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Description
Modern Mobility is developing digital and dynamic mobility systems intended to create a mobility ecosystem for communities. The aim of the project is to develop an environmentally friendly demand-based mobility platform (VEDAS) that is accompanied with a smart bus stop. The project solves the problem of transport managers and residents in sparsely populated areas, where the availability of public transport and services is not in line with the needs of the people in the area and is carbon intensive. The VEDAS interface allows people in sparsely populated areas to enter their desired trips on the VEDAS platform. The transport manager can better analyse the service area''s mobility trends and needs based on the data stored in the system. This in turn helps to better plan local transport.
Public transport can operate on the VEDAS platform to meet the needs of a larger volume of people, combining the transportation of both people and luggage. It is good for society if different companies that move people and luggage combine their forces by giving up their own fleet of vehicles and making trips based on needs. With a single vehicle, it is possible to deliver post, food, medicines and other essentials in a sparsely populated area while transporting people according to their needs.
In this way, besides the conventional fixed bus lines, the VEDAS platform will enable the introduction of demand-driven transport. Figuratively speaking, a person no longer depends on a bus but a bus on a person. With the VEDAS platform, all modes of transport such as bus, train, tram, barge and on-demand transport can be combined with each other for convenient and efficient use of public transport, both in combination of schedules and ticketing.
Target groups of the future solution are local governments, local transport organisers, state in general, postal companies and clients who get a better service.
Summary of project results
The project was primarily addressed to the availability and connectivity of transport in rural areas, which would provide people with a demand-based transport system transport connection as a better and environmentally friendly solution.
Within the project, Modern Mobility''s demand-based transport system VEDAS was developed to a level that can be sold to customers. The product has been successfully implemented both in Saaremaa and in Tartu, Estonia. In Tartu, the VEDAS system is in active use, where on average 650 - 800 trips are made in one month. Remembering that demand-based transport was an unknown topic in Estonia many years ago, through the Norway Grants measure, not only a new smart transport system has been developed, but also a societal understanding of the basic foundation for demand-based transport, where people deserve better transport connections. We believe that the emergence of a broader understanding of demand-based transport in society will create good conditions for us to offer a more powerful VEDAS software solution and smart bus stops in the future.
Anyone can register as a user on the platform and then enter and cancel ride requests. A call center was also developed, where the user can ask for ongoing help if necessary. Machine learning algorithms for order fulfillment, payment and security solutions have been developed.
So far, there are a total of 359,947 passenger kilometers in Saaremaa (196,856 passenger kilometers) and Tartu (163,091 passenger kilometers) with pilots. This has resulted in 16.4 tons of CO2 savings and 71.54 Mwh energy savings. It was possible to exceed the projected indicator of the project by 2.4 times, so the impact of the product has been greater than planned.