1. Exercise on Broadcast
Search and Pyramiding
Sofia Beatrice Tellini 1317817
Antonio Portaluri 1353432
Elisa Garau 1342062
Marco Solfato 1610534
Simone Santamaria 1332931

2. 1. Definition of Problem
The problem is the high number of people not
paying the ticket on public means of
transportation here in Milan. Can we find a way
to solve this problem and increase service
quality?

3. 2. Broadcast Problem
In order to get access to possible answers we
addressed this question to websites (like yahoo
answers) and communities of fruitors of the
public transport (for example
milanotrasporti.org). We chose to target this
kind of users because in their everyday life they
face issues related to this problem and they are
likely to have solutions to it.

4. 3. Attract Solution(s)
The question turned out to be a very intersting topic
for our respondents.
We, of course, did not have the chance to promote a
contest with a high level of incentives.
We tried to pose the question in a way that could
incentivate the proposition of solutions: we insisted
on the fact that finding the right solution could imply
an improvement of the service and reductions in the
cost of tickets and subscriptions.

5. 4. Select Solution(s)
The solutions most appreciated by respondents are:
• improvement in ticket collection activity (either
assuming more collectors or increasing their
presence on the main lines and during the most
crowded hours)
• incentives for ticket collectors (i.e. a percentage
on the fine delivered)
• more expensive fines

6. 4. Select Solution(s) II
• Ad hoc turnstiles at each entrance (still
comfortable both for disables, older people
and strollers) before which
tickets/subscription have to be validated
• Entrance just from the driver’s door (as in
U.S.), so that the driver is in charge of both
ticket controlling and ticket selling
• Ticket vending machines installed on each
tram/bus

7. 5. Our Solution
Looking also at the respondents’ proposals we have defined
what we think can be the most effective strategy to approach
the problem:
• facilitate the tickets’ purchase by developing an application
for smartphones that makes customers able to buy tickets
in every moment
• Turnstiles at each entrance before which tickets have to be
validated.
In this way people can purchase tickets in a simple way also
the very moment before taking the bus/tram , and everybody
should be obliged to convalidate it thanks to the turnstiles.
The costs of implementation of our strategy would be
recovered by the fact that the number of tickets sold will
increase uncorrect behaviours will be drastically reduced

8. Pyramiding: Process
• Screening of our contacts for an expert or for someone that
could indicate us one
• We started from the bottom:
We asked:
family
friends
specialized forums

9. Climbing up the pyramid
A friend directed us to another
friend whose father works for
a public transportation
company in Sardinia
 This person in turn lead us
to our expert: his boss

10. OUR EXPERT
Our expert is the director of a branch of ARST
s.p.a., a company in charge of public transportation
in Sardinia.
an analogous market ( city transports vs
regional transports)
phone interview
we asked him about the solutions they
currently implement to reduce the
number of people not paying the ticket

11. OUR EXPERT: HIS
SOLUTIONS
AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS: the more people
pay the ticket the better the quality of the
service
 BUS DRIVERS TAKE RESPONSABILITY: they
check whether passengers have the ticket
or not. Who has not the ticket is invited to
buy the ticket at the next stop

12. OUR EXPERT: HIS
SOLUTIONS
• TARGETED CONTROLS IN SPECIFIC LINES AT A
SPECIFIC TIME (on the basis of data collected
through the reports of ticket controllers)
If the same person repeatedly gets a fine in
a certain line and time
WHAT IS THE AIM OF THIS?
• Discourage illecit conduct
• Avoid emulation of this conduct by people
currently paying tickets

13. CAN WE APPLY THIS IN
MILAN?
The field of application is different even if analogies permain (local transport
vs regional transport)
• Awareness campaigns could be promoted also in Milan
 they turned out to be very useful for ARST (decreasing number of fines
committed and infractions)
• Tram / bus drivers could be given more responsability (Check ticket
validation)  in Milan constraints related to congestion but this problem
is not present during the whole day
• ARST sells ticket also on board with a surcharg
 this could be applicable also in Milan and reduce the number of people
not finding the ticket at certain hours or bus stops
 coul be really effective in combination with tram/bus drivers
responsability

14. PROS AND CONS
BROADCASTING:
Pros:
• many solutions from people that are really “inside” the problem: really
innovative and some of them with high probability of implementation
• Finding a solution to the problem is often self-rewarding, meaning that
people do not need other incentives (for example monetary ones)
Cons:
• We have found that some solutions lack of technical feasibility
• Sometimes in the field of public services the average user lacks of an
overall view of the different stakeholders interest to be balanced.
 many of them propose to give the service for free and finance public
transport to proportional income taxation fairness problem

15. PROS AND CONS
PYRAMIDING
Pros
• Insightful comments from an expert able to solve this problem
• The experts are able to adapt their solutions to analogous markets
Cons
• The solutions do not seem really innovative and not very technologic
• The search of the expert in the early phases influences how you arrive to
the top  possibility of overlooking/not knowing contacts that could
lead to a better expert