Bălți

Bălți’s public transport system faces declining reliability and ridership. A 2020 EBRD study recommended restructuring routes using detailed demand analyses and integrating them with traffic modelling, but implementation has lagged. Car use remains high, causing congestion and pollution; investments of around €2 million in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure cut car traffic by roughly 10 % and increased pedestrian footfall by 25 %. However, public transport services still operate infrequently on some corridors, and passengers have little confidence in bus arrival times.

The bus and trolleybus fleet is old and routes have not been updated to reflect current demand. Although the city has begun modernising its trolleybus fleet with GPS monitoring, most vehicles still do not feed into a unified system capable of generating accurate real-time passenger information. As a result, passengers lack reliable updates on arrivals and delays, and confidence in public transport remains low.

At the same time, Bălți already has 11 functional on-street information panels and a citywide mobility app, “Umnîi Transport,” which shows static or limited real-time data. These platforms are underused because the city lacks the digital tools needed to process GPS data into accurate predictions or service alerts.

Without a system that captures and uses vehicle data to inform passengers, such as real-time arrival predictions or service updates, the city cannot rebuild trust, optimise schedules effectively, or encourage residents to shift from car use to buses.

The city of Bălți is looking for solutions that can turn operational data into real-time passenger information while also supporting data-driven adjustments to routes and schedules.

Area: The public transport corridor linking Bălți’s city centre with the northern and southern residential districts, including major bus and trolleybus routes.

DESIRED SITUATION

Within the six months of this project, Bălți aims to use vehicle and service-performance data to provide clear, reliable real-time information to passengers or/and for planning. The pilot should demonstrate that the solution can significantly improve the passenger experience and support better service planning.

• Operational pilot: implement at least a two week demonstration of a real‑time passenger‑information system on a selected corridor, using existing GPS data and low‑cost digital tools. The system should provide accurate arrival predictions for at least 90% of trips and display them via a mobile app and on‑street panels.
• Data and analytics: collect ridership and service‑performance data and produce a report identifying at least two specific route or schedule adjustments supported by the data.
• User satisfaction: increase passenger satisfaction with information reliability and overall service by 15% compared with pre‑pilot surveys.
• Adoption: Reach 70–80% engagement among corridor users (app views or display interactions).
• Scalability and cost: demonstrate  a clear cost‑benefit case for scaling the system city‑wide.

Longer‑term goal: integrate the tested solution into Bălți’s Sustainable Public Transport Plan and replicate it on other routes to support network restructuring and encourage modal shift.