How COVID-19 affected the SHAREPLACE pilot regions
In the beginning of the year, the testing of new services in the SHAREPLACE pilot regions was planned. However, with COVID-19 spreading in Europe the lockdown measures had an effect on the testing of the new services in the pilot regions. This shows how they adapted their plans to the situation. Here you can find a small overview of our pilot regions:
Bergamo
The carpooling service was launched in the area of the university but had to be stopped. Due to COVID-19, it was unusable because the target group consists of students and university staff. A monitoring platform launched and an intermodality survey about modal shift and the influence of working at home was carried out. The goal is to understand the movement dynamics of the target groups and how they changed during the past months. Seminars with stakeholders were held online. The plan is to restart carpooling in the end of September for students, university professors and municipal employees. As a safety measure, only two people should be in a car at the same time. Because of the shorter testing period and underutilization, less data can be collected. If it is impossible to start carpooling in time, guidelines for the activation of the service after the project ends will be drawn up.
Crema
In Crema testing was planned to start in April but it was postponed and will have a shorter testing period. Fewer people use public transport because of Covid-19 and holiday season. The plan is to hold online living labs in the end of summer. Since many schools and universities will probably continue online, there will be less regular bus services. Which means that the demand for DRT services might go up, but it has to be planned well especially for smaller busses. If no testing is possible, experiences from other cities will be evaluated to prepare the implementation of the service later this year.
Osijek
The application for the pilot projects in Osijek was completely finished and prepared for users but unfortunately, the living labs had to be cancelled in April. Right now, there is less public transport because of Covid-19 and additionally they are using the summer schedule because no students are there. In September when school restarts testing with a smaller group of people should start. In the worst case, the implementation will continue after the project ends. Two surveys and a co-design workshop are planned. They will be held online which could have an influence on the number of participants.
Ulm
In Ulm events and talks with politicians and on mobility conferences had to be cancelled. The bike sharing service is available but with less users because of home school and home office. An online living lab was conducted and a public online webinar and workshop with transport operators took place. Other virtual meetings and workshops are planned. The routing application is expanding by adding more means of transportation to it.
Zalaegerszeg
The first testing phase was done but other planned pilot activities had to be postponed. They should start by the end of August and last until October. The testing has to be adjusted to the changed local schedules. If it´s not possible to conduct tests with many people, it will be done with a smaller group. The results will be used to prepare everything for testing at a later point of time. Online meetings will be held and the work is concentrated on the IT part by integrating more public transport options in the DRT system.
