Transdrôme : an "on demand" transport service in the rural regions of the Drôme

Best Practice

Topics

• Mobility
• Governance capacity

Short description

Since 1989, the Conseil Général of Drôme offers an innovative transport system : Transdrôme. This service is organised to answer individual transport demands of inhabitants of rural and isolated mountainous regions. It concerns 172 communities, grouped in 13 regions. This service only exists thanks to a firm political will, since it is not an economically balanced activity.

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Project executive

The Conseil Général of Drôme is the political institution at the head of the Drôme département : 370 communities, 652 155 ha, 436 500 inhabitants (1999), 0,67 inhabitants/ha. The Conseil Général has numerous missions and public services, including the transport services in the département.

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Participants

Transdrôme is a public service based on contracts with private companies. The 13 transporters with whom the Conseil Général has signed 5 year contracts are private taxi or bus companies. Their service is payed by the users (about 20% of the total costs) and by the Conseil Général according to a lump sum per kilometer. The link between the users and the bus and taxi companies is ensured by 13 relay organisms which are local public organisations (city halls, post offices, train stations, tourism offices) : they organise the reservations and any other aspect of the relation ship between the bus and taxi companies and the users. The Conseil Général finances part of the service done by these relay-organisms.

Objectives

Parts of the Drôme département are rural, isolated mountainous regions, badly linked to the main communication networks and facing economical and demographical decline. The main objective of Transdrôme is to reduce the isolation of inhabitants of these regions, by linking them to the main existing transport facilities.

Activities

The Transdrome service has two offers : (1) Links with the main public transport network (buses and trains) for all. This offer functions from Mondays to Saturdays from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. (2) Comodity service for people over 65 years old or who are confronted with an important handicap. This offer runs from Monday to Saturday, 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. Both services are organised according to the demand. Users must book about 24 hours in advance. The users pay a participation according to the number of kilometers and the number of passangers in the vehicle. These services are available in 13 regions, totaling 172 communities.

Process

The project is in a normal functionning phase. It was launched in the 1990s and it is planned to maintain it, with possible evolutions in 2007.

Results

The number of users has continualy increased (+10% between 2002 and 2003, +2% between 2003 and 2004) and the satisfaction rate is high (90% of asked users are satisfied with the service). In 2004, 5 555 passangers were transported for a total 253 785 km. 2/3 of the passengers use the offer which links up to main public transport network, while 1/3 use the comodity offer, reserved for persons with specific mobility difficulties.

Evaluation

Since 2002, yearly reports are produced. A survey was also organised per telefon to collect the impressions of the clients of this service. A more thorough evaluation is planned before september 2007, when te contracts with the transporters will be renegociated. According to the present difficulties and other intersting experiences, the Transdrome offer may change a bit.

Difficulties

(1) Communication : for such a flexible "on demand" service the fares and time schedules depend on the demand. For this reason it is difficult to conceive clear communication tools. (2) The bus and taxi companies have other activities and sometimes have trouble answering the demands.

Budget

160 000 euros/year (Euro)

Financial backer

Conseil Général of Drôme : 130 000 euros/year Participation of the users : 30 000 euros/year The calculated cost per passanger is 23 euros per year.

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.cg26.fr/fr/services/transports/transport_demande/default.html

Publication

"Services à la demande et transports innovants en milieu rural : de l'inventaire à la valorisation des expériences" (rapport final); DATAR, DTT, ADEME, ADETEC; novembre 2004; http://www.datar.gouv.fr/datar_site/datar_confSP.nsf/Frameset_Actus?readform&ID=CLAP-6BNJL8&

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

This system promotes the use of public transportation (links with the main networks) and as far as possible the service trys to group the passangers. However, most people who use the service do not usually use individual cars.

Economic value added

The economic value added has not been precisely evaluated. This service gives work to a certain number of private taxi and bus companies. However it represents an investment for the Conseil Général. It also allows people to go to the markets and shops regularly.

Socio-cultural value added

Transdrôme is very important regarding the socio-cultural value added since it allows people to continue living in isolated regions without necessarily depending on a car. Such a service alone can not solve the demographical and economical depression of these regions, but it contributes to better living conditions for its inhabitants.

Innovative content

Mobility in isolated regions is an important and difficult issue to solve. This system is definetly innovative and has the benefit of running for over 10 years. However it requires a strong political will and can be further developped and improved.

Good governance

The main decisions are voted by the politicians of the Conseil Général. A very clear contract and rules are prepared and signed between all partners. The relay organisms also ensure a control and transparency of the system. The bus and taxi companies can not negociate conditions directly with the passangers.

PR impact

This is a difficult aspect of the project. PR impact is quite limited and should be improved.

Multiplier effect / networking

Little networking has been done to this day, but the coordinators are interested in exchanges. The service will be evaluated in the coming years, in the perspective of new cotracts with the transport companies. The Conseil Général would be interested in exchanges with other similar experiences in order to integrate new ideas and improvements into their existing system.

Transferability

This system is very much transferable to other regions since it is based on a quite simple partnership. However, it requires strong political will. Similar experiences exist in other (non alpine) French regions.