Low-emission commuting

The problem for commuters is that public transport runs at specific stops and these stops need to be reached by car in the countryside. To solve this problem, this project deals with an attractive Micro-offer for public transport to manage first and last mile problems.

Citizens from rural areas need to commute by car or by public transport to reach the city centre. Public transport runs on specific routes at defined times. This leads to first and last mile problems for the people who use the buses or the train. The problem is that this is quite a distance and it’s too far for walking or biking. Therefore the citizens need a car. Now the challenge is that these people then don’t change to public transport, they drive on with their car.

To change this situation, the only solution is an attractive Micro-offer for public transport to manage the first and last mile. The current Micro-offers operate with fixed stops. Styria has calculated that only 15% of the commuters use the offer. The most important barriers are the travelling time (time of the ride + waiting time) as well as the necessity to get to a certain point.

In this project, an algorithm gets developed which enables commuters to get in and out of any place at will and to minimize the travelling time. Based on solutions of the common dial-a-ride problem, requirements need to become more flexible. Therefore, passengers can be distributed to the closest micro bus which is suitable for them. Thanks to simulations, appropriate assessment criteria like time or CO₂ emission can be quantified.