Uvrier Replicator Site

The city of Sion is the capital of the Canton of Valais (in Switzerland), boasting a 7,000-year history and being today the economic center of Valais and an important traffic junction with its own international airport. More than 50,000 people live within its agglomeration and the city hosts many governmental offices, companies, a university of applied science and the regional hospital. Furthermore, the mountainous Canton of Valais has an overall population of 340,000 inhabitants and a very strong tourism sector. Sion’s bus and train stations are the heart of the Valais public transport network, offering different types of urban and regional public transport services.

The replicator site

The replicator site was located in Uvrier, a small residential town of 1,500 inhabitants situated 5km from the city of Sion and administratively dependent on the latter.

Back in 2016, a partnership between CarPostal and the City of Sion allowed the deployment of automated minibuses in the city of Sion. They were then integrated into the high-density traffic on a fixed route and following a predetermined schedule.

Following this promising first trial, it was decided to launch an automated minibus service in Uvrier that started on April 2021, notably in order to solve a real mobility problem in this sparsely populated region. Two vehicles have thus crisscrossed the streets of the municipality to respond to user requests made via the SmartShuttle application or by simple phone call request. This service, made available entirely free of charge Monday through Friday from 07:00 to 10:00 and from 13:00 to 18:00, was undoubtedly a great help to the local population until it’s stop in October 2021.

This project was carried out and coordinated as part of the Living Lab for Mobility, the MobilityLab Sion Valais (https://www.mobilitylab.ch)

Site achievements

• Proves that the demonstrators model can be replicated
• Automated trip planning suggestions implementation (algorithm based trip planning)
• Trip planning via call centres implementation (conventional trip planning for people without smartphones)
• Digital or human information points
• Help request and visualization in real time of the path/destination

Further information can be found in the operation report, the deliverable 7.12 and within the various press releases (see below). See also the operational data summary.

Map of the Uvrier demonstration site

Video of the Uvrier demonstration site