By George Wynne
APTA Consultant for
International Affairs
Editor's Note: Straetisvagnar Reykjavikur, the transit system serving Reykjavik, Iceland, has recently joined APTA.
REYKJAVIK, ICELAND--The challenge of operating an efficient urban bus system in the far north-around Latitude 65, where the mild season is extremely short, family incomes are among the highest in the world, and every household owns at least one car-has been met successfully by Straetisvagnar Reykjavikur in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Lilja Olafsdottir, SVR managing director, ascribes the success of the system to its customer orientation, which both anticipates and responds to societal trends and the wishes of customers. Successful initiatives include starting new routes to expanding suburban housing developments, staggering arrival times downtown in line with flextime hours of office and business establishments, or augmenting nighttime services on weekends. This gets people home from downtown disco clubs without the risk of accidents or heavy fines for driving "under the influence."
Two years ago, bikes were allowed in the back of buses without extra charge, and this new service has also become very popular, adding revenue especially during the summer months.
"All Icelanders are 'kings,' and we treat our customers as the 'kings of kings,"' Olafsdottir said. One might add queens, as the case may be; until earlier this year, this country with population of a quarter of a million had been headed for 16 years by Vigdis Finnboggadottir, the world's only four-term female president elected by popular vote.
The city of Reykjavik, which has a population of a little more than 100,000, or more than one third of the nation, is served by a bus fleet of 76 Volvo and Scania diesel buses with a total passenger capacity of 6,200. About one quarter to one third of the capital's residents use the bus once a week or more, even though every household has the personal mobility afforded by at least one private car at its disposal.
Despite this degree of motorization, comparable to U.S. cities, the farebox coverage of SVR is in the range of 61 percent. Also, Olafsdottir counts as one of the system's biggest successes the Green Card, a discounted monthly pass introduced five years ago, of which more than 45,000 are now sold annually.
The Green Card looks like a chip card with its holographic rectangle at the upper left, but it is totally low-tech. Raised lettering, the hologram, and a small star that overlaps into the "30-day validity block" where the expiration date is printed in large letters, are the only technology elements, and they serve security purposes alone. A focused beam spotlight mounted above the driver's compartment shines directly onto the card, which needs to be presented with its date block facing the driver.
Two thirds of all SVR passengers use the Green Card or discounted fare coupons, which are sold in strips of 12 for the price of 10 single fare tickets. Fare evasion is practically nonexistent and is estimated by the transit system as less than 2 percent.
The success of the Green Card is attributed to a large degree to clever marketing campaigns using TV ads, wall posters, and the print media. SVR realizes it cannot compete with the family car, so its ad campaigns are designed to motivate residents to consider the bus as their second car.
To make the point, the system staged a photo of a dozen buses in a residential, street with a slogan that said, in effect, "We are everywhere," and it also posted its schedule in the phone book and on the Internet at http://www.rvk.is/svr. A successful TV sequence showed a car buried by a snowdrift in a blinding snowstorm. The voiceover posed the question, "Wouldn't you rather take the bus?"
The University of Iceland last year calculated the annual cost of operating a private vehicle as IK 380,000, which works out to about $5,430 a year. A Green Card for the same period costs about $580 at the current exchange rate, just over 10 percent of the cost of running the second car.
While SVR concedes the need for a family car in this large and sparsely populated countrv. its advertising campaign makes the point that there are more cost-effective uses for a household's disposable income than owning a second car, given the availability of a high frequency, clean, comfortable, widely accessible, and inexpensive bus service in Reykjavik. Enclosed bus shelters are generally available within 400 meters in the most densely populated parts of the city, and five transfer terminals offer shelter and amenities.
Notwithstanding its municipal ownership, SRV is quite entrepreneurial. It has recently taken over bus services under contract negotiated with the neighboring town of Mosfellbaer, which has a population of 5,000 and found it cheaper to call on its big neighbor to provide bus services to its residents than to operate its own.
By law, all Icelandic communities are required to provide transportation services for persons with disabilities. SRV carries out this mandate for the city with seven mini-buses equipped with wheelchair lifts. The normal passenger fares paid by authorized users who call in their requests at least a day in advance cover only about 10 percent of the costs of this service, while the city picks up the rest in its SRV budget subsidy.
Meeting the challenge of operating in a rugged climate, where wind, snow, and rain alternate with sleet and hailstorms during the long, dark winter season when full daylight rarely arrives, adds perhaps 15 percent to the cost of comparable buses elsewhere.
To keep passengers comfortable, SVR specifies two-inch (5-cm) rockwool insulation, floor and side panel heating, velour seats, and double pane safety glass windows in its tenders. Bus bodies are made of corrosion-free metals such as aluminum or stainless steel alloys. Olafsdottir was kind enough to make available the 1997 tender document for 12 buses, which reflects these specs, and it is available to members in other winter cities.
However, it must be said that despite the rugged climate and the short summer season, Iceland in general and Reykjavik in particular is a spectacular place to visit. Unspoiled nature and urban sophistication live there side by side. Your reporter was the first American in living memory to visit this admirable and tough little system, and SVR would be delighted to welcome fellow professionals from the U.S. who have an interest in challenging the elements to provide the best possible service to their customers. Olafsdottir can be reached by fax at 01 1 354 581 4626 by transit professionals who are planning a stop in Iceland and would like to exchange experiences
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