D1.4. Final Summary Report of the Project

This deliverable aims to present the summary of the work done within the RIDE2RAIL project. The project aims to integrate multiple (public/private/social) data sets and existing transport platforms for promoting an effective Ride Sharing practice of citizens, making it a complementary transport mode that extends public transport networks. The integration between the Ride Sharing practice, along with a relevant critical mass of users, and the public transport network delivers a crowd-based mobility network and is achieved by the RIDE2RAIL framework for intelligent mobility that integrates and harmonises real-time and diverse information about public transport, Ride Sharing and crowdsourcing in a social ecosystem facilitating the comparison and the choice between multiple options/services classified by a set of criteria including environmental impact, travel time, comfort, cost thus facilitating the individual, more positive, convenience of the travel experience.

All relevant achievements are well described in this document, providing a wide overview of the project developments, mainly focusing on two aspect: the research and developments of innovative software components and tools, and their utilization in the demonstration sites.

RIDE2RAIL designed, developed and tested in 4 real demonstrators (Padua, Brno, Athens, Helsinki) a set of software components for the S2R IP4 ecosystem, including an advanced Travel Companion and the crowd-based Transport Service Provider that fosters combined flexible and regular multimodal mobility with an easy personalisation in diverse existing environments, thus facilitating the market uptake. The advanced Travel Companion is an enriched version of the Shift2Rail Travel Companion, integrated with components developed by RIDE2RAIL partners.

Demonstrating these new solutions, especially those from the research and innovation programmes, is a very important step towards the achievement of the project’s ambitious objective of making it easier the combination of flexible and scheduled transport services, utilizing the ride-sharing as a feeder for public transport, especially in rural and low demand areas. Thus, the demonstrations required to be well-planned and organised and the feedback of potential users collected and analysed for decision-making.

The approach used for managing the RIDE2RAIL project is based on several main pillars:

-          Definition of choice criteria for journey planning

-          State of the art, analysis and recommendations for a successful ride-sharing in a multimodal journey

-          Identification of requirements and specifications for complementary travel expert services in the Shift2Rail IP4 ecosystem

-          Definition of algorithms for optimal synchronisation of shared-mobility and mass transit

-          Development of RIDE2RAIL components (Offer Categorizer, Offer Matcher and Ranker, Incentive Provider, Agreement Ledger, Crowd Based TSP, Driver Companion)

-          Implementation of the demos in four Europe-wide demo sites through identification of the current mobility situation in the demo sites, looking at potential improvements for those locations, creating of an evaluation framework and acquiring the KPIs

-          Evaluation and Impact Assessment, carried out per each demo site.

Employing the successful collaboration, the IP4 solution, represented by the Enhanced Travel Companion (including Crowd Based TSP) and the Driver Companion applications and by functionalities, have been demonstrated in four demo sites, Athens, Helsinki, Brno and Padua. Despite the challenges linked to the post-COVID new mobility patterns and other operational challenges of different nature, these tools have been tested in real-time, with a total of more than 120 testers. To provide quality feedback, a complex evaluation has been made. In particular, the demos have been evaluated according to previously identified KPIs, measured using qualitative and quantitative data from the IP4 ecosystem and the users’ feedback collected via questionnaires, in Brno also through daily reports.