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CATS

City Alternative Transport System

Projet Description

The CATS project objective is the final development and experimentation of a new urban transport service based on a new generation vehicle. Its major innovation is the utilisation of a single type of vehicle for two different usages: individual use or collective transport. This new transport service is aimed at filling the gap between public mass transport and private individual vehicles. It is based on two operating principles: the self service concept where small and clean urban vehicles are offered on a short term rental basis, and the flexible shuttle service where a variable length of vehicles convoy, driven by a professional driver, operates at fixed hours along a line on a permanent basis or on a case by case basis. Both these principles are integrated in a single service (composed of vehicles and stations) called Cristal.

The final aim of this new service is a more efficient mobility in cities through a more balanced use of small clean vehicles and mass transport. This inclusive new transport system is well adapted to the needs of people with reduced mobility, young passengers and tourists. Four Cristal vehicles and two stations will be made available by Lohr Industrie to the project for experiments. The CATS project will investigate through an in depth mobility needs analysis, on-site demonstration and showcases, the impact of the introduction of such a new system in three different European cities (Strasbourg FR, Ploeisti, RO, Formello, IT).The impact on environment and especially on CO2 emissions, as well as the acceptance and the evaluation of market take-up of the system will be studied. CATS will complement the design and manufacture of the Cristal vehicle via a detailed definition of its operating principles and by a design of its urban settings (stations, infrastructures,…) in accordance with cities and citizens needs. A full evaluation plan is then foreseen as well as transferability assessment.

individual usecollective transport

Partners

Partners N° Partners name Partners short name Country
1 (coord.) LOHR Industrie LI France
2 Europe Recherche Transport ERT France
3 Communauté Urbaine de Strasbourg CUS France
4 GEA J-M Vallotton et T. Chanard SA GEA Switzerland
5 Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique INRIA France
6 Israël Institute of Technology Technion Israël
7 Centro di Ricerca di La Sapienza sul Trasporto e la Logistica CTL Italy
8 Ecole Polytechnique de Lausanne EPFL Switzerland
9 Primaria Municipiului Ploiesti PMP Romania
10 Agenzia Regionale per la Mobilità-Regione Lazio AREMOL Italy

Project details

Project Acronym: CATS
Start Date: 2010-01-01
End Date: 2012-12-31
Duration: 36 months
Project Status: In execution
Project Cost: 3.89 million euro
Project Funding: 2.97 million euro

IMARA Task

Operating principles, Self service operation , Urban shuttle operation.

IMARA People involved

Permanent link to this article: https://team.inria.fr/rits/projet/cats/