive A large amount of data is required for the model to work. Generation and interactive processing 0
of alternatives is limited.

Transparent The model is very transparent to the user. All the underlying calculation methods are easily ++
accessible and transparent.

Flexible and Through the use of references, the model is applicable to a range of similar applications. +
reusable First however, a reference database must be generated, which is rather time consuming.

Fast and easy The model is easy to use for everybody with some basic computer skills. However, 0/+
gathering the information needed can take considerable time.

Communicative The model can be a useful communication tool within the policy process of a local authority. 0
and educational The model is not aimed at facilitating communication in dynamic multi-actor settings.

Authoritative Where possible the indicators are based on existing and validated methods. Public support for +
other indicators can be obtained through the inclusion of stakeholders in the development of
the model. The Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment supports the
method. Nevertheless, the choice of the indicators remains subjective.

(e.g. modal split in a district is calculated by combining variables for

MEDIA is used in interactive gaming and simulation exercises that
condense the decision-making process into a few sessions in which
stakeholders can discuss alternative plans. The decision areas help
to structure the agenda and MEDIA gives immediate feedback on
the impacts of the choices, distinguishing between financial
impacts (e.g. life cycle costs), environmental impacts (e.g. CO 2
emissions) and social impacts (e.g. access to services). 12
This application can also be used in training.
type of dwelling, quality of public transport, available parking space
and so on). In addition, more sophisticated models can be linked to
MEDIA using the concept ‘Methods’, and qualitative labels can be
assigned to decision options using the concept ‘Qualifiers’.11 The
benefits of this flexible structure (no approaches are precluded or
forced upon actors) outweigh the drawbacks (no ‘easy’ answers are
provided). Figure 2 depicts the impact assessment structure of
MEDIA, which at the moment can calculate approximately 850
variables. Additional functionality within MEDIA includes linking
stakeholders’ goals specific variables and defining coherent sets of
decisions (e.g. all the decisions regarding high quality public
transport).
tno city
TNO City is an approach developed by TNO Environment and
Geosciences. The approach is all about interactively drawing and
calculating urban development plans. 13 The method improves trust

DPL can be used to set

and understanding in complex projects with numerous stakeholders.
Just like Codes, it should be used in the early stages of decision

targets in advance and making, but with an emphasis on land and site planning and

verify them later

financial feasibility. It is designed for use with professional
stakeholders. Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 28
TNO City consists of a sophisticated geographical information
system (GIS) for use in interactive settings. Plans can be drawn up
interactively using a visual and communicative interface, with the
financial and other consequences of alternatives immediately
calculated and fed back into the process. The TNO-City model
consists of four major conceptual components:
1 Maps. The starting point for all analyses using TNO City is a set of
topographical or functional maps of the area. Several types of
maps can be used as a basic map. Older versions (TNO RasterGis)
used only raster maps, but presently all common formats are
compatible. Based on this map alone, preliminary analysis can be
performed, such as average distances to public transport stops.
2 Databases. All kinds of geographical databases can be added as
‘layers’ to the system: land and real estate ownership, real estate
prices, soil conditions, demographical data, legal information, etc.
These databases provide input to a great diversity of analyses,
for example the financial impact of acquiring and demolishing
a specific area.
3 Functions: The third component is a database, in which urban
functions (infrastructure, dwellings, offices, parks, shopping
centres, etc.) have been broken down into their logical components
and related to surface area. For each square metre of a land use
the area of road, pavement, green space, parking space, sewers
and so on is known. This enables the user to draw plans based
solely on the surface area of the land uses; it is not necessary to
make an actual architectural design.
4 Calculation models. Several impact assessment models are linked
to the system, such as models to make financial assessments and
environmental, demographical and sociological models. The
model also allows for comparative and integrated assessment of
scenarios and for assessment of the development over time.
Typically, calculation models are Excel-spreadsheets.
'TNO City'
improves trust
and understan-
ding in complex
projects with
numerous
stakeholders
TNO City interface.
The input and output to the geographical information system is
managed by the flexible programmable interface Visual Basic. The
model has been applied numerous times and has proven to be of
added value, and a version aimed specifically at land and real estate
planning is used commercially by the consultancy firm StrateGis
Groep.
measuring sustainability of a district with dpl
DPL is an approach for sustainable urban planning that
quantitatively measures the sustainability of urban areas (districts)
based on 25 environmental, social and economic indicators (People,
Planet, Profit). DPL was developed by IVAM in cooperation with TNO
Environment and Geosciences and with financial support from the
Dutch Ministry of Housing Spatial Planning and the Environment
(VROM).
DPL can be used by local authorities, urban planners and project
developers to inform discussions of sustainability in urban planning.
DPL can be used to set targets in advance and verify them later. Pilot
projects have been carried out in the cities of Amsterdam, Delft, The
Hague, Den Helder, Heerlen, Nieuwegein and Velsen.
Central to the DPL approach is a spreadsheet model with a user-
friendly interface. Users of the model first have to gather
information regarding numerous aspects of an existing or newly
planned district. This information is used to calculate the 25
indicators. The resulting indicator scores can be compared with a
database of reference plans, typical for the most common types of
Dutch urban districts. The complexity and depth of the isolated
indicators is limited; the strength of DPL lies in the breadth of the
range of ecological, social and economic indicators (see
Sustainability profile of a district). DPL is currently available as a
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 29

The DPL interface.

dpl – sustainability profile of a district

‘planet’ indicators ‘people’ indicators ‘profit’ indicators

stocks safety economic vitality

1 Material use 10. Social safety 20. Local employment
2 Energy use 11. Traffic safety 21. Local economic activity
3 Land use 12. External safety
sustainable businesses
local environment services 22. sustainable businesses
4 Water management 13 Quality of services
5 Soil contamination 14 Access to services capacity to change
6 Waste management 23 Flexibility
7 Air pollution green space and water 24 Mixed use
8 Noise 15 Local green space 25 ICT infrastructure
9.Smells 16 Local water

quality

17 Quality of the district

18 Quality of the dwellings

19 Social cohesion

commercial software program through IVAM and TNO Environment
and Geosciences.
three parallel approaches
A brief assessment of the three approaches, using the criteria
identified earlier, is presented in tables 2a, 2b, and 2c. Each of the
approaches has its specific advantages and disadvantages.
The Codes approach is integrative in many ways and pays a lot of
attention to the link between performance of design alternatives
and the preferences of the stakeholders. The model is transparent,
but also very complex. This complexity limits its use, since experts
are always needed to apply the approach.
The TNO City approach is very communicative and interactive and
has no real weaknesses. Further improvements should focus on
making the interface more usable for non-experts and on adding
more substantive aspects (indicators) to the default calculations.
The DPL approach is very easy to use, also for non-experts. It is also a
very transparent approach. The main disadvantage is that it takes
time to generate the input for the calculations, which makes the
approach unsuitable for interactive and dynamic applications.
The ideal method would have the integrative and actor-focused
qualities of Codes, the GIS interface and speed of TNO City and the
transparency and ease of use of DPL. Such hybrid approaches will be Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 30

criteria assessment of the codes approach score

Integrative MEDIA integrates different spatial levels, substantive aspects and decision making in one ++
systematic approach.

Dynamic MEDIA is able to calculate the performance of alternatives. The simulation game relates these ++
results to stakeholders’ preferences. Stakeholders can choose the indicators they consider
important.

Interactive MEDIA itself does not directly support negotiation between stakeholders, this is however the ++
primary function of the simulation game.

Transparent From evaluations of the combined use of MEDIA and simulation game, it can be concluded that +
the approach in principle is clear and understandable to all stakeholders, although the
complexity of the model requires a certain degree of expertise and experience with computer
models.

Flexible and The concepts behind MEDIA are generic, and therefore can be used or adapted for a wide range 0
Reusable of applications. Considerable effort is required to construct a specific database, so this is only
feasible if the method is applied often, or on very large projects.

Fast and easy MEDIA databases should be built by experts. Experience is that non-experts can use the model 0
with instruction, but only for the most basic functions. For sophisticated analysis an expert is
needed. It is also clear the software interface still has a lot room for improvement.

Communicative This is not directly the purpose of MEDIA, but again one of the main objectives of the simulation +
and educational game. Within the game, MEDIA clarifies the structure of the problem and possible alternative
solutions. The game is designed to allow for different perspectives. The interface of the model
itself is not specifically communicative.

Authoritative Many of the indicators calculated by MEDIA are based on established and validated methods, but +
this not necessarily the case, nor is it clear in the model. Specific care has to be taken in advance
to demonstrate this to the users. Within the simulation game, political standards are
incorporated through the ambitions and goals of the participants.

examined in the future within research programmes such as Delft
Cluster. However, past experiences have shown that visions of
omnipotent supermodels have the tendency to become a goal in
themselves. Accordingly, the approaches described in this paper will
be developed primarily in parallel with one another, focusing on
their specific strengths and applications.
Notes
1 See Hajer M., The politics of environmental performance review: choices in design,
Working paper 38, Recht and Beleid, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1992, and Roe E., Taking
complexity seriously: policy analysis, triangulation and sustainable development,
Kluwer, Boston, 1998.
2 WCED, World commission on Environment and Development (1987) – Our common
future, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3 Marin B. and Mayntz R., eds., Policy Networks: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical
Considerations, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1991.
Marsh, 1998? [niet in literatuurlijst]
4 Bremer W. and Kok K., The Dutch construction industry: a combination of competition
and corporatism, Building Research and Information 28(2): 98-108, 2000
5 Bruijn, H. de and Ten Heuvelhof E. (2000) – Networks and Decision Making, Utrecht:
Lemma publishers.
6 See note 5; and: Edelenbos, J., Design and management of participatory public
policymaking, Public Management 1:569-578, 1999 and Edelenbos, J.,
Design and management of participatory public policymaking,
Public Management 1:569-578, 1999
7 Mayer, I. (1997) – Debating Technologies. A methodological Contribution to the
Design and Evaluation of Participatory Policy Analysis. Tilburg Iniversity Press,
Tilburg.
8 Geurts J. and Joldersma C., Methodology for Participatory Policy Analysis, European
Journal of Operational Research 128(2):300-310, 2001.
9 Bots P and Seijdel R., MEDIA - A decision support tool for urban development.
Conference proceedings Sustainable Building 2002, Oslo, 2002; Mayer I. van Bueren
E., Bots P., van der Voort H. and Seijdel R., Collaborative decision making for
sustainable urban renewal projects: a simulation - gaming approach, Environment
and Planning B: Planning and Design 32:403-423, 2005; Bots P., van Bueren E., ten
Heuvelhof E. and Mayer I., Communicative tools in sustainable urban planning and
building, Sustainable Urban Areas 5, DUP Science, 2005.
10 Morgan J.R., AIDA – A Technique for the Management of Design, Coventry: Tavistock
Institute of Human Relations, Institute of Operational Research, 1971
11 This functionality has been described more detailed in earlier papers. See, for
example, Bots P. and Seijdel R., MEDIA – A decision support tool for urban
development, Conference proceedings Sustainable Building 2002, Oslo, 2002.
12 These sessions are described in Mayer I., van Bueren E., Bots P., van der Voort H. and
Seijdel R., Collaborative decision making for sustainable urban renewal projects:
a simulation – gaming approach. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design
32:403-423, 2005.
13 Dekker K.H., Pries F. and van der Toorn W., Innovatief vastgoed beheer: aanzetten
voor een discussie over instrumenten voor stedelijk beheer, Ministerie van
Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieubeheer, 1991.
References
– Bueren E. van and Mayer I., A simulation game for sustainable decision making,
Conference proceedings Sustainable Building 2002, Oslo, 2002.
– Mayer I. and Veneman W., Games in a world of infrastructures, Eburon Academic
Publishers, Delft, 2003. Z
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 31

The Mobilien high-performance

bus network
Seventy per cent of motorised traffic in the French conurbations is between
suburbs, and this proportion is rising. Commuter journeys are being joined by
growing numbers of leisure trips, while flexible working times spread out the
morning and evening rush hours. The Mobilien bus network being introduced
in the Île-de-France region aims to meets these needs while easing
congestion.

Sophie Labbouz, EIVP/RATP/UMLV

Youssef Diab, EIVP/UMLV
Michel Christen, RATPP
Logo of the Île-de-France Urban Travel Plan.

All French conurbations with populations greater than 100,000
have to prepare a Plan de Déplacements Urbains (PDU), or Urban
Travel Plan. These plans must contain appropriate measures for
reducing traffic, developing public transport and encouraging
walking and cycling as alternative means of environmentally-
friendly travel. Other topics addressed in these plans include
goods transport, water transport and parking management.
The PDU for the Île-de-France (PDUIF) was adopted at the end of
2000 for a five year period. It did not seek explicitly to curb car traffic,
but to reorganise public space in favour of environmentally-friendly
modes of transport. Certain objectives have been quantified, such as
reducing car traffic by 3% and increasing the use of public transport
by 2%, as well as doubling the number of cyclists on the roads.
suburbs (the départements Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne and
Val-d’Oise). The Mobilien network was designed as a fully-fledged
network, with radial bus lines leading to the centre of Paris
complemented by several circle lines. By providing both suburb to
suburb and suburb to pole connections it maximises interchange
between the different modes of transport.
A key feature of the project is giving a clear structure to the network
and establishing a hierarchy by showcasing the most important
connections and heavily-used lines. The new lines will complement
the existing rail and metro network with a finer network through
the denser urban areas. The public transport hubs link these networks
to provide a comprehensive package of transport services throughout
the Île-de-France region. Y

the Mobilien project – expanding the bus network

The Mobilien project:

A key element in the PDUIF is the Mobilien project, a radical
upgrade of the bus services, the least attractive means of transport
in Île-de-France. In contrast to metro or tram, this form of public
a radical upgrade of
the bus services
transport can be developed and expanded without major investment.
The Mobilien network consists of 150 lines, most already existing,
and 150 multimodal public transport hubs. It boasts as many lines
and poles in Paris and its outskirts (the départements Hauts-de-
Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) as in the more distant
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 32

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 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 33

Like any new transport network, the Mobilien must be easily

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an ambitious project involving many players
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and contract, with the commitment of the signatories. The expected
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use will be monitored to determine the exact effects of the project.

emphasis on street layout and detailing

The most visible improvements are changes in the street layout
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through the creation of dedicated bus lanes. On bus line 91 in Paris,

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location for operating the line because it is separate from the traffic
on the adjacent roadway. This central location is one of the first in
Bus lines incorporated into the Mobilien project. Île-de-France and demonstrates the determination of the authorities
to make the Mobilien an innovative and high-performance network.
Each physical intervention involves a redistribution of public space
to make the roadway more legible and improve traffic circulation. Y
NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 34
Bus journey speeds are higher and services more regular as a result.
Crossroads are where buses are held up the longest and so traffic
management is being improved by introducing a ‘priority to buses’
system. Buses approaching the crossroads are detected and the
traffic light sequence is adjusted to give them a green light and
minimise waiting time. Counterflow bus lanes have been introduced
in some one-way streets to keep outward and return journeys on
the same route to make life easier for passengers.
The most visible
improvements are
changes in the street
layout and road profile
Public urban transport has to be accessible to everyone, including
the elderly, parents with prams and disabled people. All public
transport hubs must be fitted with lifts if they are not already
provided. New buses will have a low platform at the same level
as the pavement. They will also be equipped with a platform that
can be extended to bridge the gap between the vehicle and the
pavement for easy wheelchair access. The internal layout of the
buses has also been altered for greater passenger comfort.
Counterflow on line 325 in Ivry-sur-Seine (photo: RATP/ Gérard Dumax).
Advertising campaign by the Île-de-France region in November 2004 (‘Because people in
Île-de-France are always in a hurry, the Region gives you Mobilien’).
Besides route planning and design, the Mobilien project also includes
operational measures. Each Mobilien line has to provide connecting
services as long as the Metro is operating, or from 6.30 am to 12.30 pm.
They also have to run at no more than 5 minutes during the rush
hour and 10 minutes in slack periods. Moroever, Mobilien buses have
to be in service every day, whereas some buses in Île-de-France do
not operate at the weekend and on public holidays. Whatever the
time or the day, the goal is to guarantee the traveller a bus.
Finally, travel information is continually available in real time on
the Mobilien network, an integral aspect of journey quality. One
of the information services most appreciated by travellers are the
estimated arrival times. The SIEL system, which works by satellite,
locates the bus and informs travellers how long they have to wait
before the next bus arrives. Information is also available through
the website of the RATP (the main urban transport operator in
Île-de-France), where you can calculate the shortest journey time
on the public transport network. Neither has the signage at bus
stops been neglected, but is carefully designed to indicate connections
and help passengers find their bearings. Maps display the main
attractions as well as all public transport stops and stations.
consultation slows progress, but response promising
The first Mobilien line to come into service in mid 2004 was line
38 in Paris. Of the 150 lines planned by the PDUIF at the outset, it is
one the dozen now in operation; about thirty more are progressing
and should be in service before the French municipal elections of
2008. The poles have been much slower getting off the ground.
Only five will be in service at the end of the year, and twenty or
so more should be ready at the end of 2008.
 NovaTerra Connected Cities / june 2006 / 35
The SIEL system on bus line 95 to Paris (photo: RATP/ Gérard Dumax).
The most obvious point to arise from an appraisal of the project
are the severe delays. As soon as the allocation of public space is at
stake, local residents become involved and are quick to make their
demands known. Although positive in terms of ownership of the
project by the local population, the consultation periods were longer
than initially planned. The complexity of allocating responsibilities
has also slowed the project down. These delays have been tolerated
in view of the importance placed on consultation by the PDUIF.
While the lines now in service experienced a considerable drop in
passenger numbers during the works, numbers have subsequently
increased sharply. Customer satisfaction surveys unequivocally show
that travellers are sensitive to these changes and want the benefits
extended to all the other lines. These results augur well for all the
other line and pole projects which will get going over the next few
months. This project promises to appreciably upgrade the public
transport network at limited costs.
Reactions to: Labbouz@nova-terra.nl
Note
1 The subsidies must be used for roads layout or other measures which facilitate bus
services (e.g. dedicated bus lanes, studies to give priority to buses at traffic lights).
They cannot be used for hard or soft landscaping.
Abbreviations
– EIVP City of Paris Engineering School, 15 rue Fénelon, 75010 Paris, France.
Phone + 33 1 56 02 61 00
– RATP Public Transport Operator in the Paris Region, Maison de la Ratp,
54 quai de la Rapée, LAC A34, 75599 Paris Cedex 12, France. Phone +33 1 58 78 33 23
– UMLV University of Marne-la-Vallée, Pôle Ville, Bâtiment Lavoisier, Cité Descartes,
5 boulevard Descartes, 77454 Marne-la-Vallée Cedex 2, France. Phone + 33 1 60 95 73 43
References
– Christen Michel, Mobilien, une ambition pour l’Île-de-France,
Revue Savoir Faire 45(1), 2003.
– Direction Régionale de l’Équipement d’Île-de-France,
Plan des Déplacements Urbains d’Île-de-France, December 2000.
– Direction Régionale de l’Équipement d’Île-de-France,
Plan des Déplacements Urbains d’Île-de-France – Bilan à mi-parcours, 2003.
– Gonzales Alvarez Antonio, Mobilien et le PDU d’Île-de-France – l’innovation
dans les politiques de déplacements au risque de la concertation,
thèse de doctorat, February 2006.
– RATP Department Development et Territorial Action,
The Mobilien project – RATP contribution, May 2004.
– RATP Pôle Développement et Politique de la Ville,
Contribuer à la mise en place du Plan des Déplacements Urbains, 2002. Z
Connected Cities Bulgaria Netherlands
Connected Cities is about sustainable mobility and Municipality of Kardjali Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
spatial development. As EU-sponsored Interreg IIIC Eindhoven Regional Government Administrative
network it focuses on high quality public transport France structure (SRE)
and transport development areas, aimed at improving City of Paris Engineering School (EIVP) Netherlands Centre for Underground Construction(COB)
mobility and quality of life in urban and rural areas. Sénart Public Local Authority TNO Environment and Geosciences
The network activities will continue until the end of 2007.
Germany Portugal
European network Research Association for Underground Transportation City Hall of Covilhã
Connected Cities brings together twenty-five partners Facilities (STUVA) Institute Pedro Nunes (IPN)
throughout Europe. The partners in Connected Cities Hamburg-Harburg University of Technology (TUHH)
will share their experiences and insights through Spain
management and coordination, interregional showcase Greece Federation of municipalities and provinces of
workshops, dissemination and communication, including Municipal Enterprise of Planning & Development Castilla-La Mancha (FEMPCLM)
through a guide to good practice. of Patras (ADEP) Municipality of Toledo
Development Agency of Magnesia S.A. (ANEM)
http://connectedcities.net Municipality of Philippi United Kingdom
Region of Thessaly Bristol City Council
Belgium University of Thessaly South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)
European New Town Platform (ENTP) Transport for London (TfL)
Ghent University / Architecture and Urban Planning Italy
Municipality of Ancona
Municipality of Ferrara