The climate change as a global challenge for our planet fosters the international community to look for ways to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases. Urban areas try to make their ecological footprint smaller. Regarding urban transport planning the main priority is to reduce cities’ car- dependency and give priority to public transport. The purpose of this project is to create a web-based geographic information system (GIS), a “smart-bus” application product that could improve feeder bus service around regional train stations and make this service more reliable, quick, cheap and comfortable for its users. The aim of the product is to improve public transport effectiveness and create an attractive car use alternative. The new application will allow the adaptation of feeder buses to regional train operation, even in cases of delays, to eliminate waiting times of passengers when changing mode, from train to bus and vice versa. Another advantage for passengers with the new application is the adaptation of the bus routes to their needs. Between the given alternative routes, the bus through this application will be able to choose those which minimize the total travel time of its passengers taking also into account the walking time between the bus stop and their final destination. This service is expected to encourage the combined use of buses and regional trains with benefits to the economy and the environment. It shall be noted that such a product can have an impact in the world market. This service application will be developed by an academic institution, namely the National Technical University of Athens (School of Rural and Surveying Engineering), two private companies, AMCO and AETHON and one regional public bus operator, Korinthos KTEL. The University will focus on the characteristics of the new bus service and explore – through qualitative and quantitative social research methods- all the relevant attributes to increase the quality of the service. The two private companies will use the research results to develop the software and build marketing strategies in order to support the take-up of the new application. The bus operator will run the pilot project to test the new application. The pilot project will be implemented in the area of Korinthos in Peloponnese Region, in Greece. Two neighboring cities; Korinthos and Loutraki, which form a unified polycentric urban territory will be the testbed of the application. This area is served by a regional train, connecting Korinthos with the metropolitan area of Athens. The area presents several research advantages in terms of its current car-dependency and is ideal for showcasing the benefits of the application. The future creation of a new railway link to connect Korinthos and Loutraki will add new opportunities for the combined operation train – bus in a larger area. The new feeder bus service will offer a new reliable, cheap and fast combined transport solution for the regional train. It will bring new customers and generate higher revenue for Korinthos KTEL. The improved bus service will also foster economic activity in the area and will reduce environmental impact of transportation in Korinthos. The successful implementation of the new GIS software in the pilot area is expected to allow for its expansion in Greece and abroad and thus contribute to the global effort to increase the modal share of public transport.

Collaboration is a concept that carries heavy weight when discussing multimodal trips of passengers. For Transport Service Providers (TSPs), it is a method to facilitate a door-to-door (D2D) journey, which is a basic goal set out by the EU in the 2011 Transport White Paper. However, collaboration is a very generic concept that is hard to define. For SYN+AIR, collaboration among modes relates to data sharing among TSPs in the scope of facilitating a seamless D2D journey. The main objective of SYN+AIR is to generate common goals for TSPs that will justify data sharing, facilitating the user to execute a seamless D2D journey. SYN+AIR employs a partially participatory (in terms of validation) and partially, technology driven approach (in terms of defining data flow among TSPs) that is user-centric; customer journeys will be generated for the entire multimodal chain and SYN+AIR will analyse how those journeys can be facilitated through improved planning and operations activities (following the ATFCM phases: strategic, pre-tactical, tactical) powered by data sharing. For the analysis, air travelling is placed in the epicentre; all multimodal chains consider the usage of air travelling. Consequently, a “Smart Contracts Framework” will be generated based on a Business Process Model. Smart Contracts are agreements among TSPs that define data sharing criteria (scope, parties’ obligations, contract’s time span and fulfilment criteria). TSPs can use the agreements for structuring a collaboration scheme with another TSP either strategically or tactically. Data generated by Travel Companion apps will also be analysed in the context of enriching the Smart Contracts Framework allowing TSPs to improve their activities and execute informed decisions. Finally, SYN+AIR will determine what additional recommendations can be provided to travellers based on the execution of a Smart Contract.

AETHON is the initiator of the SYN+AIR project idea.