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12 December 2010: A challenging date for BERNMOBIL

Posted: 29 October 2010 | René Schmied, CEO of BERNMOBIL | No comments yet

Historic changes for the public transport network of BERNMOBIL will commence on 12 December 2010, as the tram network will be completely restructured. Tram Bern West and line G from RBS will be integrated in the existing tram network. In just one day, the tram network of BERNMOBIL will grow from 17.4km to 31km.

BERNMOBIL operates public transport services by tram, bus and trolleybus in the city of Bern – the capital of Switzerland – and the surrounding suburban villages Ostermundigen, Köniz and Bremgarten. Bern has approximately 130,000 inhabitants, and including the surrounding villages, BERNMOBIL serves approximately 190,000 people. Since 1999, BERNMOBIL has been an independent company, 100% owned by the city of Bern. Formerly called Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern (SVB), BERNMOBIL was part of the urban administration of Bern. The reason for outsourcing was mainly due to the introduction of public tenders and the need for BERNMOBIL to improve its competitiveness.

Historic changes for the public transport network of BERNMOBIL will commence on 12 December 2010, as the tram network will be completely restructured. Tram Bern West and line G from RBS will be integrated in the existing tram network. In just one day, the tram network of BERNMOBIL will grow from 17.4km to 31km. BERNMOBIL operates public transport services by tram, bus and trolleybus in the city of Bern – the capital of Switzerland – and the surrounding suburban villages Ostermundigen, Köniz and Bremgarten. Bern has approximately 130,000 inhabitants, and including the surrounding villages, BERNMOBIL serves approximately 190,000 people. Since 1999, BERNMOBIL has been an independent company, 100% owned by the city of Bern. Formerly called Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern (SVB), BERNMOBIL was part of the urban administration of Bern. The reason for outsourcing was mainly due to the introduction of public tenders and the need for BERNMOBIL to improve its competitiveness.

Historic changes for the public transport network of BERNMOBIL will commence on 12 December 2010, as the tram network will be completely restructured. Tram Bern West and line G from RBS will be integrated in the existing tram network. In just one day, the tram network of BERNMOBIL will grow from 17.4km to 31km.

BERNMOBIL operates public transport services by tram, bus and trolleybus in the city of Bern – the capital of Switzerland – and the surrounding suburban villages Ostermundigen, Köniz and Bremgarten. Bern has approximately 130,000 inhabitants, and including the surrounding villages, BERNMOBIL serves approximately 190,000 people. Since 1999, BERNMOBIL has been an independent company, 100% owned by the city of Bern. Formerly called Städtische Verkehrsbetriebe Bern (SVB), BERNMOBIL was part of the urban administration of Bern. The reason for outsourcing was mainly due to the introduction of public tenders and the need for BERNMOBIL to improve its competitiveness.

Each day, approximately 100,000 commuters come to Bern to work or study and 55% of them use public transport. The part of public transport for all transport modes moves around 40% over the whole day. In the city of Bern, 75.8% of the inhabitants own a season ticket for public transport.

The offer

BERNMOBIL operates three tramway lines with a length of 17.4km. They are the backbone of the public transport network in Bern. Three trolleybus lines (11.9km) and 12 bus lines (77.2km) complete our transport network.

In 2009, 88.9 million passengers used the trams and busses of BERNMOBIL, a number which had never been seen before in our history. Statistically, every inhabitant of the agglomeration of Bern makes 460 trips a year with BERNMOBIL.

Additionally, BERNMOBIL operates four regional bus lines outside of Bern (a total of 30.5km). The local bus service with three lines in Belp (a village in the south of Bern) and the bus line connecting Belp–Rubigen–Münsingen and Konolfingen, situated in the rural area in the south of Bern (1 hour cadence). Around 500,000 passengers use these regional services.

Since the end of March 2009, BERNMOBIL has been operating the airport bus from the main railway station in Bern to the airport Belpmoos in the south of Bern (length 11.9km). The concession for this line was subject to a public tender by the regional public transport authority, the Kanton Bern.

At the end of 2010, BERNMOBIL will make a big step forward. The tram network will be completely redesigned as two new tram lines. Tram Bern West will enter into service and the tram line from Worb to Bern, operated by Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn (RBS), will be integrated into the tram network of BERNMOBIL. The newly formed tram lines will also get new numbers as indicated in Table 2.

BERNMOBIL wins bus line tender

At the end of 2009, the Kanton Bern published the tender of four bus lines in the West of Bern (Lines 27, 29, 31 and 108). Two of these lines are operated by BERNMOBIL and two by Postcar. Three companies made an offer: BERNMOBIL, Postcar and the private operator Peyer AG, who is mandated by BERNMOBIL to operate one of these lines. The tendering authority valuated the offer of BERNMOBIL as the best. BERNMOBIL will take over the two new lines from Postcar in December 2011. So the BERNMOBIL network will grow again and customers will benefit from better connections to the railway (S-Bahn) and brand new vehicles and additional services like extended customer information or new stops. This tender was an obvious attestation of the competitiveness of BERNMOBIL and shows that we are moving on the right track into the future.

Vehicles

The tram fleet

By the end of 2010, BERNMOBIL will operate 48 trams.

The 11 Be 8/8 Schindler trams, the last high floor trams on our fleet, and the seven trailers, were continuously taken out of service at the end of 2009 and replaced by the Combino XL. Fourteen of the Combino XL trams will cover the additional need of trams for the two new tram lines into the west of Bern (Tram Bern West).

Environmentally friendly bus fleet

In 2005, BERNMOBIL decided to change its bus strategy and to replace step-by-step its diesel buses with gas buses. Initially, 32 articulated gas buses (Volvo) and 12 standard buses (Volvo) were acquired. Around 30 buses can be operated by biogas, which is produced by the local wastewater treatment plant. At the beginning of 2010, 24 new articulated Mercedes CNG Citaro buses and three Volvo CNG standard buses completed the gas bus fleet.

Additionally, six MAN midi buses (9m-long) are in service on the regional bus lines.

All CNG buses fulfil the EEV-standard. The remaining diesel bus fleet is equipped with particle filters to reduce the emission of particulate matters.

Access for handicapped people

The entire BERNMOBIL bus and tram fleet is now 100% low floor. The access for handicapped people on all our vehicles will be guaranteed as they are equipped either with a mechanical or a mobile wheel chair ramp. On all stops, a quadrant for blind people marks the stop of the first door of each vehicle. With Tram Bern West, the first stops with access to the vehicles at the same level will enter into service.

Dynamic passenger information

Since 1999, BERNMOBIL has been running an Automatic Vehicle Location and Control System to monitor the vehicles on all lines and to provide dynamic passenger information in real-time. At 125 stops, the dynamic information system, so called Smart Infos, inform passengers on the next departures of the buses and trams in real-time. In case of disruptions and other perturbations on the BERNMOBIL network, passengers can be quickly informed about delays and changes of the bus and tram services. Acoustic and visual announcements of the next stops of the vehicles, most of them equipped with flat screens, is also provided. The new vehicles are equipped with multifunctional flat screens that provide information about the next connections on other trams and buses in the vehicles in real-time. Real-time information about the next bus or tram is also available on mobile telephones – the system called MEZI provides the real-time arrival of all BERNMOBIL buses and trams on your iPhone or other mobile telephones equipped with java (www.mezi.ch).

The schedule of the BERNMOBIL network is integrated in the nationwide electronical timetable information system. So a passenger can get information about all available connections of a BERNMOBIL stop to another public transport station in Switzerland via the internet. The same information can also be sent on the mobile telephone by SMS or WAP.

Protection of the environment

BERNMOBIL pays special attention to the protection of the environment. A strategy to enhance the environmental performance of BERNMOBIL has been adopted and is implemented by measurable objectives.

Annually, the biogas bus project saves 2,000 tonnes of CO2 and clearly reduces pollutant emissions. At the beginning of 2009, BERNMOBlL purchased 100% of its electricity made by watercraft. The drivers are trained in environmentally friendly driving, called ‘eco-drive’. BERNMOBIL is the first public transport company in Switzerland with certified driving instructors who are trained in ‘eco-drive’. We expect to noticeably reduce the diesel consumption of buses by this measure. Eco-drive will also be extended onto trams – the first drivers will be trained in 2011.

With special marketing campaigns focussed on the saving of CO2, we also try to attract more people using public transport and to contribute in this way to cleaner air, less noise and a better quality of life in Bern.

An important path to enhance our environmental performance is the extension of our tram network. By replacing the buses on line 10 by trams, we will be able to, for example, reduce our CO2 emissions by up to 20% and also of course our pollutant emissions.

Future developments

Extension of the tram network

The main development strategy is to extend our tram network due to capacity problems on the main bus lines and to better connect the tram network with the suburban railway network. This will help commuters to change from the suburban railway to the tram network at the periphery of the city to go directly, and faster, to their work places. Today, most of them have to undertake a deviation via the main station in the heart of the city. As the main station is overcrowded during peak times, this could also help to relieve its capacity problems.

Tram Bern West

The first step of the tram extension is the Tram Bern West (7km). The tram is an important part of the urban development in the western district of Bern. The tram will replace two existing bus lines (numbers 13 and 14) that have reached their capacity limits. One line leads from the inner-city to the new shopping mall and Westside leisure centre in the new quarter of Brünnen with more than 10,000 visitors daily. Beside the Westside centre, housing for approximately 2,000 people is under construction. The second line serves the district of Bümpliz. Both lines use the same tracks for around half of the route until the route is divided at the entering of Bümpliz in two arms. Tram Bern West has been under construction since April 2008 and will enter into service on 12 December 2010. On 1 September 2010, the first test-drive with a tram to Brünnen was successfully undertaken. The new tracks will be tested until end of October 2010. Afterwards, the 300 tram-drivers will be trained on the new routes into the West.

The schedule will have a 6-minute cadence on both lines. Costs for the infrastructure are at CHF 152 millions.

Integration of line G of RBS

Another important step to an integrated tram network in the agglomeration of Bern is the takeover of the line G from RBS by 12 December 2010. This line, coming from the east of Bern (Worb), ends at the border of the inner-city. To provide customers with a direct connection to the main railway station in Bern, the line will be extend to the main station and into the West of Bern until the stop at Fischermätteli, which is actually the end of tram line 5.

As BERNMOBIL will take over the responsibility for this new line (line 6), the whole tram network will be operated from a single source. The existing operator of line G, RBS, will still provide the main part of the service mandated by BERNMOBIL. Technically, the infrastructure belonging to RBS on the eastern part of the new line is categorised as a railway line. So BERNMOBIL has to move from a tramway to a railway company. This means that drivers on this line have to pass additional training and BERNMOBIL-vehicles running on this line have to be equipped with additional security equipment.

Prolongation of tram line 9

Parallel to Tram Bern West, tramway line number 9 is extended from Guisanplatz – terminal station today – to the railway station Wankdorf. The Wankdorf quarter is defined as a core area of development by the regional authority and has huge potential for additional work places. Also located in this city district is the Wankdorf football stadium, the ice hockey stadium and the exhibition centre of Bern. The Wankdorf railway station will form an important hub for the public transport system in Bern in the future. The construction of the tramway route will be finished in spring 2012.

Tram Region Bern

The planning of the next step in the extension of the tram network is on track. Bus line 10 from Köniz (south of Bern) to Ostermundigen (north east of Bern), which transits the city of Bern, shall be replaced by tram. The alignment of the new tramway line is now fixed. The costs for the new lines are calculated and will be published together with the alignment at the end of 2010. A public consultation will follow that will show if the project is accepted by the people or not. From 2011 to 2014, the project must be refined so that the procedure for the construction permission can be started. The procedure will take approximately one year. The start of the construction phase is planned for 2014 and entry of service for 2017.

A key problem was to find a solution to climb to the Rüti-Hill, which forms the final stop of the tramway line at Ostermundigen. The tramway has to surmount 40m altitude in a short distance to get on the Rüti. A group of specialists evaluated the possible solutions. They propose to now build a tunnel. So the maximal slope can be restricted to 7%. If the project will be accepted, BERNMOBIL will get its first tunnel on its tram network.

Under the same project, an extension of the tramline 9 in the south of Bern to Kleinwabern is also planned. At the terminal station in Kleinwabern, a new railway station will be built to connect the suburban railway to the tram network in the southern outskirts of Bern. This area also has huge potential for new housing.

A new tram depot

Due to the extension of the tram fleet, a new tram depot is under construction in the north east of Bern. It will provide enough space to house all new trams of the future tram network. The depot will be ready in summer 2011. The former tram depot at Burgernziel will be abandoned. The city government will build there new housings.

About the Author

René Schmied

René Schmied has been the CEO of BERNMOBIL since May 2006. Prior to this he was COO and CFO of BERNMOBIL and Head of the Operating Board. Before his engagement at BERNMOBIL he was Deputy CFO of the Swiss Mobiliar Group, a big insurance company in Switzerland. René Schmied got a degree from the University of Bern in business administration with specialisation in marketing and corporate planning. He completed his education at the St. Galler Management & Business-School with courses in leadership and with Swiss Courses for Corporate Management and Leadership. He also attended the International education of public transport managers from UITP in Paris, Leipzig and Moscow.

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