Author(s)

M. Morfoulaki, Y. Tyrinopoulos, K. Kotoula, G. Myrovali & N. Georgantis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a new scheme for the reorganization of a public transport system in order to cover seasonal demand. The scope of the paper is to enhance the use of the public transport system and to minimize the use of private cars. The island of Kos is one of the Greek islands that hosts every summer more than 1,000,000 visitors. The permanent habitants of the island are 35,000 and most of them live in the capital of the island, the city of Kos. There are two operators providing public transport services. KEAS, which is a Municipal Company for running public transport services within the city of Kos and KTEL Kos SA, which provides public transport services, outside the urban area of the island. The new legal framework – KALLIKRATIS program applied in 2011 to the Municipalities – led to the consolidation of municipalities on the island, creating the appropriate conditions for the integration of its public transport services. The seasonality of the public transport demand creates a lot of problems to the existing system as it cannot cover the seasonal needs during summer but it also provides low operational characteristics during winter. The result of this situation is the system is not trusted by the users and the modal share of the private car has reached 80%.The main objective of the current work is to present a prototype methodology for the optimization of the services that the public transport system provides to the residents and visitors of the island of Kos.

Keywords