Good practice:

MOBILITY ON DEMAND

The Good Practice is related to Component 2 of P.E.R.L.A. project - MICROLOTTO.
Objectives of the project Component are:
▪ Improve the fruition of heritage, even in peripheral and island areas (difficulty to connect with)
▪ Mitigate the impact of seasonal tourism
▪ Facilitate access to Tuscany scenic attractions, scattered throughout the whole territory
▪ Introduce "experiential tourism" which enhances the journey and not just the destination. Activities involved:
i) Expanding local public transport, with particular attention to people with reduced mobility and specific demand (site, time, number)
ii) improving the accessibility of coastal areas and roads of major tourist interest
iii) defining a system of routes for a greater usability of the territory but protecting environment (private transpost discouraged, public electric transport also being used)
iv) developing and implementing an App for disseminating services to citizens and tourists.
The Component includes a series of 12 transport service packages, well integrated within and between municipalities; services are addressed to different target groups (utilizing in some cases electric transport vehicles) and to serve different demands in terms of connection points (for instance to and from a secondary rail station out of town) and timing (being available "on demand" to users at distant locations where availability of regular public transport is limited),

The Component has been implemented as part of a larger project co-funded by Italy-France Maritime Cooperation programme 2007-2013 .
Total financing: 850,188 €
Human resources: Transport personnel. Support (logistic & administrative) is provided by the Municipalities involved.

Following some pioneering DRT (Demand Responsive Transport) schemes implemented in the 1980s in Italy, a second series of systems were launched from the mid-1990s. There are now DRT schemes in urban and peri-urban areas as well as in rural communities. Operated by both public transport companies and private service providers, the DRT schemes of Microlotto now offer either intermediate collective transport services for general users or to meet specific user groups and purposes,

Regional, provincial and municipal integrated support helps annualy to keep the services operational and improved over time.
Covid restrictions did influence this integrated transport service offer in 2020; open air double-deck bus was introduced in 2021 summer season, proving popular with users.

The practice is transferable without the need of specific adaptations to those regional contexts having a similar demand for services tailored to tourists, young people and local residents' needs.
The service has proved so far capable of staying sustainable, being supported by Tuscany Region, Province of Livorno and the various Municipalities involved who reserve yearly a recurrent budget to that aim. This joint resolution stems from the popularity of those services with the local communities and visitors.
Services should not be free, though, but at an encouraging cost (e.g. 1-2 € ticket for a whole day on a single route). The public organisations' cooperation asnd concertation by means of ad-hoc agreement drawn each season to define service features and components, budgeted costs and financial coverage proves of essence as a governance tool.