Context:
Five external stakeholders from Vidzeme Planning Region (Partner 11) together with two project partners visited Burgenland (Austria) to learn more about the “Dorfbus Kleinmürbisch-Inzenhof-Tschanigraben-Grossmürbsich-Neustift bei Güssing” (To know more on this Good Practice, please have a look on our MOG website: GP 9.5)
This transport system ensures accessibility of public utilities for residents without car-access. It compensates the lack of public transport and supports transport of children to kindergarten and school. Based on this project, the Regional Government of Burgenland developed a funding system to support local mobility-solutions that meet perfectly the needs of the local habitants.
Content of the visit:
On the way to southern Burgenland, Burgenland partner (Partner 8) explained to Latvian experts the different mobility projects in the region (Neusiedler Seecard, Nextbike rental system and community bus).
Project Manager Martina Jauck and team from Vidzeme Planning Region, Latvia
During the short stop-over and lunch break in Eisenstaedt (capital of Burgenland), there was the possibility to visit the Mobility Centre Burgenland.
Then, there was a presentation of the “micro-public transport – funding system in Burgenland” to explain how to find adequate funding for these micro-transport schemes.
Finally, the team met Mr Frühwirt, Major of Kleinmürbisch and Mr. Kazinota (Major of Neustift) to discuss about the Dorbus; the meeting started with a short trip in the used bus to show how the ordering system works and to show the served area.
The major points of discussion were the following:
– How did it start?
– How it is financed?
– Where there any big problems that had to be solved before?
– The situation in Vidzeme planning region (Latvia) is very different, distances between houses is much bigger, is such a solution possible and feasible there?
After this discussion, Mr. Alexander Stiasny presented a centralized reservation-tool based on a call center solution and a browser based reservation system, to answer to the expectations of as Ms Lelde Abele, Project Manager at Vidzeme Planning Region, who has expressed her particular interest on this kind of solution before the meeting.
Transferability of the Good Practice:
Transport on demand is used as a mobility solution in various rural areas in Europe. Each region has specific characteristic in terms of landscape, size and form of villages, location of households etc. It was very valuable to see the ‘transport on demand’ service in operation in Eisenstaedt. Partners from Vidzeme Planning Region could evaluate what type of transport solutions are appropriate for given community. The introduction with the Transport on Demand in practice allowed comparing the situation in Burgenland with the situation in Vidzeme planning region. It helped to understand the specifics and conditions for the solution to be successful. The experience in Burgenland will help partners from Vidzeme Planning region to create their own model for transport in demand to be implemented.
