Pula Bus Renewal Project

CROATIA

PULA BUS RENEWAL PROJECT

SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY PLAN

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1.GENERAL

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) is currently supporting the City of Pula (the “Pula” or “City”) and Pula Promet d.o.o. (“PP” or the “Company”) for improvement of its public transport system through loan financing to the Company, a public transport company incorporated in Croatia, 86per cent owned by the City with remaining ownership stakes held by four surrounding municipalities. Proceeds of the loan will be used to finance the modernisation of the bus fleet through the purchase of up to 20 CNG low floor buses (the “Project”). The Project will be backed by an updated Public Service Contract (“PSC”) and supported with a Municipal Support Agreement (“MSA”) between the Bank and the City.

Pula is the largest city in Istria County, with a metropolitan area of 90,000 people. The City has 57,460 residents (census 2011), while the metropolitan area includes Barban, Fažana, Ližnjan, Marčana, Medulin, Svetvinčenat and Vodnjan. Pula is the economic and political centre of the Istrian peninsula (County of Istria). The historic Old City of Pula is becoming increasingly popular as a day trip destination amongst holidaymakers in Istria for shopping and visiting museums and historical sites, including the ancient Roman Amphitheatre.

City and suburban transportation is currently managed by the Company, which has existed in its present form since 1996, but the City has a 100 years old tradition of running the public transport system in Pula. With 120 employees, the Company currently operates 34 buses covering the entire network of 8 urban lines and 5 suburban lines resulting in around 1.9 million bus kilometres per year and 3.6 million passengers annually. Commercial speeds of operations, however, are considered to be slower than desired at 16 km/hr, due to increasing congestion levels in the city centre, especially during the peak tourist season. Some element of this congestion delay time is due to motorists seeking parking spaces in the city centre area.

In 2003, the Company introduced a new BUScard system for ticket validation based on a contactless (magnetic) smartcard system. This advanced system was one of the first in the region and provides the Company with valuable management information on ticket sales, number of passengers per trip, customer profiles, use of routes per hour and day, turnover per driver, and has reduced the percentage of free riders considerably.

In addition, during 2007 the Company integrated the GSM tracking of the overall bus fleet enabling on-line monitoring of the speed and location of each bus. In 2012, video surveillance was established in every bus. The four cameras per bus were installed to monitor the efficiency of the ticket purchase system and to monitor customer’s safety.

The Company has its own fleet maintenance and fleet management department.

The purchase of the new CNG buses will improve the reliability and quality of public transport services for users and the Company, by reducing fuels costs, reducing noise levels and improving air quality through reduced emissions and better fuel efficiency, in compliance with Regulation (EC) No 595/2009 of the European Parliament.

Pula Urban transport plans and strategies

The City identifies urban transport as a priority sector for development. One of the main problems the City faces is the heavy traffic during the busy tourist period between May and October, and the lack of parking spaces. The growing traffic congestion has an increasingly negative impact on the accessibility and environment in the City. The City’s focus is the improvement of public transport services in combination with traffic management measures to reduce the negative impact of growing car traffic in the Old City.

To address these issues, the Master Plan for Pula was prepared in 2007 followed by the Pula Sustainable Transport Strategy, both of which identified parking issues as a main obstacle in providing good transportation system.

Management of parking in Pula is the responsibility of Pula Parking d.o.o (“Pula Parking Company”), a company fully owned by the City. The Company manages street parking as well as some parking lots and has employed modern payment schemes, including mobile phone. Unfortunately illegal parking in the Old City is a common problem and only the police are entitled to issue fines for illegal parking.

The Master Plan covered road traffic and public transport on the city road network with transport modesintegrating all roads in Pula, bus stations, bus lines with a timetable, pedestrian zones, and cycling lanes. The results of the model of demand are presented in two matrices containing a link between the origin - destination of all zones or matrix Private Network Transport (PRT-matrix) and matrix public network traffic (PT-matrix). External traffic (outside of region) is added in an additional matrix. The Master Plan was focused at providing improved infrastructure and increased network capacity. Expansion of this study to cover the greater metropolitan area (outside the city area) shall be required under this assignment.

The Pula Sustainable Transport Strategy was focused on parking improvements in the City and consisted of the following proposed measures:

Immediate measures to offer improvement to the severe parking situation.
A larger amount of strategic measures to substantially improve situation after these measures have been implemented over a period of some years.
Supporting measures in the field of marketing and communication.

Immediate improvements included:

1.After new parking places have become available, remove parking places in the City centre, adding value to the City centre.

2.The City designates parking places where an extra floor would be acceptable from an urbanistic point of view, from this list:

Karolina
Željeznica stanica
Splitska
Stara Tržnica
Benediktinske opatije
Pedagoški fakultet
Flanatička
Santoriova ulica ( nova bolnica )
Premanturska ulica
Ex vojarna Karlo Rojc
Ulica Svetog Polikarpa (in the close proximity to Gospe od mora church)
Mandrač – Valelunga
Valelunga II (passenger terminal)

Strategic measures comprise:

1.Direct qualitative improvements (afterwards paying, implementation of a dynamic signing system).

2.Quantitative improvements, such as the provision of additional parking places in parking garages or in the form of a park and ride facility.

The current assignmentshall build from the development and implementation of existing plans to develop a new Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (“SUMP” or “Plan”) in accordance with current standards and to support priority actions in parking and traffic management systems and enforcement.

2 OBJECTIVES

The current study forms part of a comprehensive Technical Assistance package that aims to: support project implementation; to assist the Company in improving its operations, both financial and operational; to assist the Company and the City in updating the PSCin compliance with EU regulation 1370/2007 and to assist the City in the preparation of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Planaccording to the new Croatian guidelines for the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan development.

The main objective of this assignment is the development of a SUMPto ensure best-practice urban transport planning and in accordance with EU guidelines on SUMP preparation and international environmental practices and to support the City in implementing priority actions in parking and/or traffic management systems and enforcement. The SUMP will be implemented by the City.

The SUMP aims to create a sustainable urban transport system by addressing, at a minimum, the following objectives:

To prepare a plan for the transport urban sector in Pula, which would determine future priority investments in the sector;
To prepare a transport model to use as the basis for the assessment of the entire mobility plan;
To ensure the accessibility offered by the transport system is available to all, such that urban public facilities, including public transport, can provide services on an inclusive basis;
Increase the number of passengers in public transport
Develop public infrastructure and parking system related to public transport
Implement tracking and management of the transport management system (ITS- Intelligent Transport Systems)
Implement a unique (multipurpose city card) driving ticket and a modern information system for passengers
Organize cycling trails in the city and the public bicycle transport system
To improve safety and security in all modes of transport and to reduce the number of accidents;
To reduce air and noise pollution, greenhouse gas (“GHG”) and other emissions and energy consumption;
To improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the transport of persons, including defined sources of underlying funding and financing for such activities.
To elaborate a general and specific set of indicators, regarding the mobility, socio-economic and urban development of the City, which will be monitored in evaluating the effectiveness of the SUMPassociated with the established objectives;
To develop non-motorised modes and intermodal transport networks;
Propose recommendations on Private Sector Participation (“PSP”) opportunities in the provision of urban transport services in Pula;
To support implementation of priority actions in parking and/or traffic management.

The objective is to develop a SUMPfor Pula that details a programme of phased investments for the period 2017-2030. The SUMPwill be approved by a Project Steering Committee (“PSC”) and agreed with appropriate municipal and national authorities.

3SCOPE OF WORK

3.1 General

The Consultant will prepare the Plan for the City, taking into account the following parameters:

Review existing studies, investment plans and documentation, as well as additional preparatory work being undertaken by the City, institutions, PP and private operators;
Review the Master Plan and Sustainable Transport Strategyprepared by the City and their underlying traffic models and analysis; assess the status of implementation of the plans and monitoring and coordination mechanisms;
Aim to increase the attractiveness and improve the accessibility and convenience of public transport and non-motorised vehicle use, in order to offer a real alternative to private car use;
Conduct a gender informed transport needs assessment to better understand service user needs in terms of public and private transport in the City, including the differentiated needs and patterns of use of men and women;
Analyse bus routes as feeder lines to trunk passenger transport systems;
Increase the safety level of the transport network (all modes);
Organise internal and external logistics in order to avoid freight transport within the City, except for local deliveries in off-peak hours;
Develop pedestrian areas; an integrated network of pedestrian footways should cover the whole City, paying particular attention to the routes to/from universities, schools, hospitals, parks and important tourist and cultural points of interest, office centres, commercial centres, public institutions;
Provide for full mobility in defined zones or corridors, where persons with physical disabilities can enjoy the same level of access and movement to able-bodied persons; facilitate the use of public transport for people with reduced mobility or specific target groups (women, retired persons, students, tourists);
Improve connections of public transport between railways stations/bus stations/ local airport/ and other major areas of interest such as residential, tourist and business areas to the City centre;
Decrease congestion levels and time on the major transport network and the penetrations from surrounding areas to the City centre;
Improve the availability of public transport routes and stops so that the maximum walking distance to a public transport stop would be reasonable and enrolled within a maximum 10-15 minutes walking isochrones, including the information system for passengers located both in the stations and transport vehicles;
Analyse specific exclusive routes for public transport vehicles in order to increase the frequency of services both during peak and off-peak periods;
Establish a comprehensive parking policy, including off-street parking and road-side parking; defining parking enforcement; promoting Park and Ride systems (car parking and continue to travel using public transport vehicles) to facilitate transfers from private car to public transport;
Plan road infrastructure for the medium (up to year 2025) and long term (up to 2030), setting up a coherent strategy for management and provision of roads and related infrastructure in accordance with the sustainable mobility policy and demand, correlated with the urban development strategies, the urban and spatial planning documents;
Provide a clearly identifiable road hierarchy, with a primary road network facilitating traffic fluency and particularly heavy traffic while avoiding the downtown area; facilitate the use of roads tangent to the dense urban area;
Explore PSP opportunities in the provision of urban transport services in Pula
Support implementation of priority actions in parking and/or traffic management, including preparation of feasibility study and implementation plan for adoption by City

Specific tasks

3.1.1Inception phase

Initial consultations

The Consultant shall perform initial consultations with beneficiary and key stakeholders, notably parties identified in target groups. These consultations shall be intended to perceive problems with current transport system, aspirations for its improvement, proposed actions and plans and desired participation in study performance and outputs.

In order to ensure efficient stakeholder engagement, a kick-off meeting shall be held by the beneficiary to present study objectives and programme and role of consultant team.

Define the target geographical area

The Consultant will review the “study area” on which the Plan will be focused on. The study area for the Plan must contain the entire transport system, serving the whole urban and neighbourhood area. Whilst it is anticipated that this will comprise the metropolitan area of Pula, the Consultant will propose any amendment to the study area which may be required, for approval by the Project Steering Committee.

Target groups

The exact list of consultees and the communication management plan shall be agreed during the scoping stage of the assignment. At this stage, it is considered that the following groups should be consulted during the development of the Plan:

Pula City Council
PulaMunicipal Assembly
National level authorities
Public and private transport operators, including the Company;
Trade and business companies located within growth poles and its area of influence
Transport system users;
Relevant Non-Governmental Organisations (e.g. cycle lobby groups, transport user forums);
Funding partners (International financing institutions; commercial banks etc)
Other stakeholders affected, directly or indirectly, by the Plans.

Project Steering Committee

The PSC shall be established to oversee performance of the assignment and ensure transfer of implementation of the SUMPto the responsible authority.

For the duration of this assignment the PSCwill facilitate the Consultant to work in the community, providing relevant data/statistics, coordination with other ongoing studies and initiatives, making comments and suggestions for improvement on the Consultant’s iterations of the Plan, assist with the implementation the stakeholder engagement process, and, approving at relevant times, as stated below. The PSCwill have the following indicative members: delegates from the City, the Company, private transport operators and representatives of civil society.

Develop a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (“SEP”) for the Project

The Stakeholder Engagement Plan for the SUMP will cover the full range of activities that are planned for the SUMP, and will enable all stakeholders to understand how to obtain information on the Project, and how to provide inputs.

The preparation of the SEP should include, but not limited to, the following:

Identify, categorise and prioritise key stakeholder groups, which should include groups that may have particular needs, which may include, for example, the disabled, elderly, unemployed, youths or women;
Provide a strategy and timetable for sharing information and consulting with each of these groups;
Provide a list of specific locations and methods of information to be made available (e.g., names of specific newspapers, radio, TV programmes, smartphone applications, website details, hotline numbers, street addresses of information put in libraries or offices) and contact information for responsible company representative. Stakeholders should be able to comment on whether these are accessible or make suggestions for additional, alternative locations and/or methods;
Describe resources and responsibilities for implementing stakeholder engagement activities;
Describe how stakeholder engagement activities will be incorporated into a Company’s management system.

The list of consulted persons, and the communication management plan, shall be agreed at the scoping stage of the assignmentby the PSC. The Consultant should engage with, at a minimum, the following groups:

Pula’s local authorities;
Trade union (TU) representativesin the public transport segment;
Private transport operators;
Transport system users (men and women);
Relevant Non-Governmental Organisations;
Other stakeholders affected, directly or indirectly, by the Plan including businesses.

Secondary data review

The Consultant will collect secondary information about current urban-planning (including the previous transport plan and strategy prepared by the City), socio-economic data and other basic information concerning the target groups, including local commercial and industrial activities and their development perspectives in the medium and long term. Socio-economic data (including information concerning household sizes, average expenditures for essential goods) is to be obtained from local sources. Where it exists, age and sex disaggregated data should be presented.

3.1.2Diagnosis of urban transport system

General Background

Review of previous studies, strategies, and plans, notably PulaMasterplan and Pula Sustainable Transport Strategy, other existing, ongoing and planned studies and reference documents (Annex A). Extent of implementation progress should also be assessed;
The forecast population and employment by areas until 2030 to be provided by the City;
Other demographic and socio-economic data as provided by the City (e.g. number of households, car/motor bike/mopeds/ ownership, GDP, freight traffic transported and traded. Where possible, age and gender disaggregated data should be collected);
Review of urban planning in the agglomeration and forecasted developments, regarding the functional expansion / decreasing of the inside territory, increase/decrease of the land use densities, building restrictions;

Institutional framework