PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Commuters in cities tend to use cars far less often than their rural counterparts. Night workers - especially those who operate public transport vehicles - are the exception however, relying heavily on their own vehicles to commute to work.
The environmental impacts of private cars include air and noise pollution, fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Cars also take up space on the roads and in car parks, an important factor in many metropolitan regions. Cities need to move away from transport based on private car ownership in order to reduce GHGs, air pollution, noise and congestion – thus helping to mitigate climate change and improving air quality and liveability.
OBJECTIVES
MOONSET’s main goal is to replace private cars (used mostly by one passenger) with an on-demand responsive transport (DRT) bus shuttle system in three areas, allowing night shift workers to commute without using a private car. The project partners are companies that operate the main means of public transportation systems in three urban areas in Austria (Vienna), Portugal (Lisbon) and Bulgaria (Ruse), two of which (Lisbon and Vienna) are metropolitan regions.
The overall project objectives are to:
- decrease the GHGs generated by the transport sector by using 100% green electricity for the shuttle busses
- encourage public service employees working unsociable hours to reduce their dependence on private cars
- nudge employees towards sustainable mobility behaviour, leading to a higher quality of life in urban areas
- improve access to workplaces for socio-economically disadvantaged staff members, so reducing the pressure to own a car
- raise the environmental sustainability of participating businesses and their attractiveness as employers
- strengthen employers’ responsibility for the commuting needs of their staff
- reduce space needed for parking, freeing up scarce inner-city space for other purposes
- act as a catalyst for sustainable mobility practices, influencing public and private transport sector stakeholders
- support European to achieve climate neutrality and mitigate environmental impacts
The project’s specific objectives are to:
- develop an optimised algorithm that balances cost, travelling time and waiting time
- share success rates and coverage of operating areas for an on-demand pooling transport technology solution
- demonstrate that the innovative concept for the shuttle system works successfully in the 3 pilot areas
- create a methodology to assess the reduction of negative environmental impacts of the shuttle system
- develop guidelines for nudging methods and other tools to incentivise sustainable mobility behaviour
RESULTS
The expected results of the MOONSET project are:
at least 80% reduction in CO2 equivalent (CO2eq) emissions/person/kilometre in total for the 3 project areas when compared to the emissions generated by passengers' previous modes of transportation:
- a reduction of 94.98% in Vienna, 87.45%, in Lisbon and 76.37% in Ruse
- combined primary energy (diesel, petrol and electricity) reduced:
- Vienna: a reduction of 0.038 GWh/year by the end of the project, increasing to a 0.101 GWh/year reduction in the following 3-5 years
- Lisbon: a reduction of 0.226 GWh/year by the end of the project, increasing to a 0.453 GWh/year reduction in the following 3-5 years
- Ruse: a reduction of 0.0114 GWh/year by the end of the project, increasing to a 0.0187 GWh/year reduction in the following 3-5 years
- 88.96 tonnes CO2eq saved by project end
- 12.5 full-time equivalent jobs created by project end
- a percentage reduction among travellers using a particular type of transport or number of trips using said type (the modal shift rate) of:
- Vienna: 55.30%, Lisbon 42.8% and Ruse 25% by project end
- 47.25% use of shuttle busses across all 3 locations by project end
