9669 Perugia Mini-Metro story in The Guardian

Hi
The best thing is that they have sensibly created a very large car park at the 'bottom' of the hil.
Most of it is free, only if you want to be very near the metro entrance do you have to go through the barriers and pay for parking.

It is a really good way to get into the centre easily and cheaply, but it does have its critics. Basically, it is noisy, and the track gets very close to some apartment blocks. Today avvisi di garanzia have been issued to Leitner and to Minimetro Spa, tryng to pitch the blame for the noisiness. Anyway, because it is provenly noisier than the design spec required, it isn't running at full speed and it closes at 9pm (it doesn't even open early enough for commuters). It will probably run later on a temporary basis when Umbria Jazz is on, (in fact on two Thursdays in June it is going to run until midnight).

So - it is a problem: made worse by the fact that Perugia centre has a 24h ZTL imposed.

The noise stuff has been discussed a lot on engineering forums (it is a unique and very clever system, where the cabins decouple from the fune (cable) so it is mega interesting). Leitner pitched for the whole job - including the (predominantly concrete) support system for the elevated parts of the track. This part of the job got awarded to a local contractor, against the protests of Leitner who mentioned techie things like vibration periods etc. Leitner told Perugia that if Leitner didn't build the whole shebang they wouldn't guarantee the noise levels.

So, as so frequently in Italy, a world first people moving system has been compromised by the need to award a concreting contract to............fill in the blanks.

Thanks Charles. We used the mini-metro on Sunday and noticed some of the protest banners that had been strung up beside the track. I took a moment to listen to the noise from outside the track and it seemed extremely quiet - almost inaudible - to me; certainly quieter than a bus or a number of cars, which are the alternatives. Don't want to seem complacent, but I think people are just sensitised to the noise because it is new and maybe the visual intrusion is annoying to them as well. That I can understand.

Despite the lack of signage, we think it is a brilliant way to get into the centre of Perugia because we can easily drive to Madonna Alta and then park and board the Mini metro. But we are not commited to travelling times. The real test will come during Umbria Jazz. The parking in Perugia is always a nightmare at that time. Concert goers will want to get out of Perugia and back to their cars at night, having enjoyed themselves but will the Mini metro be running when it is most needed is anybodies guess. Watch this space.....

Oh - you are absolutely correct Noble, the signage is apalling! The best tip (for foreigners to Perugia) is to follow the signs for 'stadio', and then hope to spot the ' P Mercato del Sabato' sign, which will get you into the minimetro carpark. (There are one or two quasi invisible 'minimetro' signs, but you'd need to be a Queens Scout to spot them.)

On the noise front - of course, a lot of the complaints are sort of nimbyish - but nevertheless the system does not meet the design criteria on noise levels, so I can't help believing that the local residents have a valid complaint. In addition, the reduction in the speed of the cabins (to hopefully (futilely) address the noise level) compromises the comfort level of the whole system because the cabins, when they are detached from the fune, are accelerated and decelerated using a method which is independent of (and appreciably different from) the fune speed. (This puzzles me as a techie, one would have thought that the same drive motor was involved, but clearly it is not.)

It doesn't seem noisy from outside (I agree Marc, I did the same evaluation) but it would be interesting to spend a night in one of the affected apartments: some of the complaints about noise are concerned with noisy passengers, and you cannot design them out!