Andante: a new mobility concept and an interoperability dream

The Andante intermodal system aims to provide a new concept in public transportation, and is based on an integrated mobility system focused on the customer and oriented by the market. In contrast with traditional transport systems, Andante is based on co-opetition (cooperative competition) among various transport operators, who assume a new role on the transport system: mobility providers.

The last decades have witnessed substantive changes in mobility patterns. The development of new centralities in metropolitan areas has induced new flows of mobility within their most peripheral regions. At the same time, motives for travelling have also developed beyond the most traditional commuter trips, such as home-work and home-school, which has introducing greater complexity to travelling on public transport networks. The cumulative effect of these two phenomena may contribute to explain the sustained reduction in the quota of public transport since the early 1990s.

The absence of a public transportation coordination agency, like a Metropolitan Transport Authority, left the transport system and its operators without any mechanism to promote planning and coordination.

The construction of Metro do Porto’s light rail network provided a unique and once in a lifetime opportunity to try and find a solution for this problem, placing the customer as the central figure in an integrated approach to urban mobility, rather than the individualistic tendency prevailing in the last decades.

Metro do Porto, the driving force behind the Andante project, was joined by two other major players in public transportation in the Porto Metropolitan Area (PMA): Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto (STCP), a government-owned bus operator, and Comboios de Portugal (CP) a government-owned suburban train operator. By the end of 2002, TIP – Transportes Intermodais do Porto, a consortium (Agrupamento Complementar de Empresas, ACE) was incorporated by Metro do Porto, SA (MP), STCP and CP, to implement the Andante project. TIP was given the statutory objective of developing and implementing an intermodal system of public transports in the PMA and the municipality of Trofa.

TIP’s missions

Thus, TIP’s primary mission was the design and the implementation of an intermodal system for common and exclusive use by operators of public transports in PMA. Moreover, it will also be responsible for defining the revenue sharing model of dividing, administering a clearing house, and implementing an integrated management information system, a communications network, and sales distribution channels.

In order to accomplish that mission, the Andante system was developed around five major building blocks:

• A common zoning map
• A common fare structure
• An integrated technological platform
• A revenue sharing model
• A business model

The existence of these common business rules made public transport easier to use, and allows greater and better mobility for the citizens of the PMA.

The zoning map was developed with the aim of creating an economic incentive for operators to integrate the Andante intermodal network.

The Andante fare structure includes occasional and seasonal tickets, with both spatial and temporal validity, and discounted fares for pensioners, retirees, children and students.

The Andante technological platform encompasses the following aspects:

• A contactless ticketing system with 1,181 validators
• A common distribution network including 182 automatic vending machines, 56 manual vending machines, 234 portable vending machines, 540 franchised electronic points of sale, 60 points of sale at post offices and the nationwide automatic teller machines network
• A management information system
• An optical fiber based communications network

At the beginning of 2009, the Andante network was assessed and it covered 71 metro stations, 19 railway stations, two funicular stations and 647 buses of both STCP and private bus operators affiliated with ‘Associação Nacional de Transportadores Rodoviários de Pesados de Passageiros’ (ANTROP).

The system currently handles approximately 600,000 validations in a working day, some of them being monomodal (STCP).

Overall, the share of the public transport system in PMA increased by approximately 10.8% during the 2005-2008 time period, after a continued declined since the early 1990s.

As shown in Figure 2, this result in 2008 was obtained despite a 6.56% drop in the monomodal use of the PMA public transport system, which was compensated by an almost 20% growth in the use of the Andante network during that year.

TIP has a dream: interoperability, so that Andante may be used not only for operators on mainland Portugal, like CP, but also in transport systems of other metropolitan areas.

Metro do Porto: conquering the population it serves

Built over a period of approximately six years, Metro do Porto has had its five line system fully working since May 2006. Transporting approximately five million customers per month, it is a project which knew how to conquer the population it serves. Regular polls show that it enjoys an overall level of satisfaction which is not just high, but it is also increasing on a regular basis.

Awarding success

The success of the Light Rail Project is not confined to the local recognition of its merit. In 2008, the UITP awarded the ‘Light Rail Award – Best New System’ to Metro do Porto, presented during the 9th Light Rail Conference in Istanbul. Amongst other impressive awards, this represented the international recognition of the success of the First Phase of the Light Rail System of Porto.

Repeating success

This success motivates Metro do Porto to achieve an identical outcome in the Second Phase, which has already started. The fact that the Company can rely on practically the same team of staff who were involved with the First Phase is significant in order to reach that goal.

The so called Gondomar line (7km and 10 new stations) is now under construction, and is heading the network prolongation to East. It is expected that it will begin commercial operation by the end of 2010. At that moment, the Yellow Line South expansion to Santo Ovídio is also expected to be concluded. Works will start in some weeks and comprehend 0.6km of new track, a tunnel, a bus interface and a new underground station right in the city centre of Gaia. This growth will later continue further south, with 3km more and four stations.

The expansion of the Light Rail System shall proceed along the principles set out in the Memorandum of Understanding signed between shareholders of the company (Portuguese Government and Porto Metropolitan Area). It involves the Green Line North development to the municipality of Trofa (10km and 10 stations), a totally new line between Matosinhos and Porto downtown (9km and 12 stations, mostly underground), another new line also from Matosinhos to Porto’s University Pole (8km and 10 stations, in addition to the existent service on the Yellow Line), and a new line connecting Campanhã Metro and Train station to the city centre of Gondomar (6km and six stations).

All expansions and new lines considered, this phase will add approximately 43km of lines to the Metro do Porto network, arriving at important services, such as schools and universities and to thousands of inhabitants. The system’s Second Phase corresponds to an investment of more than €1.1 billion. It is expected to be finished by 2018.

Having achieved a consensus concerning the general layout of the new lines, maximum priority was given to the preparation of their Preliminary Studies and Environmental Impact Studies so as to make it possible to launch the tender for the sub-concession of the construction and heavy maintenance of the Second Phase of expansion of the network as soon as possible.

Lately, important milestones were reached in respect of demand indicators. In 2008, the 50 million annual validations mark was exceeded for the first time (51.5 millions) representing approximately 7% more than in the previous year. It is a significant milestone because we’re comparing for the first time the records for a stabilised network, as opposed to preceding years when the network was still expanding.

Naturally, this increased demand shows up in the Profit and Loss Account, where an increase in fare box income of 9.4% is recorded in comparison with the preceding year. On the other hand, a more efficient management of the supply programme enabled a 1.9% reduction in direct costs of operation, improving the gross margin by 15.4%. The cover ratio, which compares the fare box income with direct operational costs, reached 60.8%, a 6.3 p.p. growth relative to 2007.

Total investment in 2008 reached €123.8 million, mostly due to the acquisition of new rolling stock: this October, 30 Bombardier Flexity Swift vehicles will progressively enter commercial operation, mainly on the Red Line, accurately answering to the demand growth and deeply increasing quality of service in the entire network. By the end of 2009, Metro do Porto’s available fleet will rise to 102 compositions.