Road repairs will be coordinated

Ostrava’s public transport corporation (DPO) is piloting a new web app which will enable better coordination of tram and trolleybus services at locations where essential road construction or repair work has to be done. The upcoming launch of the new system was announced last October, and the pilot version of the app is now available on the corporation’s website.

The new app was launched on 1 May, and it can be accessed at vyluky.dpo.cz. It functions as a reservation system: from now on, all investors in charge of road repairs or construction work (such as local or regional authorities) must register as app users and enter information about the planned work, including details of its impact on tram and trolleybus services. This on-line system will enable all investors to coordinate their plans in order to reduce their impact on public transport services – thus minimizing inconvenience for members of the public and boosting passenger satisfaction.

In 2017, DPO was the first Czech public transport company to set a limit for the number of days per year on which a particular service can be cancelled due to repair/construction work. This is part of a drive to improve passenger services; during last year the corporation received around 200 written complaints from passengers related to cancellations of services – plus around 1400 complaints via social media.

DPO Director Daniel Morys gave more details:

“Passenger satisfaction is our number one priority. We set a strict limit for the maximum annual number of cancellation days on our key tram routes, which make up the ‘spine’ of our network: this means that we do not block road repairs or construction work from taking place, but we are nevertheless able to maintain the quality of the passenger services we provide.”

The corporation has communicated directly with all the key investors – the City of Ostrava, the Moravian-Silesian Region, and the national road management authority – to inform them about the new system.

Morys described one of the key features of the app:

“Our new on-line reservation system will be fully transparent: the information contained in the database can be viewed by all investors, enabling them to coordinate their plans in order to minimize disruption to our passengers.”

Number of complaints regarding cancellations:

• 2015      72
• 2016      33
• 2017 (data up to 19.10.2017)      156 + 1 396 complaints via social media

Number of days on which services were cancelled:

• 2015      302         (on key routes: 130)
• 2016      296         (on key routes: 151)
• 2017      258         (on key routes: 249)

Source: https://www.dpo.cz/aktuality/3021-dpo-spousti-rezervacni-system-vyluk.html