Profile
of one of the leading passenger transport operators in Italy. We are talking
about Tper, set up 11 years ago, and now a leading integrated mobility group
with almost 2500 employees, 324 bus routes and 126 million passengers with a
turnover of just over €290 million. Connected and sustainable mobility. This is
how new pages of the future are written. For FARE INSIEME Giampaolo Colletti
interviewed Giuseppina Gualtieri, President and CEO of Tper
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
The best
business stories come from teamwork. Because one plus one is often much more
than two. After all, the story we are about to tell is also a good example of
this, because everything started with the merger of two companies linked with
territorial mobility. Welcome to Tper, an Emilian integrated mobility group
boasting almost 2500 employees. The company manages local public road transport
in the provinces of Bologna and Trenitalia as well as the regional railway
passenger service together with Trenitalia. We are talking about 324 bus routes
transporting 126 million passengers and with 133 thousand annual passes. A
record retention share with a 25.7% increase compared to the previous year.
Tper also registered a revenue of just over €290 million in 2022, i.e. €2.1
more than the previous year. But there is even more. This public capital
company has also acquired the management of the services it provides.
Everything started 11 years ago with a decision made by the Emilia-Romagna
region and local bodies. The objective was an ambitious one: to simplify.
Meaning focusing on the aggregation of local public transport companies to
manage an integrated and intermodal transport system. “Although we evolved over
time, our mission has not changed: the management of integrated public
transport. This means not only road transport, but also railway transport
thanks to a partnership with Trenitalia, winning a tender for regional railway
transport with an investment of over €700 million,” explains Giuseppina Gualtieri,
President and CEO of Tper. Always on the move without ever stopping. Today,
there is also a sharing mobility that meets the new needs of people in the
territory. After all, mobility changes at a staggering pace. “Public transport
is affected by the numerous trends that reduce its market share. There is soft
mobility and the so-called micro-mobility with bicycles, but there are also
scooters, light vehicles with pedal assistance and cargobikes. And then the new
dynamics of remote working. Public transport however still constitutes a
considerable part of overall mobility, especially for medium-long stretches, as
well as implications linked with environmental sustainability, air quality and
the containment of urban congestion,” says Gualtieri.
Connected
and sustainable mobility. From public transport to smartphone screens. Maas,
i.e. Mobility as a Service, was born before any national project. It is a first
electronic ticketing project which was implemented in the current Roger app,
which confirms itself as an open platform to host other future content as well.
“In a short time, Roger has become a complete travel assistant: it can be used
to purchase and validate tickets and it could also include other mobility
services,” stresses Gualtieri. Then there is the contactless payment system,
already available on the city bus lines of Bologna, Ferrara and Imola. “It is a
smart and safe system with no surcharges. Bologna was the first metropo
litan city
in Italy to equip the city network with this option,” explains Gualtieri.
Moving by anticipating the times. Corrente was born in autumn 2018, a free-flow
car sharing service with fully-electric vehicles accessible via an app that can
be downloaded from the Apple and Android stores. It now boasts 75,000 users and
fully electric cars, which are charged using only energy from renewable
sources. It is the first Italian car-sharing service that allows a journey to
start in one city and end in a different one. “It was immediately developed
with the interconnection with what is the group’s main calling - public
transport - in mind. Also thanks to
Corrente, we have become an integrated mobility company,” points out
Gualtieri.
Territory,
technologies, people. Moving in the territory. After all, the heart of a
company also beats thanks to the relationship with the community, as public
transport is an element of welfare. From the latest Tper balance sheet, it is
possible to estimate an overall extended value of €157 for the community.
“Territoriality also means building development opportunities by helping other
local companies and their employees to function as a system. That’s why we
manage over 40 mobility management agreements in Bologna with as many
production and administrative businesses,” explains Gualtieri. The three-year
investment plan involves €230 million with an energy transition strategy that
involves a combination of solutions. “In urban centres, we promote electrical
traction via battery electric buses, hydrogen buses and trolleybuses. For
medium distances, we focus on advanced biomethane, LNG and hydrogen. In
extra-urban areas, bioLNG will gradually replace diesel vehicles. An approach
that aims at decarbonising public transport. There we have it. Working toward
sustainability means zero-emission fleets, investments in personnel and the
ability to manage intermodality,” concludes Gualtieri. So, if innovation runs fast - from mobility
systems to service digitisation - the answer is to keep up with the times.
Moving with the community, without leaving anyone behind. This is how new pages
of the future are written.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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