Roberta Righini, AMAT Milano: what the Winter Olympics changed for mobility in Milan

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We're back at the Kurrant booth.

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We're here with Roberta Righini.

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She is the mobility planning
coordinator at AMAT,

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which is Milan's mobility agency.

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So we're going to be
talking about the before,

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during, and after of
mobility during the Winter

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Olympic Games that took
place this year in Milan.

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So how did Milan prepare its transport
network for the Winter Games?

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And what was the biggest
mobility challenge?

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Yeah, I have to say
that we win the Olympic

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Games in 2019, so we got
7 years to plan everything.

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And this seems to be a long
period, but we have to do many

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different things because this
was the first big event that took

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place not only in one venue,
because we have many venues

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in different places, some in
the city, some in the mountain.

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And for example, if you
want to go from Milan

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to Cortina, you have
to travel for 4 hours.

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And this means that
we have to cooperate

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with many different stakeholders.

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And I think that the very particular
things of this event was that if

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you compare Winter Olympic
Games with the Olympic Games,

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the seasonal theme is very important
because during the Olympic Games,

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normally the Olympic Games took place
in summer, so the schools are closed.

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People are on holidays, so
cities are with less traffic.

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But if you host the Winter Olympic
Games in a big city like Milan,

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you have to face some
problems like children

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that have to go to school,
people that have to go to work.

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So the normal mobility that
characterizes the city,

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and you have to integrate
all the system of

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the athletes, of the
workforce, and you have to

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try to include all these trips
that these people generate in a

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city that has its own problem of
traffic, problem of transport.

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So I think that this was the
goal, to include this event

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in a city that works, in a
city that has its own life.

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So that was the before.

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This is the challenges you
saw, how you wanted to prepare.

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But then during the games,
Milan extended metro hours,

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increased services, and
adjusted traffic management.

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Which measures worked best,
and what was something

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that didn't actually
go as you had planned?

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In Milan, we host different
venues because we have

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some competitive
venues, 3 in particular,

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but we also host the main
media center, the village

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where the athletes live,
and also the IOC Club that

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was the place in which
IOC make the interviews.

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And each venue is different
from the other because

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some were in the city center,
some in suburban areas.

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So we plan a particular— we pay
particular attention to each venue.

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We make a planning, a transport
planning for each venue, and

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we try to understand the
specific things that characterize

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these venues because,
you know, the IOC told

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us that we have to plan
that 100% of spectators have

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to reach these venues with
public transport system.

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And this is not very easy because

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we have competition in the morning,

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in the evening, and in the afternoon.

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We have many competitions
in the same place in

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the same day, so we have
to organize everything.

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And that's why we have to improve
our public transport system,

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not also adding services,
but as you told,

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as you said, increasing the
time that the subway were open.

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And if I remember, I think
at 2 o'clock in the evening.

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And this is a very
performant thing because

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during night we have
to do maintenance.

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So we have to change also
the program of maintenance.

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We have to employ more people.

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to compact all the operations
that we have to do.

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But I can say that we have
a big result because a lot

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of people use the metro
and the subways during the

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night and also use in
general the public transport.

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For example, we hosted
the opening ceremonies and

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we have around 63,000 people,
spectators there.

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And the 60% of them reach the
stadium just with public transport.

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And this is very important because
normally when we have events there,

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for example, soccer
or football events,

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only the 30% of the spectators use
public transport to reach the stadium.

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So this has shown us that if you
plan things in a very good way,

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if you convince people
to use public transport,

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because the cooperation with people,
with the city, is very important.

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But if you convince
them, our infrastructure

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can be able to transport
all these people.

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And how did you make
it more attractive?

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By increasing hours?

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And how— but how
did you communicate

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it to people that it
was going to be there?

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Yeah, we make a lot of important
campaign with, using,

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for example, social media,
or we're using the journal,

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we use the newspaper, we
use a lot of different

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way to reach people,
and we repeat in many,

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many different ways that they
have to use public transport.

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But of course, we close some
areas and we didn't give the

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possibility to the people
to park their cars.

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So they knew that they can't
arrive by cars, and so they,

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that they were obliged
to use public transport.

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Okay, and then what about the after?

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What are some improvements that

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that the Games have
actually left in Milan,

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and which temporary measures
would you like to keep?

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Of course, the improved
public transport.

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I think that that will be

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a very important measure for
the city, extend the hours,

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and I think that if we will
be able to have subways,

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maybe not all night long, but till
2 o'clock, 3 o'clock in the morning.

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This could help people to choose
public transport also for nightlife,

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for the guys that won't move
the car because maybe they,

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they drunk, so they are not
safe if they drive.

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And of course, I think that
another thing that could

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be important is to be able
to avoid parking in some

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specific area, because forbidding
the way of— forbidding parking,

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it's something that could help people

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to choose a different way
of transport and moving.

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Okay, so you saw that
if there weren't— like,

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you're thinking that if
cars aren't parked there,

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then that maybe people
would rather walk as well?

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Yeah, yeah, that's what we
saw during the Olympic Games.

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They walk a lot.

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Of course, a lot of people
came from other countries,

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so they don't have a
car, so it was easier.

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Yeah, I'm sure of this.

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But what we saw is that they

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accept to walk.

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They cover long distance
walking and just

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to reach a subway or public transport.

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And it was safe.

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You can see that people
were happy because

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they walk together,
they spend time relaxing.

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But what we saw is that if
you do many things to help

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people to understand that
you can choose something

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different from private car,
at the end they will choose.

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And so I think it's nice.

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And then now let's
change the subject a bit.

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Milan, recently we saw
that they— you signed an

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agreement with Newlinks to
explore autonomous mobility.

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Can you tell me a bit
about that project?

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Yeah, we saw— we signed this
agreement a few weeks ago and we

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want to test autonomous vehicles
services for vulnerable persons.

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So we decided to test this kind
of services to move this person,

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for example, to the hospital,
to a place where they have to,

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where they have to
go for their health.

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And we are gonna test these
services in phases, 8 phases,

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and the first phases will start,
you know, in a very few weeks.

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And then for the future, if you could
choose something, a technology,

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an idea, something for Milan's
mobility, what would that be?

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Well, I think that

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the dream is to try to work
with the real-time data and to

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plan also using this real-time
data, because it's not very easy.

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We are not ready to do this, but
I think that if it's possible

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to spend money— first of all, money,
we have to be sincere— in something,

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this would be the idea,
because there's a panel there

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where you can see a perfect
city where everything works,

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where you can control the traffic
lights, the queues, and everything.

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This would be the future
that I'd like to see.

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Well, they always say
if you want something

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to happen, you have
to say it out loud.

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So maybe it will happen
now that you've said it.

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Okay, maybe.

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We'll see.

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Thank you very much.