On the Main Street of Venice Public transport is a critical part of the unique city’s infrastructure

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Transport & Logistics

by

Michaela Mehls

photos

Kay Herschelmann

I t all started on an autumn morning in 1881. The “Regina Margherita”, the first water bus with mechanical propeller drive, made her

maiden voyage along the Canal Grande sharing Venice’s main waterway with only a few small motor boats and gondolas. 135 years later, 135 water buses, the vaporetti, regularly navigate the Canal Grande and the lagoon. The Venetian public transport company, ACTV (Azienda Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano) keeps the city moving. The water buses are the backbone of the transport system, not only for the 60,000 residents but also for the 30 million tourists who visit the city each year.

On March 31, 2016, the local newspaper, La Nuova Venezia reported: “300,000 visitors in three days. Record number of tourists over Easter.”

It was a challenge for local government and public transport. Usually, there are only this many people in the small city during the carnival which lasts almost three weeks.

One day earlier in the mayor’s office: From the window, there is a view of the Canal Grande and the flag with the winged lion flies outside. Simone Venturini and Luca Scalabrin, who I have come to interview about public transport, probably don’t notice the splendor of the interiors and the painted wooden ceilings any more. Venturini is the deputy mayor and responsible for public welfare and eco-nomic development. Scalabrin is the president of the ACTV. “30 million visitors in a small city is difficult” says Venturini, “but we can deal with it. There has never been a problem with public secu-rity.” He continues to explain that Venice is “com-

Luca Scalabrin (left), president of ACTV and

Simone Venturini, Deputy mayor of Venice

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plicated, unique and difficult to run and govern”. Costs are 30 percent higher than for other cities. Scalabrin adds: “Bureaucracy slows down deci-sion making. The Doge made deci-sions alone but today there are many people who are part of the process.” The 120 Doges of the past had almost absolute power. This was during the time that Venice was an indepen-dent republic starting in the 11th cen-tury and ending in the final months of 1797 after occupation of Italy by Napoleon.

Venturini: “For 20 years now, we have been addressing the question of how we can better manage the limited space on our ‘main street’, the Canal

Grande.” One idea was to allocate dedicated times for the transport of goods and for passenger traffic, especially during the morning. It is still a “work in progress”. The best way, according to Venturini, is continuous improvement of transport operations.

Scalabrin is putting this solution into prac-tice at ACTV and the passenger surveys measur-ing the satisfaction of the residents of Venice and Mestre are a fundamental component. It is essen-tial to analyze and improve, for example, the flow of passengers using the vaporetti. “There is only one entry and exit on the boats and these are often blocked by suitcases and rucksacks. We are exam-ining solutions for luggage storage, for example on the roof” elucidates Scalabrin.

The most recent passenger satisfaction survey revealed that 83.6 percent are satisfied with the ser-

vices provided by the ACTV. This is six percent more than in 2013. 92 percent of those surveyed expressed satisfaction with safety in public trans-port and eight out of ten rated cleanliness as very good.

“I am happy with Dussmann Service. Clean liness is important for our image and for the image of the city, it’s a business card” says Luca Scala brin. Duss-mann has been responsible for cleaning in all public transport vehicles since January 2013: This includes water buses, ferries, conventional buses and the pontoon stops. Following a tender which prescribed better quality on a tighter budget, Dussmann took on the personnel of its predecessor which had been providing the services for 20 years. “I like the work-ing culture at Dussmann. It is a company with high standards and it provides cleanliness around the clock. Together, we can create a better future.” This is presidential praise indeed. Scalabrin sees the difference, for example, in the regular clean-ing of water buses and buses which is carried out by Dussmann using high-pressure equipment. His staff has confirmed substantially better cleanliness than beforehand he concludes. This impression is later confirmed by Giovanni Seno, General Direc-tor of AVM Group and ACTV: “The professional-ism and experience of Dussmann Service makes it a very positive cooperation. The services are efficient and effective with a good price-performance ratio. As a public authority, this is not a secondary prior-ity” says Seno.

Departure Rialto 10:13 a.m. Line 2 lands with a gentle bump, punctual to the second, at the vaporetto stop. Luca Scalabrin wasn’t exaggerating:

“Venetians set their watches by our schedule”.

Did you know that Venice ...... is possibly derived from the Latin “Veni etiam” which means “come back”. A term coined by refugees? It is, however, more likely that the city was named after the Veneti, an ancient tribe. 1 ... has six Sestieri (boroughs) which are rep-resented on every Gondola? The ferro is the metal design at the prow, or front, of the gondola; it has six forward prongs for Cannaregio, San Polo, Santa Croce, Dorsoduro, San Marco and Castello; the seventh and backwards prong sym-bolizes the island of Giudecca. 1 ... has 400 gondoliers including two women? One of them, Alex Hai, is German.

1 ... has 450 bridges? Berlin has 2100 but it is twice as big. 1 ... citizens can initiate a high water alert via SMS?

Transport & Logistics

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During the half-hour journey along the Canal Grande to Tronchetto where the ACTV headquarters are located, I watch the passing scenery with awe: the Palazzi on the left and right banks, the half of which, it is rumored, belong to the Chinese. Boats of all shapes and sizes carry everything that the city needs to live: beverages, including constant supplies for the numerous Spritz all’Aperol which are consumed here every day; laundry for the hotels; the contents of a relocated home; patients on the way to the Hospedale Civile; guests in elegant water taxis; vegetables from the Laguna island of Sant’Erasmo; waste, and tourists in gondolas.

Cleanliness Around the Clock

At Tronchetto I am met by Giovanni Seno, General Direc-tor of AVM Group and ACTV, and Nicola Cattozzo, Man-aging Director of ACTV, together with Giancarlo Baruffa and Tommaso Dal Maschio of Dussmann Service. Dal Mas-chio shows me the public transport network plan which illustrates the size of the area covered and how large the job of the 160 Dussmann operatives is. Venice is the capi-tal of the region Veneto and consists of the historic center,

Federico Bordin,

Andrea Zennaro

and Simone

Ferro (f.l.t.r.) at

the pier. They are

part of the team

which cleans all

Venetian vapo-

retti, buses and

ferries

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Transport & Logistics

a fish-shaped island, and the industrial complex on the main-land, Mestre-Marghera. The ACTV operates public transport in the lagoon between the 118 islands and the bus network on the mainland. In numbers: 2,800 employees, 120 million pas-sengers each year on 25 boat routes, over 100 bus routes and two tram lines. The new “People Mover” started up recently connecting Tronchetto with its huge car parks and cruise boat terminal and the Piazzale Roma with connections to the vaporetti.

Every night, a Dussmann team carries out deep cleaning of two boats at Tronchetto; from the roof to the captain’s cabin and the ship’s wheel, nothing is left uncleaned. The ceiling is freed of cobwebs, windows are cleaned and polished from the inside and seats are disinfected. Chewing gum is removed from the floor. Exterior window cleaning takes place three days a month at a pier especially reserved for the job.

A further Dussmann cleaning team travels in a vaporetto to each of the stops in the ACTV network and carries out maintenance tasks. At Sant’Elena and Pellestrina, the two ACTV dockyards, the third Dussmann team works on the exterior dirt on the hull of the large car ferries using high-pressure cleaning machines and cleaning products which are 99.9 percent biodegradable. Interior cleaning is carried out using exclusively water.

There are four points in the city where boats stop for ten minutes where the fifth Dussmann team carries out daily maintenance cleaning. The sixth team takes on exclusive responsibility for cleaning the 620 ACTV buses.

Quality through Ongoing Training

Among the 160 operatives, there are currently only a few women, explains Giancarlo Baruffa who heads the Dussmann branch office in Veneto. “The high proportion of male oper-atives is very unusual for a cleaning operation but under-standable. The work involves quite a bit of craftsmanship and is often carried out outside.” The clouds gather, hiding the March sun and temperatures begin to sink to around 10 degrees Celsius. Baruffa concedes that the greatest chal-lenge is the management of such a large team with activities over a wide area. Ongoing training is an essential ingredient to ensure that everyone works “according to Dussmann instruc-tions for use” at all levels of operation. Staff members are very mixed in terms of cultural background. The job is attrac-tive and job cuts in the industrial plants of Marghera ease the task of recruitment for Tommaso Dal Maschio.

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Transport & Logistics

At the moment, the vaporetto “A. Lucchese”, built in 1974 in Venice, is taking its turn at the cleaning pier. “We are the only public transport company in Italy which develops its own trans-port vehicles. Our design office at the dockyard in Sant’Elena designs boats which fulfill the very specific conditions of the lagoon i. e. the weather, the wind, the waves, the seabed and the ‘weight’ of visitor traffic. The construction is tendered to other shipyards” reports Nicola Cattozzo, managing director of ACTV. A single solid, safe boat costs around one million Euros. While I watch the three Dussmann colleagues, Federico Bordin, Andrea Zennaro and Simone Ferro clean and polish the A. Lucchese to a shine, I converse with Gianfranco Negri who works for ACTV as chief engineer. Traffic has never been brought to a standstill by high water—aqua alta. Specific zones are not served when water levels reach a defined height.

“We are well prepared to deal with high water; we’re used to living with the sea.” On the “main street” Canal Grande, it’s business as usual, even during aqua alta.

Tommaso Dal Maschio

coordinates the ACTV

contract with Isabella

Salmaso. He is from

Mestre. His career path

is unusual; after study-

ing international rela-

tions and human rights,

Dal Maschio joined

Dussmann as a kitchen

assistant in a seniors’

facility six years ago.

He liked the company

and started a job that

took him across the

entire country.

When a post for the

ACTV contract was

advertised, he took

the opportunity to

work near to home.

Walking Acquaintance

A walk to the Piazza San Marco in the early eve-ning at a time when the last rays of sunshine are ref lected from the golden ornamentation of St. Mark’s church and the square becomes the most beautiful place on earth. Turn left into the calle; a shop window displays dog bowls and dog food. Carry on towards the Campiello square and its fountain and follow the many visitors along the

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Transport & Logistics

Strada Nuova on their way to San Marco. Join the fast-moving pedestrian stream to the small church and then, instead of turning right to the Rialto and the vaporetto, carry on straight ahead through the maze of alleyways. There are fewer people and my steps begin to slow. I follow the yellow signs on the house walls per San Marco. The first bridge; it’s as well that I’m not carrying luggage. On over the campo where an old lady sits on a bench. I am in the hands of fate—a confused glance into an alleyway—haven’t I been here before? Past more campi, red houses with green shutters, more shop windows, churches, bars where people sit drink-ing ombra (“shadow”, a glass of wine). And then, between the arcades of Museo Civico Correr, there

is a flash of gold. An hour passes easily listening to the music of the band at Café Florian and watch-ing guests dance. As I go home it is already dark and my steps echo between the walls of the narrow alleyways—a sound that has long been forgotten in big cities, or if it is heard, it is associated with fear. In Venice, walking is a joy and the city is safe, at night too. I find my own rhythm and take time to stand and enjoy the beauty of my surroundings. No watch to count my steps.

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Transport & Logistics