Public transport: between price increases, expectations and declining users, how is it going in Italy

In recent weeks there has been talk of public transport by reason of the increases to the single ticket announced in the cities Of Rome and Milan for the 2023 and already entered into force in Campania. But the 2022 it was also the year of the definitive return to normality for the local public transport (Tpl), with the disappearance of the obligation to wear masks on board starting from last year 1st October. To evaluate the health status of transport in Italian cities in more detail, Wired relied on World public transport report 2022 published from Moovitan application that offers mobility services.

The situation in Italy

From a minimum of ten minutes to a maximum of half an hour. These are, according to the Moovit report, i average waiting times for public transport in Italy. It should be noted that the data is to be understood as referring to the region in which the city mentioned in the graph is located. That is, it expresses the average waiting times including also the means used to reach these realities from the rest of the regional territory, as shown in the graph below.

The worst situation occurs in Sicilywhere the wait for local public transport lasts up to 29 minutes. If to these we add that the average time to reach the destination is equal to 41 minutesthis implies that resorting to public transport in Sicily involves an average journey of 1 hour and 10 minutes.

One piece of data, the Sicilian one on waiting times, more than double the Italian average. According to Moovit, in fact, on average they wait at the bus stop 14 minutes before seeing the vehicle arrive on board which you have to get on. Several Northern cities where this expectation comes down to 10 minutes. Among these too Bologna, Genoa and Savonarealities that also boast the shortest travel time, equal to 36 minutes. In these parts, in short, three quarters of an hour is enough to reach your destination, between waiting for the vehicle and traveling on board.

It is also interesting to compare the travel times with the distances required to reach the workplace. A figure, the latter, which also takes into account travel on foot. The picture is this, with the clarification that, for purely aesthetic reasons, the graph has not been scaled to zero on either axis.

It affects the data of Romereal outliers. In the sense that, if compared with the distances travelled, the times are much higher than those of other Italian cities. It’s about 7.52 kilometres in 52 minutes. TO Florence to cover a similar distance they employ them 39.

Comparison with foreign countries

Said of Romewhere they are needed 52 minutes on board public transport to get to your destination, that’s it Milanin which they are used on average 44. Well, but do these data make the local transport of the two main Italian cities competitive with the rest of Europe? Unfortunately, not exactly.

With Paris, Rome it is the city where journey times on public transport are longer. Among the capitals, the best is Londonwhere it takes to get to the destination 46 minutes. The Lombard capital outperforms all European capitals. But it is also the worst among what we could define as the second largest cities of the most important European countries. Among these, first place for Munichwhere the commute stopwatch stops at 36 minutes.

The effects of the pandemic

On the one hand, the fear of contagion in a crowded place such as public transport. On the other hand, the use of smart working or, for the less fortunate, unemployment. There are several reasons why the pandemic has hit the public transport sector hard, which has seen reduce the share of its users.

The red part of the bar indicates the percentage of people who have chosen not to use public transport anymore. A number that includes both those who no longer need to travel, because they work from home or are unemployed, and those who decided to use private transport to reach the officethat is. A situation that a Genoa and Savona concerned the 13.6% of users, the worst figure recorded in the report for Italian cities. In orange, on the other hand, the share of those who have reduced the use of local public transport for their travels. Also in this case the highest value, equal to 21.5%concerns the two Ligurian cities.