Case Studies in the Emilia Romagna Region in Support of Intermodality and Accessibility of Public Transport

The concept of intermodality is becoming increasingly important for the development of global communication and environmental sustainability. Creating an intermodal network capable of expanding connections between inland and coastal areas of the same country or between different countries, is fundamental in order to improve mobility and the level of service offered. In Italy numerous projects have been presented to increase national intermodality. An example is the Emilia-Romagna Region which, thanks to the Inter-Connect project, aims of enhancing the accessibility of passengers between the city of Bologna and the coastal areas, by promoting the use of collective transport. In this study, an analysis was carried out on the connectivity between Bologna and Ravenna to reduce the journey time on the railway line and increase the use of collective transport. The analysis included the redesign of the railway stops for a faster and more efficient service, as well as improving user satisfaction. In addition, an integrated bus-train ticket was created to promote the use of public transport. The results showed that this new solution led to have less delays on the line, although the reorganization of the stops involved the cancellation of some of them. Moreover, numerous surveys have shown that the use of an integrated bus-train ticket helps to improve intermodality within cities. The study has also highlighted the need for more efficient ticket advertising campaigns to better inform users.