The pilot project of the Emilia-Romagna region was the introduction of the free shuttle bus line “La linea dei borghi”. Once a week (from May to September 12th), the shuttle bus has connected the city of Rimini (the “capital of tourism”) with the cities of Verucchio and San Leo, so called The jewels of Valmarecchia.
Those two ancient cities located in the hills outside Rimini were made accessible
for visitors and tourists, thanks to free shuttle buses.
The main goal of the pilot was to allow as many people as possible to visit two historic sites without using a car (which is not always easy because of parking problems).
The pilot started in the mid of May, despite the bad weather. Throught the pilot the visitors were registrated on each trip: up to over thirty summers per line, sometimes involving entire groups of students. During the summer 288 tourists were transported by shuttle bus and 145 passengers filled out a form that has been distributed to them, giving positive feedback on the project.
During the pilot, important data were collected, which will be crucial for developing the service in the future. At a press conference held August 9th 2019, on the results of the pilot project, Emilia-Romagna Regional Tourism Advisor Andrea Corsini congratulated Step-Up team on the success of the “La Linea dei borghi” and pledged to continue that experience in the summer of 2020.
The goal was achieved, the purpose of the project was to move from a “pilot phaze” to a service that will be stabile for the benefit of tourists and local community.
