Overview:

• Within 6 months, the clients transport budget was transformed, channeling funding to priority
  areas and reducing overall capital expenditure.

Challenge:

A Scandinavian city had seen rapid economic growth translate into extreme congestion in its transport system. Its traffic jams were ranked amongst the world’s worst, while its bus, metro, and rail systems were overloaded and unreliable.

The local government approached Challenge Advisory to help shape a robust fact base out of thousands of data sources available; set strategic priorities for the next decade; and deliver rapid improvements in congestion, journey times and commuter experience. The solutions would have to achieve the dual objective of regaining citizens’ trust and to drastically reduce the city’s transport expenditure.

The Revelation:

The Challenge Advisory infrastructure team assessed the depth of the client’s concern, and understood that in order to address these concern, a comprehensive strategy would have to be formulated. The first step of this strategy was to create a solid fact base from which to build. The infrastructure team conducted a full-scale big data analysis encompassing surveys, geospatial analysis and international benchmarking.

This data was used to formulate an integrated transport model for the city that would enable them to accurately prioritise investments and set their strategies. Using this transport model, we helped the client to define an actionable program to holistically improve their transport system. This included the specification of improvement reviews at 10 year intervals, including measuring public transport capacity, reducing commuting times, and freeing up rush-hour traffic.

The infrastructure team then established a set of teams to carry out different aspects of the program, with each team well represented in the social, private and public sectors. This strategy made for higher citizen engagement by attending to the needs of the public first and foremost, and was augmented by daily monitoring of conception and a high-profile communications campaign.

Outcomes:

Within 6 months, the clients transport budget was transformed, channeling funding to priority areas and reducing overall capital expenditure. In the first year of its implementation, the city made significant progress in improving citizen service, as well as reducing congestion and commuting times.

These improvements set the client well on course for achieving an efficient, reliable, and economically sustainable transportation system. Equally important was the fact that the program also quickly shifted public opinion, with as much as 90 percent of residents showing approval to the changes made.