Trapeze User Conference 2011 – Next Stop: Future
Neuhausen am Rheinfall, 27 September 2011 – The 22nd User Conference held by Trapeze ITS in Darmstadt from 19 to 21 September 2011 was a full success. Some 150 attendees from top management and specialist management-level staff from about 45 public transport companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg once again experienced a meeting tailored to their specific needs, which was utilised extensively as a platform for obtaining information and exchanging experience. This year’s conference motto was “Next Stop: Future”. Approaches and solutions were discussed how public transport authorities and the industry could team up to fulfil the growing requirements of future public urban transport.
In his introductory paper, Hans-Peter Schär, CEO Trapeze ITS, addressed the success of the company in the last months. The company secured a number of large and small projects and orders. He also spoke about the thrilling developments taking place in the field of radio communications. Besides the well-known Tetra and public network systems, he mentioned the promising DMR solution. He ended his introduction by talking about the highlights among the Trapeze developments and aroused his audience’s curiosity about the company’s current innovations. His talk was followed by a presentation by Mark Miller, CEO Trapeze Group, on the overall range of products and services offered by Trapeze, underscoring the customer benefits of the 360-degree Trapeze portfolio.
Numerous specialist papers
This was followed by numerous specialist papers and interesting concurrent events on topics and products of Trapeze. Various workshops provided an in-depth insight into subjects such as data supply, passenger information, vehicles & radio communications, service & dialog plus the 360-degree Trapeze portfolio. Just as much interest was aroused by the different guest talks held by customers. One major attraction was the Future Workshop with highlights from the Development Department. Here Trapeze presented trend-setting solutions for drivers, dispatchers and passengers. The participants experienced live demonstrations and were amazed by the innovative thrust at Trapeze.
In the course of several casual “Meet the CEO” events, the attendees had the opportunity to discuss concrete issues with Hans-Peter Schär concerning current topics as well as the strategy and the future of the company. As is usual during User Meetings, participants did not hesitate to take advantage of this possibility to talk with Schär and the numerous Trapeze employees.
Interesting panel discussion
The introductory paper presented in the panel discussion and entitled “Future Trends in Public Urban Transport” was held by Prof. Dr. Fritz Busch of the Technical University of Munich. He outlined the future requirements and challenges that transport agencies were facing in terms of demography, urban structures, technology, economy and market plus society and mobility. During the panel discussion moderated by business journalist Dr. Helge-Heinz Heinker, representatives of transport authorities, associations, research and industry dealt with various topics. Karl-Heinz Holub, Managing Director of HEAG mobilo; Michael Buding, Managing Director of VGF Frankfurt; Urs Hanselmann, VöV President; Laurent Hansen, Managing Director of AVL Luxembourg; Prof. Dr. Fritz Busch and Hans-Peter Schär, CEO Trapeze ITS put forward some stimulating views and theses that galvanized the public to take part in the discussion so that the roughly two hours went by in no time.
Images: Well-attended sessions on current topics at the Trapeze ITS User Conference in Darmstadt.
Summary and outlook
The User Conference more than met the targets envisioned by the organisers, even exceeding their expectations. The number of attendees was approximately at the level of a year ago, and the participants’ feedback was positive throughout. The concurrent events, the panel discussion and the evening events offered many occasions to maintain customer relationships. Against this background, Trapeze ITS faces the future with confidence and looks forward to the next User Conference in 2012.
Trapeze ITS
Matthias Stahel, Head of Communications
Tel. +41 58 911 17 39
matthias.stahel@trapezeits.com