Il local public transport it is becoming increasingly efficient and digital, a fundamental means for the development of the territory and tourism. She explained it Andrea Gibelli, President of ABSTRACT, the reference employers' association of Local Public Transport in Italy, on the occasion of conference on the world of transport entitled: "A Country On The Move: The Resumption Of Tourist Mobility And More, Between Local And Regional Public Transport" organized in Rome by The sun 24 hours.
“Local Public Transport is a great value for the community because it opens the doors of our cities, makes our country enjoyable for everyone and supports the other economic activities of the area, which becomes attractive in terms of housing, business and tourism".
Savings of 100 billion a year in Europe with effective transport
"A effective transport means 100 billion euros saved per year in Europe” – explains Gibelli. According to the data contained in the document EU Funds and Financing for Resilient Local Mobility di UITP, the International Public Transport Association, in fact, the traffic congestion costs the European economy1% of its GDP, 100 billion euros a year and every euro of value created by local public transport generates a further creation of value between 4 and 6 euros.
LPT essential for tourism
During his speech, Gibelli lingered on the importance of tourism and how this should be supported by the role of LPT: In Italy the only in the 2019 “has generated an added value of 572 billion euros, 5% of the total gross value added of the EU economy. This data must absolutely push us to seasonally adjust and diversify visitor flows to make the most of all the potential of our territory e reflect on the role of LPT. Tourism is a central element in the development of all regions of Italy and LPT has always been the enabling factor of economic dynamics, above all of tourism".
"They were 174 million Italian tourists e 164 million foreign ones that in first nine months of 2022 have visited Italy (source: ISTAT). These are almost pre-Covid values, considering that during 2019 the Italian tourist activity had achieved an absolute record: 131,4 million arrivals and 436,7 million presences in the Italian accommodation network” added Gibelli.
The contribution of technology and digital
The President of Asstra then concluded his speech by speaking of MaaS “Il contribution of technology and digital to mobility services increasingly flexible, widespread and effective and efficient is a crucial point at the heart of the Asstra associative system. In the coming months we will face important challenges: theMaaS approach (Mobility as a Service) can represent the key to designing and building digitized service hubs of integrated and sustainable transport, new nodes of a network at the service of businesses and local economies. MaaS represents today one completely new mobility, which puts the citizen-customer at the center and offers great potential for the entire public transport sector and related industries, all to be exploited. An extraordinary one opportunity not only for LPT companies, but above all for the development and quality of life of the territories as it is able to expand access to sustainable mobility services, capable of reducing negative externalities in social, environmental and economic terms. MaaS it is in fact a business and governance model which varies according to the characteristics of the territory and the demand for services". The Asstra companies, – concludes Gibelli – “are ideal candidates to be operators of TPL and MaaS services integrator/operator”.
