ATM’s technology and environment projects contribute to overall quality

Technology becomes a fundamental factor when talking about quality. Our technological investments do not only concern network infrastructures. For modern transport companies, it is no longer enough just to take people from A to B: they need to be accompanied and offered services that make the journey easy, comfortable and pleasant. We need to offer an authentic travel experience.

Our in-house research and development centre, ‘ATM-Lab’, is working on a series of projects involving technology being applied to transport. Of these, there is a project devoted to increasing the reliability of forecasted arrival times at bus and tram stops and this is particularly important from a quality point of view.

By the end of 2015, a new information pole will replace the 1,600 existing display indicators installed at the main stops in the Milan network and will permit greater precision. The experiments conducted have produced extraordinary results – the reliability proved to be 96%. The same team is working on the prototype of the Expo information pole, dubbed the 2.0. This is a 46-inch two-sided LCD monitor which, on one side, shows the location of the vehicles in real time on a 3D map, while the other side provides video information and news.

These days, however, the travel begins at home. This is why the ATM website has been totally revamped. The new website boasts different content and uses the very latest technology. There were two reasons for updating the website: the progressively increasing numbers of users and the need to bring the site into compliance with the web 2.0 standard, whereby information is easy to find and reuse thanks to technologies that can be adapted to the various needs of visitors. It is no longer a static website, but one that constantly changes, starting from the most popular application, GiroMilano, which permits users to look up addresses, calculate routes and check which bus, tram and underground railway lines to take to get where they want to go. The new version of GiroMilano has been integrated with Google maps: after typing in where you want to start from and where you want to go, the application displays the route both on a map and on a satellite view.

Other new features include a section giving real time information on traffic and one dedicated to complaints. Additionally, interactive options are offered in the web community where it will be possible to take part in current blog discussions, or share contents using UGC, that is user generated functions.

For those who are constantly connected and wish to browse the site on their mobile phones too, atm-mi.it will be available in a mobile version. The website will in fact be duplicated to create a version that can be correctly and quickly displayed on mobile phones and palmtops.

Indeed, it is also becoming necessary to focus on mobile phones to satisfy the needs of those who are constantly on the move and need to have readily available information and tools that make it easier to get about. With this in mind, we recently signed an agreement with Telecom Italia for trials of an advanced Mobile Ticketing service. Using a software application resident on the mobile phone’s SIM Card, users can access a browser menu where they can purchase and load their travel cards or ticket carnets, without needing to physically go and buy the ticket from a point of sale. The service will also enable users to check the availability of the various types of travel document as well as the date that their travel cards expire.

The service is based on NFC – Near Field Communication – technology, integrated into mobile phones which permits passengers to confirm possession of valid travel documents by placing their mobile phones in front of the ticket reader machines or turnstiles, even with the phone switched off, and to receive useful information on public transport by placing them in front of the ‘smart posters’ displayed inside underground railway stations. In the same way, ticket inspectors will be able to check the validity of travel documents simply and immediately, by using their palmtops to ‘read’ passengers’ mobile phones. After the trial period, which will begin in the second half of 2009, the service will be accessible for everyone at the beginning of 2010.

This is a project that is perfectly in line with another, already near completion, to extend mobile phone coverage to the whole of the underground railway system. The project begun in 2007 and is continuing ahead of schedule – by the end of 2009 it will be possible to use mobile phones in all 88 stations along the three existing underground railway lines in Milan.

In the meantime, ATM-Lab is also working to bring technological innovation to company employees, with tools designed to improve the work of those who, every day, keep Milan ‘moving’. For example, the new system supplied to personnel assigned to inspect travel documents that permits them to check electronic travel cards and travel passes using pocket PC-type devices, equipped with wireless printers for immediate delivery of original copies of fines.

Additionally, for front-line personnel, we are perfecting palmtops with specific applications so that they can supply assistance and information to passengers. It will be possible to immediately answer questions from citizens by displaying a map of the city on the palmtop, and to calculate the best route to reach a given address as well as the price of the necessary ticket. Any detours in the routes will also be available in real time.

Lastly, we have devoted our attention to those working in our maintenance shops too. Applications designed for the personnel who look after in-house maintenance will permit them to manage the company supply chain in a fully automatic way, using RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) Tag technology and making use of the related connections to SAP modules. This means, in warehouse management for example, that it will be possible to fully automate the whole process from acceptance of orders to issue of invoices.

The future, then, lies in integrating the various modes of transport, from the ‘conventional’ ones – that is underground railway, buses and trams – to interchange car parks and bike and car sharing. All this using only one card that may perhaps even permit us to buy a newspaper or a coffee near the underground railway station. Further into the future, when Milan goes digital, Wi-FI communications within the territory will permit citizens to interface with the 2.0 information poles. Additionally, citizens will be able to receive information on circulation of our vehicles in real time, either on the Web or by SMS.

The environment

Each year, ATM consumes around 340 Gigawatt of electricity and 30 million litres of diesel fuel, plus approximately eight million cubic metres of methane to heat office buildings, depots and maintenance shops. In financial terms, this means we spend approximately €80 million each year, which is 11% of our budget.

Faced with these figures, we must have a responsible approach to use of power and our energy saving plan sets a target to reduce consumption by 7.5% by the end of 2010.

First of all this involves the fleet. With 72% of its fleet made up of electric vehicles, ATM holds first place in Italy and in Europe for offering transport fuelled by ‘clean’ power. Yet we are continuing to update our fleet by modernising existing vehicles and purchasing new ones. Revamping operations involve installation of electronic converters, or choppers, on trains to regulate kinematic motion phases electronically and limit the power dispersed by the original gear. In terms of energy, these operations will be able to guarantee a saving of approximately 11 million kW per year. Due to this project, ATM has obtained partnership in the Sustainable Energy Campaign for Europe.

Not just modernisation, but above all new vehicles: besides the new EEV (Enhanced Environmental Vehicle) Ecobuses, the first new trolley buses fitted with supercapacitors, equipment that will permit savings of around 1,300,000 kW per year, are already in service.

Even more innovative is the project that aims to produce part of the power required for transport. We are moving in two directions: photovoltaic or solar power, and co-generation, that is simultaneous generation, in a single process, of thermal and electric and/or mechanical power.

The first solar panel power plant will be built on the roof of the Precotto depot (23 thousand square metres) and it is estimated that this will result in a saving of approximately €60,000 per year. Based on the experience of this first power plant, we will develop an operating plan to extend photovoltaic roofing to our other real estate properties. With regard to co-generation, the target is a production of about 22,000,000 kW/year.

Furthermore, ATM has just terminated the work to obtain Energy Certification for all the buildings it owns – the certificate establishes the consumption for winter heating and places each building in a ‘class’, similar to those used for domestic appliances. This work will be the basis for future work to make our real estate assets more efficient with regard to energy consumption.

The last part of the plan, but also the most important, is the human factor: a fundamental element for attaining all targets. In a company that, as we have said at the beginning, is based on movement, the way in which the vehicles are driven could become a strategic factor. The ‘Economy Drive’ project involves a training course on driving techniques for all personnel driving surface vehicles. The savings deriving from this course are estimated at 5% of current fuel consumption: approximately €1.5 million saved each year.

Lastly, remaining in the area of personnel, another project involves our office workers – approximately 1,000 people (11% of the whole workforce). The Codice EnergEtico (a play on words combining both Energy and Ethics Code), lists tactics which are useful for reducing energy consumption and emissions that endanger the environment.