Mobile enabled bus tracking and ticketing system

Abstract

Public transportation in many countries is being used as a means of transport for travelling and accordingly people would prefer these public transportation to be scheduled properly, on time and the frequency be increased for commuters to make good use of it. It has been found that quite an amount of research work has been carried out, in this sector, by way of using RFID technology in the public transportation systems towards the tracking of passengers when they board and exit buses. In addition research has also been carried out in using GPS towards the tracking of buses along with RFID technology at traffic lights, bus stops, intersections etc and displaying expected arrival times on LCD screen at bus stops along with their current positions. Taking these aspects into consideration, an intelligent mobile bus tracking system for the Jamaican Urban Transport Corporation as case study has been proposed which enables commuters towards tracking the bus of their choice and also knowing their expected arrival times. In addition to tracking, the proposed system also notifies the passengers on their mobile towards topping up of credit in their RFID enabled smart tickets for traveling, well ahead in time. The above System proposed has been validated using Android in this research which allows commuters towards tracking of buses and knowing the expected arrival time. In addition commuter been reminded on their Android mobile handset towards topping their credit on their ticket towards travelling. The above two solutions would alleviate the challenges faced by commuters in respect of referring to the static bus timetable or looking into LCD display screen which would inform the expected arrival time of the next bus. The implementation of the system has been carried out using Android emulator.