moBiel – building a future on customer intimacy

For four years, Bielefeld – a city in the Northeast of the Federal State of North-Rhine-Westphalia with a population of approximately 325,000, has topped the category of ‘Overall Customer Satisfaction’ on the annual German public transport survey ‘ÖPNV-Kundenbarometer’. Its strong customer focus is what moBiel, the city’s public transport operator, considers its strongest asset. As the stimulator of Bielefeld’s infrastructure, moBiel banks on expansion – ‘life in the city, it’s where we are’.

Bielefeld, like over a hundred other cities in Germany, introduced its first electric tram line at the turn of the century. Initially, it comprised of 12 railcars and eight tram trailers operating on a 9.2km rail track in 30 minute intervals. Bielefeld’s citizens were enthusiastic about the new means of public transport. Within the year, the tram fleet comprised of 21 railcars with 11 tram trailers and their frequency, at times, stepped up to 7.5 minutes. The tramline remained a fixture of public life in Bielefeld, even after World War II. In the late 1960s, many German cities ripped out their rail tracks and switched to bus-based public transport. However, Bielefeld’s public transport operator, then still a division of the public utility Stadtwerke Bielefeld, not only stuck with its trams so popular with its citizens, but set out to expand the rail system – even after the first prognoses predicted the seemingly anachronistic trams would soon disappear.

Early setting of direction

Bielefeld started to extend the surface track system and, simultaneously, invest in an underground track section to abate the traffic situation in the city centre. The oil crisis befalling motor transport in 1973 came as a validation of the decision to hold on to the environmentally friendly public rail transport. Bielefeld focused on extending its backbone – a metre gauge light rail system with three lines, and upgraded it with high-level platforms for swift and comfortable level boarding. 1990 and 1991 proved decisive years in setting the direction of the city’s and the region’s future in terms of public transport. A new traffic control centre was put into operation, followed by an automatic vehicle location and computer-aided dispatch system. In 1991, the shared tunnel section was completed and connected with the city’s surface rail tracks. The tunnel substantially reduced travelling times and during rush hour the Stadtbahn, as well as the main bus lines, ran at 10 minute intervals – unusual for a city the size of Bielefeld. Within a month, passenger volumes increased significantly. In 2000, the university line 4 was put into service and the public utility Stadtwerke Bielefeld set out to restructure its divisions in order to lay the foundations for new co-operations and a more targeted customer approach. The public transport division spun off into a newly formed subsidiary. The following year, it stepped into the public with its new brand name ‘moBiel’.

moBiel today

Today, 10 years after the spin-off and less than 20 years after the light rail tunnel opened, 43 million passengers per year use moBiel’s services. Now the largest public transport operator in the East Westphalia-Lippe region, moBiel runs four light rail lines with a total of 80 rails cars and five centre coaches on 36km of track and an extensive bus network with 100 buses and 390km of lines.

moBiel actively participates in research projects. From 2005 to 2008, it was a member of ‘Quiet traffic’, a research network established by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This year, Bielefeld (lead partner of the EU-project Boosting Advanced Public Transport Systems (BAPTS)), researches ways to raise awareness and acceptance of public transport as a sustainable mobility. moBiel uses the findings of this research, be it in noise reduction or raising acceptance, to improve the quality and attractiveness of its service portfolio for passengers and potential customers.

Understanding customer wishes

The objective of moBiel is to provide services and expertise in mobility. Good results in customer surveys reflect its success in tailoring its services to fit customer needs and interests. Every year, TNS Infratest asks customers of 30 German public transport operators to share their experiences for the renowned ÖPNV-Kundenbarometer. For four years in a row, moBiel has scored first place in ‘Overall Customer Satisfaction’. Its customers particularly praise its speed, punctuality and reliability and feel lines, light rail network, frequency as well as connections are between satisfactory and good.

This high level of customer satisfaction is also maintained by adhering to strict a quality control system based on results from a quality survey commissioned in 2001 and conducted by TNS Infratest. Quality control inspectors report quarterly and annually on the quality of the moBiel service ‘mobility’. They examine punctuality, subjective safety, appearance of vehicles and stops, function and intelligibility of passenger information and, last not least, the quality of the train or bus riding experience.

Providing services and expertise in mobility

It comes with moBiel’s self-definition as a versatile service provider in mobility solutions that its offering is not limited to the product train or bus ride. Individual mobility counseling has been added to the service range, in personal contact at one of the customer care centres (ServiceCenter and moBiel Haus) or by call. The public transport operator designs packages in co-operation with a local car sharing company; has added a travel agency to its customer care centre; and encourages passengers to combine public transport with their own bicycle by running a bicycle parking garage with an adjacent repair shop in the city center. Next year, the late night check-in counter of the airport Paderborn/Lippstadt will return to the newly designed Sieker terminal.

To improve customer information, moBiel complements its service range with a website, brochures, lectures and events covering all aspects of mobility – from tunnel tours for technophiles and biking excursions using rains and buses to safety trainings for schoolchildren and senior citizens.

As objective and subjective safety are important issues to customers, since 1998 moBiel has dispatched safety and service teams throughout its entire public transport network. Trained team members help boarding and disembarking passengers, answer questions and heighten the passengers’ overall sense of security. They build trust and give moBiel a human face in everyday public transport.

Oriented – everywhere and at all times

Information, transparence, and fast orientation help passengers shape their personal mobility independently. Passenger information systems therefore have continuously been expanded since 2004. The acoustics of stop announcements have been improved. Dynamic displays indicate precise departure times and passenger information systems were installed in trains and buses. Service teams are trained to provide up-to-date information.

moBiel aims to make ticket purchases faster, more comfortable, and cashless. Adapting early to changes in purchasing behavior, moBiel introduced SMS ticketing in early 2009. First experiences are positive and the variety of tickets offered will be expanded. Presently, moBiel is in the planning stages for other electronic-ticketing solutions.

Climate Angel Campaign

Another factor in the positive image moBiel enjoys with its customers are the public transport operator’s climate protection efforts. These not only comprise of energy-efficient light rail cars or a low-emission bus fleet, but also extend to trend-setting campaigns to raise public awareness of public transport’s contribution to climate protection. In late 2007, moBiel launched the ‘KlimaEngel-Aktion’ (Climate Angel Campaign) promoting passengers as climate angels under the theme ‘Riding buses and trains actively protects our climate’. To give the campaign a symbolic expression in a sustainable contribution to environmental and climate protection, the campaign included a tree planting initiative. Many events and initiatives of the campaign not only strongly appealed to moBiel customers but also caught attention in Brussels. In October 2009, moBiel presented its strategies in furthering public transport focusing on climate issues in an EU hearing.

Not downsizing but expanding

By investing in its rail network and fleet and expanding its customer-oriented offerings, moBiel has succeeded in increasing its 1990 passenger volume by 86% to 43 million passengers in 2008. Purposefully boosting its efficiency has allowed the company not only to freeze its €17 million deficit at the level of 1990, but also to effectively reduce the inflation-adjusted figure by approximately one third. At the same time, operating kilometre performance doubled to 10.83 million per year and cost recovery increased from 47% to 70%.

While passenger volumes increase, the rail system’s bottleneck – the city centre tunnel shared by all four light rail lines – has reached its limit in terms of utilised capacity and headway. Extending the tunnel is not an option; moBiel therefore now invests in light rail trains with a higher passenger capacity.

A tailor-made light rail fleet

In 2008, moBiel placed an order for 16 high-floor light rail vehicles of the VAMOS model, tailored to meet the special requirements of moBiel. The consortium leader, Vossloh Kiepe, manages the project and will provide the vehicles’ electric equipment including the control level traction system as well as the on-board power system. The Leipzig street car construction company, Heiterblick, will handle the mechanical side and the vehicles’ final assembly.

The new triple sectioned two direction vehicles are almost 35m-long and come equipped with four motor bogies, air-conditioned driver’s area and passenger compartment, as well as a modern passenger information system. Almost 7m longer than the models currently in use and designed according to moBiel’s specifications, the VAMOS will be 2.65m wide (35 centimeters wider than before) and allow for up to approximately 230 passengers – 80 more than its predecessors. The entrance areas offer ample space for baby carriages, walking frames, wheelchairs, and bicycles. Boarding and alighting will take less time as the VAMOS comes with five doors on each side. Some will have hinged steps, since not all stops in Bielefeld boast high-level platforms. The vehicles are scheduled for delivery in 2011 and 2012. The investment of approximately €47 million is shared by moBiel GmbH and the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Renewed, expanded and improved – the surface light rail tracks

The research moBiel contributed to the ‘Quiet traffic’ project focused on squealing noises. Now, it puts the results into practical use when renewing rail tracks – especially in residential areas. Based on the observation that light rail cars do not squeal on wet tracks, moBiel has developed a unique moistening system for tracks that uses water instead of lubricants typical of conventional greasing systems. The system includes surface waterpipes and nozzles, heatable and isolated for safe operation during winter. It is electronically controlled – it can be switched off during rainfall and dispensed water is adjusted according to the train length. This environmentally friendly and cost-efficient solution saves resources and has substantially improved the level of acceptance among residents in the vicinity of rail tracks.

In 1987, moBiel introduced a traffic light priority system as one in a series of measures to ensure for fast public transport. Vehicles automatically announce themselves at intersections ahead and are given priority over cars as they pass through. At present, buses and trains use this system at 160 intersections.

In a long-term project named ‘moBiel 2030′, the public transport operator has already laid out plans for the decades to come. Apart from the extension of existing lines, it also formulates entirely new measures in order to expand the urban public transport’s catchment area. In this, moBiel closely co-operates with Bielefeld’s urban development.

Barrier-free train stations

There are 62 train stations in Bielefeld, kept in flawless condition by moBiel in order to strengthen passengers’ subjective safety. moBiel, however, also invests in new stations. €4.75 million went into the remodeling of the Sieker terminal and the addition of a larger car park for commuters opting for park & ride. With Sieker completed, all train terminals in Bielefeld are now barrier-free. Seventy-five per cent of its train stops are designed to offer easy access for baby carriages and wheelchairs. In preparation for the upcoming track extension to Milse-Ost, Milse terminal was altered to incorporate a dead-end reversing facility. Improvements include a covered parking space for bicycles and shorter walking distances for transit passengers. The investments totalled €3.8 million.

A low-emission bus network

moBiel operates a bus network with 100 buses (75 of them owned by moBiel), 34 bus lines, 476 bus stops and almost 390km of line. With a bus fleet constantly renewed, vehicles are, on average, hardly more than four years old. These are, without exception, comfortable low-floor buses with built-in ramps and passenger information systems. They employ environmentally friendly technologies that are in keeping with the times with a low-emission standard and which use sulfur-free fuel. Seventy-five per cent of all buses are equipped with carbon black filters.

With the fall of 1995 came Bielefeld’s first Night Bus. From day one, it has been operating with a healthy profit, adding to the amounts covered in the public transport’s cash box. Annually, 128,000 people use the six Night Bus lines of moBiel.

Moving into regional rail

moBiel entered a new field in 2005, when it won a rail traffic tender for the Teutoburg Forest rail net and subsequently formed the WestfalenBahn GmbH with Abellio GmbH, Essen, Mindener Kreisbahnen GmbH and Verkehrsbetriebe Extertalbahn. The advantages of this step were obvious – it offered access to the new regional rail market and allowed for an optimised connection between urban public transport and regional rail passenger transport. In December 2007, the WestfalenBahn started operating 19 Fast Light Innovative Regional Trains. The three-unit and five-unit vehicles called ‘FLIRT’ run on a 300km track connecting Bad Bentheim, Osnabrück, Münster, Bielefeld, Detmold and Paderborn – providing four million kilometres of revenue mileage. The regional rail is highly popular among customers, as it offers ample room for bicycles, baby carriages and wheelchairs.

In a swiftly changing market, small and medium-sized public transport companies are in constant danger of being pushed aside by large competitors. In 2004, moBiel founded go.on GmbH with 14 other public transport operators as a way to join forces and offer each other protection. This strategic partnership lays the foundations for a regional network enabling medium-sized as well as private transport operators to compete with large German and international companies in bidding for a tender. moBiel has begun to take on challenges beyond the city limits of Bielefeld and the traditional scope of municipal public transport. It opens up the city’s wider region by through partnerships and co-operations. Today, go.on GmbH counts 25 associates and has already made its first successful bids.

Securing the future – ‘moBiel 2030′

moBiel does not rely on the infamous crystal ball when it looks into the future of public transport in Bielefeld. Its visions for the future, formulated in its long-term concept ‘moBiel 2030′, are based on solid facts and figures. They take many factors into account – urban development, innovations in traffic technology, shifts in climate awareness, and an increase in competition in the transport market, but also a changing demographic. Fossil fuel shortages will increase and cars with alternative propulsion will remain a steep investment for some time. A cost-efficient and sustainable public transport can greatly benefit from these developments.

The consistent expansion of Bielefeld’s light rail system forms the core of ‘moBiel 2030′. This is key in reaching moBiel’s goal to increase passenger volumes by more than a 100%, targeting 80 to 100 million passengers per year by 2030. In many parts of Bielefeld, large potential passenger volumes that have yet to be tapped into will have access to the light rail system once the network is expanded – 23,000 will receive LRV access in the next projected extensions alone.

Considerations for expanding the public transport rail network that has exclusively been running on a metre gauge include an additional low-floor system on norm gauge. ‘Tram 5′ is the name of the sub-project that would connect the city district of Heepen and offer 46,000 residents access to a fast rail network. ‘moBiel 2030′ drafts scenarios for linking districts at the outskirts that would allow 80% of the city’s population to profit from direct access to light rail transport. moBiel plans to interlock with Bielefeld’s urban development – not only aiming to optimise the layout of light rail and shuttle bus lines, but also to proactively suggest stepping up residential development along existing light rail lines. In the future, access to public transport will be an increasingly important factor in a city’s desirability ranking.

As part of its climate protection efforts for sustainable mobility, moBiel plans to invest in more energy-efficient and low-emission technologies. This includes buses with more environmentally friendly propulsion technology. Medium-range planning looks at hybrid vehicles combining electrical drives and diesel motors while moBiel’s long-term focus is on the development of fuel cell vehicles. Energy-conserving and climate friendly measures in heat insulation, ventilation, and climate control will be part of modernising the city’s rail infrastructure and the public transport depot. The energy-use of light rail vehicles too will come under scrutiny – energy storages along tracks or in vehicles themselves will increase their energy-efficiency.

‘moBiel 2030′ comes with an ambitious economic aim. In its long-term concept, moBiel binds itself to responsibly managing its finances to further reduce the public transport deficit. At the same time, the mobility expert providing services and sharing its expertise is determined to expand its range of well-targeted and customer-oriented services and products. As a public transport operator with a long history in public utility, moBiel GmbH considers achieving these goals a part of its responsibility to society – to provide sustainable mobility and a higher quality of life in the thriving Bielefeld region.