Public Transport Innovation: a Case Study in Friuli-Venezia Giulia

Road public transport is usually organized at spatial level based on traditional business models of fixed routes and scheduling, while innovative on-demand services are rarely provided over territories. On-demand public transport services (DRT – Demand Responsive Transport) represent a more flexible option and a significant opportunity for public transport companies to increase their ridership by diverting users from private cars, while serving the territory more effectively, especially in weak-demand areas. In the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region (Northeastern Italy), the Regional Public Transport Plan specifically identifies the so-called “third level services”, consisting of flexible transport options like on-demand services. However, such services have never been designed and deployed in the Region yet. In this paper, the first ever on-demand service in the region – called SMARTBUS – is designed and tested to serve weakdemand, peripheral/rural areas, namely the Karst uplands. Eventually, policy recommendations are elaborated to support policymakers overcoming existing regulatory and operational barriers.