A Rational Decision-Making Process with Public Engagement for Designing Public Transport Services: A Real Case Application in Italy

Armando Cartenì,Luca D’Acierno,Mariano Gallo

doi:10.3390/su12166303

Abstract

The sustainable design of public transport services is a crucial issue that may affect the economy of local areas and the social inclusion of their inhabitants. Indeed, transport accessibility of households, businesses, and retail activities is one of the main drivers that influence location choices and sustainable development and where the public transport services may play a key (positive) role. Furthermore, the economic crisis of the 2009 and the current ones caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has further limited the funds available for public services, including the transport sector. In this critical context, sound design of public transport services assumes great importance, especially in light of financial constraints. Starting from these considerations, the aim of this paper has been to propose an innovative methodology for designing public transport services based on a rational decision-making process with stakeholder engagement, aiming to perform a sustainable development perspective. The proposed methodology combines technical aspects, social and political issues, equity perspectives, and it is aimed in obtaining a design solution that can be accepted by the whole community. The proposed theoretical design methodology has also been applied to a case study in order to verify its applicability to a real context, consisting of the design of the public transport plan of the province of Foggia in southern Italy. Applications results show that the sustainable design scenario is not only the best ones from a technical point of view, but also participated, equitable, and approved by both policymakers and stakeholders.

Highlights

The sustainable development of a city/region/country is generally linked to the ability of its public decision makers to pursue policies able to promote a rational use and consumption of both natural and human resources
Sound design of public transport services assumes great importance, especially in light of financial constraints. Starting from these considerations, the aim of this paper has been to propose an innovative methodology for designing public transport services based on a rational decision-making process with stakeholder engagement, aiming to perform a sustainable development perspective
The proposed methodology combines technical aspects, social and political issues, equity perspectives, and it is aimed in obtaining a design solution that can be accepted by the whole community

Summary

Introduction

The sustainable development of a city/region/country is generally linked to the ability of its public decision makers (the governance) to pursue policies able to promote a rational use and consumption of both natural and human resources. There are numerous studies (Section 2.1) that focus on the design of mass-transit systems, usually considering only technical aspects of the problem (e.g., user costs and benefits/costs for the operators), while social impacts and externalities (sustainability) and consensus building (stakeholder engagement) have been largely overlooked, and this paper aims to contribute to covering this gap. Starting from these considerations, the aim and the main originality of this paper has been to propose an innovative decision-making methodology for designing local public transport services based on a rational process with stakeholder engagement, aiming to perform a sustainable development perspective.

Decision-Making Processes in Public Transport Planning

Equity

Findings

Stakeholder Engagement