An Innovative European Approach to Public Transport in Ostrava (3. strana)

ROZHOVOR DPO is a leader in introducing innovations to enhance coherent traffic. The vehicles have been equipped with new technologies and services. Please, introduce them and explain their impact on the number of passengers and their comfort. We want to be a modern part of a modern metropolis, so we need modern improvements in the performance of our services. I mean the quality of transport (including safety, a clean environment, and comforts). Modern technologies cover these spheres, and we learn about them, understand them, and implement our findings. In 2016 we completely replaced the onboard and dispatching systems which now allow the implementation of new services and technologies. The passenger dispatching system based on cashcards is so innovative in its features and efficiency that I daresay it is a great phenomeno--at least within the Czech Republic. And we keep on developing its functions. We are renewing our fleet; requirements for the new vehicles now include more items of active safety to reduce the number of accidents involving our vehicles. To increase the travel comfort of passengers, all new vehicles are equipped with air conditioning and technology providing the Internet access via Wi-Fi. However, not everything is necessarily connected to technology: becoming modern means thinking modern. We intend to bring passengers more calm, comfort, order and less pressure when travelling, so we introduced “Transport Assistants” who see to these values being kept aboard our vehicles. We plan to improve the information service for the handicapped, too. The indisputable reward came two years ago when the long-term drop in number of passengers was halted, and each year since the number has been increasing. However, everything necessarily “ connectednottechnology:isbecoming to modern means thinking modern. ” You said that the best way to move about Ostrava is by means of public transport. What news can we expect in the service in industrial zones? The managements of industrial zones are the partners whom we deal with nearly on a permanent basis. We discuss our transport schedules with them so as to offer services that will cover the demand for the map of connections and their timetable. Yet current industrial zones do not require as much public transport as they used to in the past. Employees now prefer individual transport and cars, which affects our role. Whoever takes an occasional ride by DPO vehicle can clearly see the great improvement. Ostrava has focused at ecologization of transport. How does DPO contribute? A year ago we announced that we were going to get rid of all diesel-powered vehicles by 2020. It is a brave plan and we keep doing our best to make it happen. This will make us the first large Czech transport company to go dieselfree. Our active steps involve the renewal of the fleet: we are purchasing emission-free vehicles like streetcars, 14 ǀ POSITIV 4/2018 trolleybuses, electric buses, and environmentally-friendly CNG-powered buses. In 2016, we bought 105 CNG-powered buses to replace over a third of our bus fleet. In 2018, we bought dozens more. We opened our second CNG filling station in Ostrava–Hranečník, with the CNG filling station in Ostrava–Martinov being one of the most efficient and largest in Central Europe. We are developing our fleet of electric buses. We recently bought two electric buses to serve the connection between Ostrava–Svinov and the Klimkovice Spa. This is the first Czech electric bus service with OppCharge ultrafast (progressive) charging. These buses charge for 300 seconds at each arrival at the station in Ostrava–Svinov, which allows dozens more kilometres of operation. The buses can therefore work continuously, without any breaks. We also support developments in the streetcar system. The contract for 40 new Stadler streetcars has brought over 20 trams to Ostrava so far. We have recently signed another contract for 30-40 large-capacity Škoda streetcars, the first of which will come to Ostrava in 2020. The tramway system in Ostrava is crucial; each new line makes transport easier. We are therefore petitioning the city planning council to extend the tramway in Ostrava– Poruba. Further proof of how successful we are in the renewal of our fleet is that, among all the transport companies in the Czech Republic, we receive the greatest sum of EU and iROP funds. What other news will DPO introduce in the near future? The most obvious will be new uniforms. We introduced them to our employees in September during the Open Days. The uniforms are smart, practical, and comfortable, which is extremely important for the drivers who wear them. They were designed and made for our company. That is another example of our innovations. We changed the colour of our vehicles: their new corporate colour range is clearly dominated by a very attractive turquoise, which has also became the trademark of our new corporate culture and new approach to passengers. It is also the symbol of the Turquoise Fund Raising Project, which opens our charity work. We coorganize Turquoise Fund Raising in cooperation with the Křídlení endowment fund, and I am very grateful and thankful for our employees’ participation at this act of social responsibility. Together with Regional Governor Tomáš Macura, we presented the charities of Ostrava with a cheque for 100,000 CZK. A great novelty to start working soon is a brand new mobile phone application called Moje DPO (My DPO). We are in beta testing mode, and hundreds of users now contribute their ideas and demands for its functions and design. We want our app to make passengers happy and willing to use it. I promise it will give you much more that simple timetable data. You come from the Moravian-Silesian Region, still living in Palkovice. What is your favourite place, and what would you recommend to a visitor in the region? Related to DPO, I absolutely recommend a ride in tram no. 5 from Vřesina to Zátiší. A streetcar taking passengers outside the city is unique in the Czech Republic, and,