This section provides information on the challenges and solutions of a range of preparatory activities that need to be undertaken before a site can commence operating FCBs. The figure below provides a rule-of-thumb timeline for these preparations based on the experiences of one of the JIVE sites and on the experiences in previous projects. At present a 15 months duration of this Deployment sub-stage can be expected under optimum conditions.
Numerous of the challenges and solutions mentioned in these tables are matters that are best dealt with, or at least planned for, during the Financing and Planning Stage. The attentive reader will therefore notice that many of them have already been addressed or touched upon in Section 2. However, the experience of sites is that some of these matters have only come into focus or have needed to be re-visited much closer to the time when delivery of the buses comes into view. Repeating some of them as part of this overall stage is therefore considered to be useful.
Major elements of the Deployment sub-stage are addressed in the following tables. These are:
- Depot modification/upgrade.
- Determining Bus Maintenance Procedures.
- Route planning.
- Awareness Raising and Training.
- Useful resources for the Deployment Stage.
Figure: Indicative Timescale for the Deployment sub-stage. [Cross-striped period indicate possible extra time needed or potential for an earlier start. Based on a chart developed by Regionalverkehr Köln and expanded with their support.]
