Xavier Conill has several years of experience as a Project Manager and Consultant, and as Director of Operations in various technology companies focused on providing solutions in the telecommunications, environmental and mobility fields. He has participated in various mobility projects in Spain, in particular in the Barcelona Metropolitan area. nuMIDAS is his first European project.

1. Can you tell us about AMBi and your role in the project?

AMB Informació I Serveis (AMB Informació) is a public limited company under the direct management of the public authority Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB). Its activity focuses on the provision of services around procedures, customer support and information in the field of public transport and sustainable mobility, and also on the design, development and implementation of novel, leading-edge sustainable mobility services in Barcelona’s metropolitan area. My role in the company is coordinator of the PMO (Project Management Office).

The responsibilities range from conceptualising and defining projects to overseeing tender processes, managing project implementation, and ensuring compliance with the company’s ISO9001 General Quality System. In the case of the nuMIDAS project, we have defined the use cases for the Barcelona Metropolis, as well as provided all the data for the analysis and tested the tool and its usability.

2. Can you tell us about the main mobility challenges in Barcelona Metropolitan area and how AMBi has been working towards them?

The main mobility challenges of the Barcelona metropolitan area are to improve air quality, offer quality public transport to citizens and promote sustainable mobility solutions as alternatives to private vehicles.

To solve the traffic problems and tackle congestion, we need to reduce the overall volume of private vehicles. AMB Informació provides technological solutions and information and support for citizens of the metropolitan area of Barcelona such as:

  • Transport information management centre: Monitors, publishes and updates the information on metropolitan public transport and sharing mobility services, low-emission zones and parking facilities.
  • Services for public transport ticket processing and citizen support: processing travel passes issued at concession fares and environmental benefit fares.
  • Sustainable mobility services with regard to private vehicles: Managing the low emission zones and parking facilities such as providing smartphone applications for regulated on-street parking zones, park&ride and for secure parking for private bicycles.

3. How do you think the dashboard can help your city in the area of mobility and transport?

nuMIDAS has developed two dashboards for the Barcelona Metropolis that can be implemented in other cities with similar needs.

The first dashboard uses an OD (Origen-Destination) matrix to better understand the travel patterns of private vehicles from the moment they enter Greater Barcelona from different points. In particular, this tool allows us to filter all this information according to certain variables such as “vehicle type”, “fuel type” or the “environmental badge”.

The second case is about monitoring air quality and vehicle emissions. Using the dashboard developed in the nuMIDAS project, we can monitor air quality and understand how it depends on different variables such as traffic, weather conditions and public holidays. This second case too will be helpful to determine whether the policies and measures taken to reduce air pollution are working or not.