Ecolane News 2/2005
		Dear reader, You are reading the latest Ecolane newsletter. This time we are focusing on Demand Responsive Transportation (DRT) Services. DRT is often referred to as the future public transportation, even though it is a reality today! Typically public transportation is based on schedules and fixed lines. As people’s needs change and public transportation is available less and less, the schedules and fixed lines are suitable for fewer people’s needs. In contrast to traditional public transportation, DRT matches each vehicle schedule and route to the needs of the customer, not the other way around. This is how DRT services are able offer public transportation corresponding travelers’ needs. One of the first large DRT service segments are the trips for specific groups paid by society. Helsinki’s MPK (paratransit service) is one of the largest DRT services in Europe. Ecolane is currently implementing the service together with TDC Song, the City of Helsinki and several transportation companies. The service will provide more than one million trips annually. Furthermore, the regional public transportation is fully integrated with the system. In this DRT service the comfort of private driving and the effectiveness of public transportation are combined. Thanks to the Ecolane DRT system a high quality of the service can be maintained in real life where changes, lateness and traffic jams occur daily. The technology enables the effective combining of trips and real-time routing of vehicles to ensure comfortable traveling for the customer. The DRT market in Finland is going through profound changes. Thanks to decisions made by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, the DRT market is moving in the right direction. The trip scheduling, combining and dispatching is now separated from the actual transportation. This makes it possible for all the parties in the service chain to concentrate on their core competence. This is the foundation to provide a high level, cost effective service. Helsinki’s MPK is the first large scale service with this model. There will be 10 to 20 similar DRT services opened in Finland over the next several years. Enjoy reading the Ecolane News! Antti Hannula Ecolane Finland Oy

Traffic Lights
OVER A MILLION TRIP ORDERS PER YEAR

Helsinki’s MPK, starting at the beginning of year 2006, will dispatch over one million trips annually; therefore making it one of the largest DRT services in Europe. In the service there are 60 inva-taxis and small busses, and an additional 1300 normal taxis. Furthermore, the service is fully integrated with the public transportation in the greater Helsinki area. Geographically the service covers 1500 sq. km and a population of more than one million inhabitants.

The Ecolane DRT system is one of the factors enabling the service. One of the biggest advantages of the system is continuous, real-time and automatic combining, chaining and routing. All trip combining and chaining is based on customer specific profiles to ensure a high quality service. The comprehensive reporting system provides detailed information in a user friendly form for analyses by the city and other stake holders.

Customers that are eligible to use the service can order trips either by calling to the dedicated call center or from the self-service Internet site and an application in the mobile phone.

Technology Watch
THE DRT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN THE FUTURE

DRT services are used all around the world. In these services the customer places an order and will be picked-up at the agreed time and place. Often these services have at least one hour, often one day, pre-booking time. High operation costs are the main reason that DRT services have not been widen to open service for the general public. Available on a larger scale, a DRT service is an excellent alternative for people to whom normal public transportation is not a viable option.

People’s desire to live home like accommodations, close to big centers has separated people’s living areas away from typical public transportation solutions. Stores, hobbies, work, family and homes are separately, further away from each other. Cost effective and scalable, automatic Ecolane DRT system enables the implementation of future public transportation already today. With the Ecolane DRT the flexible, multiple and serving public transportation connections are to be produced cost effectively. Read more at www.ecolane.com!

Market Watch
FINLAND TO BE THE PIONEER IN DEMAND-RESPONSIVE TRANSPORTATION

As recommended by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication there will be several large MPK services in Finland. The idea is to combine passengers traveling at approximately at the same time and direction to the same vehicles. In principle public transportation is the first alternative when selecting a travel mode, but often the transportation is provided with a taxi where there are possibly other passengers. Additionally, a combination of a taxi and normal public transportation can be formed to create a trip chain.

In the first phase the MPK’s will provide trips paid by the society for the elderly and handicapped. A key goal is to reduce the cost of providing this type of trips. With the aging population the demand for these trips will increase. Another important goal is to make sure that the public transportation service can be available in the future as well.

The trips paid by society form the basis of which DRT can be combined to open the transportation to everyone. In this way the MPK’s offer a unique opportunity to accomplish the future public transportation. Implemented properly the MPK’s can be enlarged to offer the services to a larger user group, so that all parties win: passengers can be provided with good public transportation services, transportation companies increase business, society achieves savings and increasing competitively in the form of functional traffic connections. MPK services offer an excellent opportunity for Finland to be the pioneer in solving transportation problems. It is a huge challenge to accomplish this and requires the best from all parties in the long run. Ecolane is dedicated to this continuous development by operating in open cooperation with different parties. This is the way Ecolane operates in the MPK projects as well.

News

ECOLANE CO-OPERATES WITH TDC SONG
Ecolane has signed a co-operation agreement with the Nordic operator TDC Song to provide a full solution for the enlarging DRT market.

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