Milan : City News

Last up date : April 2005

The electronic ticketing system

ATM is starting an interesting project concerning a fare collection system based on an electronic or microprocessor card enabling passengers to travel on the whole public transport network with a single document and possibly to pay the parking lots and all the other services the Company offers, making the fares flexible and personalised. ATM strategy is clearly aimed on the one hand at achieving complete integration with the other companies operating on the territory and, on the other hand, at reducing the fare evasion phenomenon.

Other projects

Among the projects aimed at making ATM and its service more and more competitive, we wish to mention:
the extension of the trolley-bus routes to the South and West sectors of the city.
 the protection of the main tramway lines by either creating reserved lanes or changing the routing private traffic, so that - the routes private cars followed are different from those followed by public transport.
 the progressive extension of the service on request called "RADIOBUS". At present, this service covers the North-West areas of Milan, using computerised booking systems, managed by Softwares capable of optimising the waiting times and routes.
 the gradual extension of the intelligent traffic light system to large areas of the city in order to control traffic, manage its flows and increase the commercial speed of the public transport vehicles, improving their punctuality.

The future of ATM and the urban and interurban mobility system is potentially rich in achievements that could greatly help restore the city to a human scale without penalising - on the contrary exalting - economic and technological progress.

Mobility projects for Milan

Several important projects are currently being implemented : the extension of the network, the electronic-magnetic ticketing system, intelligent traffic lights, the extension of the RADIOBUS service, corporate mobility agreements and the public transport fluidification project. These projects pursue various objectives : improvements in viability, reductions in average journey times, decreases in power consumption, reductions in atmospheric and acoustic pollution, improvements in the level of road safety and increases in the speed of public vehicles make the service more attractive as regards vehicle punctuality and regularity.

Extension of the network

An adequate and efficient metropolitan railway network is a fundamental element of a city transport system. In 2002, extension work of the existing metropolitan railway line and the Railway Link continued. A further 2 metropolitan lines, both underground but with smaller tunnels and trains that those used on existing lines, are currently in the design stage. Along with the metropolitan network, the light railways project is also very important : these innovative tramways combine the high capacity of metropolitan railways with the greater simplicity and lower costs of building surface tramways. The vehicles chosen for this service are extremely comfortable and are crammed with leading-edge technology : priority at traffic lights, air-conditioning, audio-visual stop announcements, a low floor to make it easier and quicker for passengers to get on and off, a lifting platform for wheelchairs, silent running.

The electronic-magnetic ticketing system

The electronic-magnetic ticketing system tickets will allow passengers to travel with just one ticket on the integrated urban and interurban public transport system, regardless of the various management companies. It also offers entrance to interconnection car parks and other urban services. The aim is to make fares transparent, unified and flexible. The new system includes replacing about 6000 ticket stamping machines, adapting the structures in the interconnection car parks and depots and installing 500 ticket recharge and sales points. Some metro stations were adapted during 2002. The trial phase is due to start by the end of 2003. Within a year, the metropolitan network will have been adapted followed by the surface network, while teh system is planned to be extended to all the ATM, FNME and TRENITALIA networks and all the interconnection pay car parks within 2005.

Public-private partnership to build a fifth underground line

The municipality of Milan, Italy’s second city (4 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area), approved last November the project to build a fifth underground line, that shall open in 2009. The new line will be built and operated via a 27-year concession contract by a private consortium led by the Italian company Astaldi and bringing together Ansaldobreda, Alstom and Torno. The consortium will bring one third of the total cost of the project, expected to reach &euro 504m. The line, that will be fully automatic, will cover nine stops over 5.6 km, linking the Garibaldi station and the Eastern area of Monza. Traffic is expected to reach 10,000 passengers per hour at peak time. (added December 2003)

RADIOBUS : a new demand responsive public transport service in Milan

The attention to the needs of the clients of public transport, especially as to the security problem, led to the planning of a special service that guarantees more security, a higher comfort level, the minimization of both the waiting times, the distances of walk and the travelling times.

RADIOBUS is a new service representing an intermediate position between "traditional" public transport and taxis. It covers the area where the night life takes place in Milan. This "bus on request" service picks the customers wherever they want in the area concerned. It is only accessible on request. The booking can be made both some days earlier or soon before the travel, by telephone or via the internet.

This new service, operated by municipal company ATM, uses small-dimension buses (7.50 m long with 16 seats and 2 places for people in wheelchairs) equipped with air-conditioning and a telecommunication system tracing the route (GPS).

RADIOBUS, which was launched in December 2000 as the most "complete and sophisticated" public transportation system in Europe, can be used with an additional ticket, at the price of &euro1.50 (additional ticket bought at a sale point) and &euro2.00 (when bought on the bus). Service is operated everyday between 8pm and 2am. (added July 2002)