MobiHelfer

The aim of the MobiHelfer project was to develop a concrete service package for people with limited mobility, which makes door-to-door mobility decisively easier or possible and can be implemented by transport operators in their stage-by-stage plans in accordance with the federal tax law.

Client: bmvit, Transnational Projects IV2Splus, 2nd call for proposals

Duration: March 2012 to August 2014 (30 months)

Project partners: TU Vienna, Railway Research Department ; TU Vienna, Transport Planning Research Department ; BP-International Consulting; ÖAR – Österreichische Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Rehabilitation; SBB – Schweizerische Bundesbahnen; BÖV – Schweizerische Fachstelle Behinderte und öffentlicher Verkehr

LOI partners: ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG; Wr.Linien GmbH & Co KG; Postbus GmbH; GKB – Graz-Köflacher Eisenbahnbetrieb GmbH; Raab-Ödenburg-Ebenfurther Eisenbahn AG; Salzburg AG Lokalbahn und Stadtbus; Wiener Lokalbahnen AG; Salzburg Airport; VCÖ – Verkehrsclub Österreich; ÖZIV – Austrian Civil Invalidity Association; Auxiliary Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired; Mechatron Schnabler GmbH & Co KG; Walkspace; NSB – Norwegian Railways; Iarnród Éireann – Irish Railway; Bulgarian Administration Executive Agency

Project description: Numerous national and international laws, standards and guidelines stipulate that all user groups must have unrestricted access to transport systems, regardless of any restrictions on mobility. In doing so, the greatest possible independence of the respective groups must be ensured. Due to necessary transitional provisions and structural conditions, in many areas of mobility in the near future as well as in the medium term and occasionally in the long term, no continuous accessibility through structural, organisational and IT-measures is available (e.g. in the event of irregularities or before the start of the journey). Particular difficulties can be seen in rural areas. In addition, there are numerous groups of people for whom purely structural measures are not sufficient to provide full mobility. One example of many, are elderly people with dwindling physical strength who cannot be mobile on their own or only to a very limited extent.

In order to close these gaps, it makes sense and is necessary to offer services along the mobility chain and its critical interfaces, partly at specific points and partly along the entire mobility chain. In the MobiHelfer project, a mobility helper service package suitable for everyday mobility and supra-regional travel was developed on the basis of existing best-practice analyses and with the involvement of the relevant user needs in direct consultation with those affected and organisations. In the context of everyday mobility and on supra-regional journeys, this should make mobility easier or even possible for all persons with limited mobility including people with walking, visual or hearing impairments, people who are dependent on using a wheelchair, elderly people, people with small stature, people with prams and luggage as well as children travelling alone.

A modular service package was designed combined with modern information systems whose modules meet the specific requirements of the various potential user groups in the best possible and cost-effective way. In any case, the autonomous and independent mobility of all people must be maintained or where possible improved, which is why efforts are being made to take supporting measures wherever there are still gaps in accessibility in the travel chain. These measures can also provide broad support on a selective basis where appropriate and necessary.

Contact: DI Dr. Bernhard Rüger