Good Practices - Italy
Mi Muovo, Emilia-Romagna Region integrated ticketing system



Mi Muovo is a single, integrated travel card for regional public transport available to residents of Emilia-Romagna Region, making travel on public transport much easier and more practical. The base of this integrated ticket is the definition of a regional integrated fare (bus plus train) that substitute the old fare system based on the trip distance to be covered (calculated in kilometers) with a new system based on areas (zones) to be crossed. These integrated fares and ticketing services were launched in late 90’s by Emilia-Romagna Region in a European project named STIMER.

In the framework of this project the new integrated Mi Muovo tickets were introduced, making traveling in Emilia-Romagna more comfortable, simple and easy, thanks to the use of one comprehensive chip card. During the years Mi Muovo ticket has been further developed allows the access to different transport and mobility services (from bus and train to bike sharing and car sharing), and to electric recharge points for e–vehicles. The system can be potentially extended to all the mobility services, so to improve the implementation of an integrated transport policy at regional scale.

The Mi Muovo system not only make payment easier and offer a discount to season ticket holders but it allows the city and regional authorities to monitor passenger flows. This information helps to better organise the public transport network according to users’ needs.

Pictures of Mi Muovo single, integrated travel card for regional public transport Source: Emilia-Romagna Region
3. Challenges and barriers in implementing /introducing selected good practice and respective ways used in order to overcome or limit risks

Key challenges in implementing the Mi Muovo integrated ticket were:

  • Regional scale. A single ticket valid for all the regional transport required an involvement of a high number of local, regional and national public transport operators in order to define a common development strategy and a coordinated implementation process and time plan;
  • Change over from a kilometer fare system to a zone one. This is a key technical innovation for the implementation and dissemination of such an integrated ticketing system in Emilia-Romagna Region;
  • Undifferentiated transport use. One card for rails, bus, bike/car sharing services and electric charging points;
  • Contact-less card. This is another key aspect for the success of Mi Muovo initiative in Emilia-Romagna Region as it allows to coordinate different existing ticketing services (usually paper tickets) and different fares system.

Key barriers in implementing the Mi Muovo integrated ticket were:

  • Difficulties in coordinating different public transport operators. Mi Muovo initiatives required a coordination with national stakeholders (Trenitalia S.p.A, the national railway operator), different local public transport operators (TPER, SETA, START ROMAGNA, TEP) and several municipal initiatives (bike and car sharing services activated in some municipalities);
  • Costs of the initiative. One of the solutions used by the Emilia-Romagna Region for reduce this barrier was the use of a European project for conducting feasibility studies and others relevant technical studies and pilot activities;
  • Paper ticketing services. The major part of the public transport operators still uses paper tickets.
4. Funding mechanism, cooperation schemes developed and institutional reforms made

Emilia-Romagna Region invested more than 34 million of euro in Mi Muovo initiative. These costs were covered 50% with regional funding and 50% with the local Public Transport Companies cash flows.

The Mi Muovo initiative was supported also with an important institutional reform related to the rationalization of the number of local public transport companies.

5. Factors of success

The key success factors of the Mi Muovo integrated ticket initiative are:

  • Mi Muovo is more than an integrated ticket, it is an integration of transport modes, fares, payment systems, different local transport management schemes;
  • Strong commitment of Emilia-Romagna Region both from economic, political and communication point of views;
  • Use of a magnetic strip tickets allowing to better manage all the different fares and transport modes;
  • Public transport fare discounts for Mi Muovo owners;
  • Involvement of several relevant stakeholders (both public and private) in defining, implementing and managing the initiatives;
  • Strong promotional campaigns for the dissemination of the initiative and of the different services and technologies;
  • Easy to use technology and simplification of the fare’s rules;
  • Integration of different existing public transport services in all the regional territory.
6. Recommendations, transferability

The success of such an initiative requires a strong political commitment at regional level both from political and economic point of views. All the technologies and solutions adopted for the implementation of Mi Muovo initiative are transferable as not specifically related to Emilia-Romania contex.



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Contact

Technical Coordinator - Toolkit

Hellenic Institute of Transport
Dr. Maria Morfoulaki
marmor@certh.gr
Glykeria Myrovali
myrovali@certh.gr