The availability of health and social services represents one of the biggest challenges for residents in rural parts of Lika-Senj County. This is why, through the MIMOSA project, the mobile application Lika Drive was developed, which quickly and easily connects passenger transport and interested users. This mobile application was designed and created by the Public Institution Development Agency of Lika-Senj County - LIRA, and in the final stage it was presented at a conference for media and stakeholders. The app, other pilot activities and news of public transport in the county were presented by Ana Rukavina – Stilinović, head of the Administrative Department for Economy, Maritime Affairs and Transport of Lika-Senj County, Andrija Brkljačić - director of LIRA, and external associate of the MIMOSA project.
Developed on-demand service for Android and iOS systems
- The MIMOSA project defined the demand for transport services at the regional and cross-border level, along with designing a better service and improving multimodal public passenger transport. LIRA is one of 19 partners, so it was necessary to find a specific solution for this area of ours, since Lika-Senj County is the largest in terms of area and the smallest in terms of population in Croatia. We concluded that it would be best, as a complement to public transport, to create an on-demand service with the help of technology, so a mobile application for Android and iOS systems was developed. That's how we created a promotional model, for which we previously collected data and conducted research from available sources, as well as in the field, while finally a survey was conducted on the demand and interest of road transport companies - LIRA director Andrija Brkljačić revealed at the conference, indicating that the Lika Drive app connects users and drivers in a very simple and interactive way.
Demand for the application and supplement to public transport
The app itself consists of two interfaces – for drivers offering transport and for users looking for transport. Drivers and users easily register in the application and enter their data, and then become active. Reservations for the ride are made 24 hours in advance, by choosing the arrival and departure time, as well as the desired location, and after calculating the price (with a subsidy from the Lika-Senj County), the reservation becomes active and the first available driver accepts it, while LIRA keeps records of all rides. This was revealed at the conference by an external associate of the MIMOSA project, who also pointed to the tests conducted with the target groups, high school students and pensioners, of which approximately 25 percent expressed interest in using the app, while the majority pointed out that the price of driving even with the subsidy is high. Therefore, the opportunity for the potential improvement of the application and the entire transport system in the coming period lies in supplementing public transport, in such a way that with the Lika Drive app users are transported to new public transport lines.
- Currently, a public debate is being held with the institutions that would benefit from this public transport. The proposal is to introduce 8 new lines in the county area, they would meet 4 times a day at 3 main junctions, which means that it would be possible to get from any center to any other center 4 times a day. Of course, that transport would be subsidized, and the driving schedule would suit the majority of the target groups - said Rukavina - Stilinović, emphasizing that the pilot activities of the MIMOSA project represent a potential supplement to public transport, and contribute to the development of multimodality, which is the focus of the entire cross-border project.
