ATM, not cash, but transports of delight

ATM is the name of Milan’s public transport company, familiar above all for the traditional 1928 trams that are still in service today, 80 years after their design and introduction. The company actually donated about a dozen to the San Francisco Market Street Railway in the United States. A hundred and fifty are still operating in Milan.

But ATM means much more than traditional trams. In Italy, public transport has long been under-financed, and ATM is having to meet the new challenges of constantly increasing demands for public transport. From 2008 up until today, yearly investments have averaged about 250 million euros. A lot of this is dedicated to new hybrid power plants, such as electrical and hydrogen engines. The objective is to completely eliminate all forms of microparticle emission, and already over 92% of the company's vehicles are low-emission.

ATM has come a long way from 1917, when the “Azienda Tranviaria Municipale” was founded, replacing the previous privately-owned company Edison which, at the turn of the century, had introduced electrically-powered trams instead of the previous horse-drawn versions. In 1931, ATM became an independent company, and moved to its headquarters in Foro Bonaparte 61, still today its head office.

The first trolley-bus came into service in 1933, but the city had to wait until 1961 for the first Metro line, while the second, green, line opened in 1969, and the third, yellow, in 1990. Trams changed radically after 2000, with the introduction of vehicles with low floor level and futuristic design. In 2006, the company again changed in structure, becoming the ATM Group, consisting of the parent company and 15 subsidiaries providing services linked to sustainable urban mobility. These include other local transport operations in areas outside Milan, and most famously, Como's funicular railway that runs steeply up a mountain from the city of Como to the village of Brunate. In 2008, ATM expanded internationally, running the Copenhagen Metro, a 21-kilometre driverless system that won prizes for “World's Best Metro” in 2008 and “Best Driverless Metro” in 2009. Earlier this year, the Group signed an agreement to run another automated metro system, at Princess Noura University in Riyadh.

Meanwhile, ATM launched the BikeMi service, providing 1,450 bicycles for hire in pick-up points all over the city, and a car-sharing service, both available for short rentals. Other forms of bus transport have been introduced, such as Bus on Demand, a system that is a cross between a bus and a taxi. People pre-book a specific pick-up point and destination, and these are processed by a computer so that a mini-coach travels a route optimized for the destinations of the different people on board.

Today, the ATM concept of public mobility comprises not just the provision of ecological systems of transport, but other ancillary services ranging from business to leisure. With its 9,484 employees, it moves 734 million passengers a year; vehicles cover 166 million kilometres annually, with a revenue of 903 million euro a year generated by ticket sales and advertising on vehicles, stations and bus and tram stops. The three Metro lines will soon be joined by the M4 line, due to open in 2015. It will extend from San Cristoforo, in the canal district on the west side of the city, to Linate airport to the east. Next year, the first stations of the M5 line will open, running between Bignami and Zara.

ATM has extensive underground real estate, which it rents out to shops and other commercial businesses. It rents historic and contemporary vehicles for use in films, adverts, fashion shoots and so forth. It runs a high-quality restaurant, ATMosfera, on board two classic 1920s style trams. The company manages municipal parking, both in large interchange car-parks at Metro stations, and with street-side parking areas. It has a tour guide service using a bus with multilingual guides, stopping at the principal sights of the city.

As well as green themes, another objective for the company is that of improving information for its clients. This means information on board trains, buses and trams, and at bus stops, but also the provision of WiFi, with the “WiMi” system that will allow free digital access to selected sources of online information. People can already use their mobile phones on underground trains. Smartphone applications make it possible to plan your movements in the city in real time.

The company's objectives today are inevitably focused on Expo 2015, when Milan has to be a truly “smart city” with its public transport in the spotlight. You can take a closer look at Milan’s trams on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 October, from 10.00 to 18.00, when ATM will open three tram depots to the public: Teodosio, Via Teodosio 89; Ticinese, Via P. Custodi 7; and Molise, Via Molise 60.

Henry Neuteboom