Citizens’ expectations for the design of automated public transport

The EC project ULTIMO co-creation workshop organised earlier in Herford, Germany, have provided valuable insights into citizens’ expectations for the design of attractive, safe and inclusive automated public transport. The results will be integrated into the planning of the project’s test operations in Geneva and Oslo.

Workshop participants focused on different aspects: (1) they looked into what a transport service should look like if people were to choose it over their private car, and identified travel costs, information flow, time and the number and location of stops as important attractiveness factors. (2) They also discussed about the safety of passengers in autonomous vehicles when there is no longer a driver on board. (3) They reflected on accessibility and usability challenges for people with disabilities without a driver in the vehicle, and the possible introduction of functional technical features that could replace the role of the driver. (4) Finally they worked on the issue of mobility chains and the networking of different modes of transport. Local transport in Herford currently has two major shortcomings: citizens often struggle with long waiting times when changing trains. In addition, the central coach station is not at the station, making it difficult to switch between trains and buses.

The services developed and implemented in a first test vehicle based will be tested during a second citizen workshop in 2025, and their feedback in terms of inclusion and safety will be used for further development.

Source: The original article was published here