Integration of public transportation systems : the case of Gipuzkoa, Spain

Abstract

This thesis studies the integration of public transportation systems, focusing on the development of strategies to implement such goal for networks operated by different service agencies. A literature review on public transportation integration is initially presented, its main conclusion being that, even though many studies have identified a range of integration practices, only a few describe strategies to implement and materialize them in a multi agency context. The province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain, is used as a case study to develop strategies which facilitate integration among different transit agencies. After describing the current services of the different agencies, two specific cases of integration are analyzed: fare integration between interurban and urban bus services in Donostia-San Sebastian and connectivity improvements between rail and bus services. The first case is analyzed quantitatively in great detail, given the availability of smartcard data describing the current utilization of the systems. This critical component of the work was possible thanks to the fare media integration agreement reached previously by the two agencies. The processing of the data on the use of the smartcard, reveals that not only transferring passengers are benefiting from the integration, which was the original intent of the agreement. In fact, regular urban passengers are also migrating to the interurban card due to a supposedly higher user convenience. Given the revenue sharing agreement subscribed by the two agencies, this migration implies unexpected high costs for the interurban agency. Since this agreement could obstruct further integration improvements, alternative agreements are proposed and evaluated. A recommendation is made for a new agreement that would lead to either reduced or free transfers without imposing high cost on either agency, while increasing their incentive to pursue further integration practices. In the second case, a connectivity improvement plan between rail and bus services is proposed. This plan prioritizes the available connectivity improvements not only according to their cost-benefit ratio, as the process regularly used by a single agency, but also with respect to whether the improvement could be implemented by a single agency or whether it requires inter agency negotiations. Further research on integration is proposed for Gipuzkoa based on the expected future integration of rail services into the current smartcard used in the bus system.