After a series of 2 local workshops with stakeholders, the Madrid Case Study held a third and last workshop online on 5 March 2026. Professionals from diverse transportation backgrounds attended the event. The objectives of the workshop were to present the SYNCHROMODE digital platform, developed to coordinate public transport, last-mile logistics, and demand-responsive transport services, and the project’s case study results. After an introduction of the case study and objectives, Nommon proceeded with a demonstration of the Toolbox and DEUSTO with the case study results. Interactive sessions have been conducted by Rupprecht on the following aspects:
– Toolbox user experience
– Multiactor cooperation, governance and data.
– Results, replicability and applications.
The Madrid case study is centred in the coordination and integration of public transport, DRT services and Logistic delivery. The specific area of study chosen is the town of El Álamo, a peri-urban town at the outskirts of Madrid, and its connection to the Spanish capital via the bus line 539. The main results of the study are that the integration of DRT with line 539 does not significantly reduce travel time of the users, but improves the capillarity of the public transport. Economic viability is demand dependent. Additionally, pairing the DRT service with Logistic last mile delivery does not affect passenger pick-ups and drop-offs and can offer substantial savings, increasing viability of the service.
The second part of the workshop consisted of an interactive activity. Participants were divided into groups and discussed three main topics using collaborative digital boards. In the first interactive session, The SYNCHROMODE toolbox user experience participants were asked to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the toolbox. Participants highlighted the clarity and usability of the toolbox as a decision tool. In general, the toolbox was perceived as clear and functional with detailed information. The main risks identified were the day-to-day integration of the data in the database, final user adoption and last minute changes in parcel delivery. The main identified weaknesses was the lack of integration of real-time data and tools to compare the optimised results with what really happened during the day. The inclusion of real-time data to the toolbox was also identified as the main opportunity.
The second interactive session focused on governance and multi-actor cooperation. Participants discussed the role of public transport authorities in ensuring access to mobility data and the possibility of promoting more flexible concession frameworks. In particular, some suggested that authorities could move away from strictly defined schedules, stops and fixed routes, allowing operators to implement solutions such as DRT systems as long as predefined service level requirements are met. There were also discussions about the governance of the toolbox itself, including which operators should participate and who decides on their inclusion, how revenues should be distributed, and which actors should assume the operational risks associated with the functioning of the toolbox.
In the third interactive section the results of the application of the toolbox for the Madrid case study were discussed. In particular the main impact as well as the potential to extend it to other UC and the barriers for this extension. The main conclusions in these dimensions are summarised below.
The tested solution (integration of PT with DRT for passenger and goods transport) allows a considerable reduction of traveller kilometers and in consequence emissions. This solution turns PT into a sustainable and efficient logistic platform at the time that increases the PT’s capillarity. And overall, the toolbox provides the services operators and public authorities with demand and optimisation tools to plan, improve and monitor service provision.
The tested solution can be expanded to rural areas where it can have a greater impact. It can also be extended to coordinate several logistic operators, not just one with PT and include more than one bus line multiplying the benefits of the use case. It would be interesting to explore the integration with other PT services not just bus (e.g train)
From the proposed extension the one considered with higher priority and viability is the extension of the service to rural areas where DRT services are already in place.
One of the main challenges for this extension is to keep the level of service. The main barrier is related to legal aspects and labor conditions, since the coordination of goods and people transport entails increasing the complexity of the task performed by service providers.
