By George Wynne
APTA Director, International Programs
The StadtBus or CityBus system is making a major contribution to urban livability in
the German-speaking part of Europe. These systems operate as an integral segment of a
city-run public utility company, cross-subsidized by receipts from power, water, and waste
management services.
At least two dozen smaller cities with populations of 20,000 to 40,000, located in
Germany and contiguous parts of Austria and Switzerland, have successfully used the
Stadtbus to revive their downtown areas. In the process, these systems provide a mobility
option and help create new liveliness and commercial activity in previously underserved
urban areas where residents have had to depend on their private cars.
One of these communities is Lindau(pop. 28,000), a resort and convention center on Lake
Constance, which abuts Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Lindau is one of the communities
that will be visitedby AFPA’s study mission in May, which will explore transit's
contribution to the urban quality of life.
Reinhold Fauser, the transit director who works for Lindau’s Stadtwerke or public
utility company, has provided an update on the system that has made a positive differ-ence
in the life of the community. The Lindau Stadtbus recently celebrated its fifth
anniversary.
It all began in the early 1990s, when community leaders decided to dramatically
increase local public transportation to reduce automobile traffic and to promote amore
pedestrian-friendly environment in Lindau. In exchange for an 80 percent capital funding
guarantee for bus acquisition from the state government of Bavaria, the city guaranteed,
its commitment to providing adequate operating funds.
The four-line city bus system was inaugurated with a city-wide festival in October
1994. It replaced an earlier limited regional through service with stops in the city
center.
Since the introduction of the Stadtbusin Lindau, a system also adopted by smaller
cities throughout Germany, as well as in neighboring Austria and Switzerland, daily
passenger totals have increased by more than 500 percent, to about 7,000.
The network currently consists of 14 low floor "midibuses" custom built by
Neoplan. Operated by a private contractor (RBA Augsburg), the buses, feature an elegant
corporate image reflected in coordinated interior and exterior designs, colors, logo,
tickets, and ticket vending machines. Instead of commercial advertising, the distinctive
color-coded buses, with a separate color for each line, carry a stylized city emblem and
have helped foster community spirit.
The network comprises about 20 miles and covers an estimated 90 percent of all
residential districts, with bus stops within200 meters of the town's public offices,
schools, retailers, shopping centers, sport complexes, retirement homes, churches, and
industrial facilities. All 120 bus stops are served on the hour and half hour, from 5:30
a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; the 27 most popular bus stops are enclosed and are equipped with
lights and benches. The maximum point-to-point transit time in the pulsed hub-and-spoke
system is 27 minutes.
All bus lines connect with a central bay in the central business district, departing
every three minutes and allowing "painless" transfer between the four lines.
Short dwell times and high speed are ensured by wide doors, signal priority at 14 major
intersections, and bus stop bays retrofitted along the routes. Bus motors are shut off
during loading at the central bay to conserve fuel and limit pollution.
Last year, the 14 CityBuses covered about a million route kilometers and carried about
2.7 million passengers; more than 2,000 annual passes were sold to residents. Farebox
receipts account for DM 2.8 million, or about two-thirds of the operating cost of DM 5.3
million. The current DM 2.5 million deficit for the operation is covered with revenues
from municipal car parks, a cross-subsidy from the municipal utility, and support payments
from the national government for passengers with disabilities.
The Stadtwerke model of funding transit shortfalls says a lot to citizens about the
role and importance of public transportation in community life. Public utilities, by
definition, are essential to the well-being of the community. By routinely including
transit service within the Stadtwerke, a statement is made to the public about public
transit's role as an essential community service.
The success of the Lindau CityBus system in creating a public transit option for a
previously underserved urban region has attracted delegations from European cities, as
well as overseas operators.
It has also led to the establishment of the tri-national Lake Constance City-Bus
experience exchange, which brings together eight small cities in Germany, Austria, and
Switzerland with comparable hub and spoke systems.
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