Real Time Passenger Information System Research Articles

Modeling the performance of passenger public transportation service in Salatiga City

Abstract The Public transportation system is one of the main indicators to show the increase in efficiency and productivity of a city. Meanwhile, the public transportation services in Salatiga City were observed to be averagely good but have some classic obstacles such as the absence of bus stops to pick up passengers and non-determination of the fare to be paid by the passengers per kilometer. This study was, therefore, conducted to model the performance of public transportation in Salatiga City. The results showed that 9 fleets with a route length of 6.2 km which has a load factor of 72% because Tamansari – Blotongan is one of the routes most traveled by the passengers are sufficient for the needs of the passengers. It was also discovered that 70% of the people prefer public transportation due to its cheapness, 55% fastness, and 77.5% because it is safe while 10% were found to be satisfied with the waiting time. Moreover, a real-time passenger information system was observed to have the ability to determine the position of public transport passengers while the Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) network was able to estimate the number of passengers currently limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first section in your paper

Bus-stop Based Real Time Passenger Information System – Case Study Maribor

Real time passenger information system is one of the key element of promoting public transport. For the successful implementation of real time passenger information systems, various components should be considered, such as: passenger needs and requirements, stakeholder involvement, technological solution for tracking, data transfer, etc. This article carrying out designing and evaluation of real time passenger information (RTPI) in the city of Maribor. The design phase included development of methodology for selection of appropriate macro and micro location of the real-time panel, development of a real-time passenger algorithm, definition of a technical specification, financial issues and time frame. The evaluation shows that different people have different requirements; therefore, the system should be adaptable to be used by various types of people, according to the age, the purpose of journey, experience of using public transport, etc. The average difference between perceived waiting time for a bus is 35% higher than the actual waiting time and grow with the headway increase. Experiences from Maribor have shown that the reliability of real time passenger system (from technical point of view) must be close to 100%, otherwise the system may have negative impact on passengers and may discourage the use of public transport. Among considered events of arrivals during the test period, 92% of all prediction were accurate. The cost benefit analysis has focused only on potential benefits from reduced perceived users waiting time and foreseen costs of real time information system in Maribor for 10 years’ period. Analysis shows that the optimal number for implementing real time passenger information system at the bus stops in Maribor is set on 83 bus stops (approx. 20 %) with the highest number of passenger. If we consider all entries at the chosen bus stops, the total perceived waiting time on yearly level could be decreased by about 60,000 hours.

Particle Filter for Reliable Bus Travel Time Prediction Under Indian Traffic Conditions

In recent times, traffic congestion has been increasing rapidly and deteriorating the quality of traffic systems in urban areas of many developed and developing countries. This became a serious problem faced by society, as many people are using private vehicles while commuting from one place to the other. One of the reasons people are shifting towards private transportation is due to lack of reliability of the public transportation systems. Attracting more travelers towards public transportation using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies is one way to reduce the negative impacts. In this context, prediction of bus travel time and providing information about bus arrival time to passengers accurately is a potential solution, which will help in reducing the uncertainty and waiting time associated uncertainties with public transit systems. However, for this solution to be effective, the information provided to passengers should be highly reliable. The present study proposes a model based prediction method that uses particle filtering technique for accurate prediction of bus travel times for the development of a real time passenger information system under heterogeneous traffic conditions that exist in India. The results obtained from the implementation of the above method are validated using the measured travel time. The prediction accuracy is quantified using the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) and the performance is compared with a base approach namely, the historic average method. The quantified error in terms of MAPE is 20% for the proposed method and 37% for the historic average method, indicating the superiority of the proposed method over historic average method. Thus, it can be concluded that particle filter is a viable tool in the prediction of bus travel times.

Modelling IT systems for public transport companies: the domain model ITTC

Abstract The core business processes of public transport with buses, trams, metros and trains cover the areas of schedule planning, resource dispatch, operations control, passenger information, ticketing and statistics/reporting. Today these business processes are usually represented in integrated IT systems used by public transport agencies (PTA) and public transport operators (PTO). Typical examples are schedule planning and optimization tools, control center applications (aka CAD/AVL) and real time passenger information systems (RTPI). So far in research and academic teaching no coherent model for all these business processes was available; in general there is a tendency to concentrate more on planning and optimization than on operation support systems. ITTC (IT systems for Transport Companies) is a domain model that provides an integrated modelling of these processes and systems, which is meant to be used as the basis for analysis, design and implementation of IT systems for the public transport domain. The ITTC model consists of (a) detailed descriptions of the business processes, (b) a functional model of the corresponding IT systems and subsystems and their interconnection through data flows and interfaces and (c) a class model describing the data structures and functions to be used in these IT systems. The complete model has been developed and documented using the “Unified Modelling Language“(UML 2). The class model contains a total of 230 classes grouped in 28 packets and 9 functional domains. 42 IT systems interconnected by more than 70 data flows are described in detail based on this class model. A verbal description of business processes uses the strict terminology from the class and system model to introduce the functional requirements as well as the practical translation to IT systems.

Enabling Data Integration in the Rail Industry Using RDF and OWL: The RaCoOn Ontology

AbstractAs traditionally infrastructure-centric industries such as the railways deploy ever more complex information systems, data interoperability becomes a challenge that must be overcome in order to facilitate effective decision making and management. In this paper, the authors propose a system based on semantic data modeling techniques to allow integration of information from diverse and heterogeneous sources. The results of work, which aimed to demonstrate how semantic data models can be used in the rail industry, are presented. These include a novel domain ontology for the railways, and a proof-of-concept real time passenger information system based on semantic web technologies. Methods and patterns for creating such ontologies and real world systems are discussed, and ontology-based techniques for integrating data with legacy information systems are shown.

The effects of mobile real-time information on rural passengers

ABSTRACTMobile real-time passenger information (RTPI) systems are becoming ubiquitous in public transport and a plethora of studies have explored the effects they have on passengers. However, these studies mostly focus on urban areas and largely ignore rural dwellers. In this paper, we present results of a study that looks into the effects that mobile RTPI has on passengers in rural areas. The results indicate that the participants primarily used the mobile RTPI system to gain situation and geospatial awareness and to adapt their travel behaviour in disrupted circumstances. Further, we have identified that mobile RTPI significantly affects the everyday public transport travel of individuals. The outcomes of this study provide an initial understanding of the effects of a mobile RTPI system on rural users.

Effect of Real-Time Passenger Information Systems on Perceptions of Transit's Favorable Environmental and Traffic Reduction Roles

A two-wave survey of faculty, staff, and students at a large university was conducted to study the perceptions of and attitudes toward several dimensions of the university bus service before and after the implementation of a real-time passenger information system. In this study, community perceptions of the bus service's role in enhancing the environment and reducing traffic were investigated. Results showed that both users and nonusers of the bus service had positive perceptions of the bus service's environmental and traffic reduction roles, that those who noticed the recently implemented real-time information system had more positive attitudes, and that the effect of the information system on the perceptions was as great or greater for those who did not use the bus service as it was for those who used the service. It is hypothesized that these results, especially if confirmed in different communities, could motivate transit agencies to promote environmental and traffic reduction benefits of transit to gain public support of nonusers for transit subsidies and to market high-tech and progressive investments to increase support among nonusers.

Disseminating real-time bus arrival information via QRcode tagged bus stops: a case study of user take-up and reaction in Southampton, UK

Real-time passenger information systems for bus users are now common place with bus stops in major UK cities equipped with arrival countdown displays and several apps now providing similar information direct to the Smartphone. Real-time displays at stops are expensive to install and given the current rate of Smartphone take-up, there could be benefits from using Quick Response (QR) codes linking to adapted, mobile friendly, webpages displaying arrival times of buses. This paper reports on a QR code implementation trial on 44 bus stops in six distinct areas of Southampton, UK.Each bus stop was fitted with a poster containing a unique QR code, linking to a website giving live bus arrival information taken from the Southampton traffic control centre. Two types of poster were developed (simplistic with minimal text, and a more comprehensive one) to understand what level of instruction was necessary for QR code use. The number of hits at each stop were monitored via the website and surveys of users through an on-line questionnaire (accessed via the QR code) and face-to-face interviews.The results suggested that there was very little variation in the use of QR codes at stops by day of the week or between peak and inter-peak times but there were variations by geographical area. QR code use improved wait time acceptability and feelings of safety and well-being with the vast majority of users finding the system easy to use.

Quality of Bus Services Performance: Benefits of Real Time Passenger Information Systems

One of the main problems in urban areas is the steady growth in car ownership and traffic levels. Therefore, the challenge of sustainability is focused on a shift of the demand for mobility from cars to collective means of transport. For this purpose, buses are a key element of the public transport systems. In this respect Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) systems help people change their travel behaviour towards more sustainable transport modes. This paper provides an assessment methodology which evaluates how RTPI systems improve the quality of bus services performance in two European cities, Madrid and Bremerhaven. In the case of Madrid, bus punctuality has increased by 3%. Regarding the travellers perception, Madrid raised its quality of service by 6% while Bremerhaven increased by 13%. On the other hand, the users´ perception of Public Transport (PT) image increased by 14%.

Opportunities of Public Transport Experience Enhancements with Mobile Services and Urban Screens

Public transportation is an environment with great potential for applying innovative ubiquitous computing services to enhance user experiences. This paper provides the underpinning rationale for research that will be looking at how real-time passenger information system deployed by transit authorities can provide a core platform to improve commuters’ user experiences during all stages of their journey. The proposal builds on this platform to inform the design and development of innovative social media, mobile computing and geospatial information applications, with the hope to create fun and meaningful experiences for passengers during their everyday travel. Furthermore, we present the findings of our pilot study that aims to offer a better understanding of passengers’ activities and social interactions during their daily commute.

A Preliminary Study of Just-in-Time Methods for a Seamless Public Transportation Information Framework

A seamless multimodal transit system has been a goal for transportation planners and users. Owing to the developments of advanced public transportation and telecom technologies such as automatic vehicle location (AVL) and real-time passenger information system, key just-in-time (JIT) concepts can now be realized in process design and coordinated scheduling to shape a seamless multimodal transit system. JIT refers to a production system that times both movements of goods during production and delivery from suppliers together. It meets the same logic for seamless multimodal services. Therefore, this study innovatively analyzes possible public transportation technologies for JIT uses; moreover, to layout the possible application frame-work of a transportation technology based JIT multimodal transit system for main station area in Taipei city. With this innovative framework, multimodal transit services can deliver to the right place at right time.

What’s going on at the bus stop? The impact of Auckland’s real time passenger information system on patrons timespace perceptions

Transport innovations have predominantly been recognised for their power to alter geographic space through time space compression. The emergence of Intelligent Transport Systems provides an interesting new lens through which to investigate individuals’ perceptions and constitution of time and space. This paper focuses on one of these systems, the Real Time Passenger Information Signal Pre-emption System (RTPISP System) currently being installed in Auckland, New Zealand. It explores how individuals’ travel experiences are being shaped by interface the RTPISP System provides between the ubiquitous computing background and individuals’ everyday lives. This paper proposes that such technologies are causing more than just the compression of space by time. By embedding the mundane activity of catching the bus in the coded spaces of the RTPISP System new conditions of possibility are emerging allowing these bus patrons to constitute alternative timespaces while waiting for the bus, timespaces which they previously were unable or unwilling to access.

Guidelines for specifying automatic vehicle location and real-time passenger information systems using current best practice

Several bus companies and local authorities are showing a great deal of interest in automatic vehicle location (AVL) technology since AVL data can be used to drive systems which provide real-time passenger information at bus stops (which are perceived to be a potential source of increasing patronage and also have a high on-street profile). However, many AVL and real-time passenger information systems have been bought 'off-the-shelf' without consideration as to whether the system could be better with re-specification. To combat this problem, a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the various AVL technologies has been made to produce guidelines for the specification of AVL systems and real-time passenger information systems, and the results have been presented here. To identify current best practice, interviews were carried out with project managers of most of the real-time passenger information systems operational in the UK and some bus operators who were implementing AVL systems. The results suggest that no one system embraces all best practice and so there is potential to improve on the 'off-the-shelf' systems currently available from manufacturers.

Use and perceptions of a real time passenger information system

AbstractThe use of high‐technology systems in the transport sector has increased steadily over recent years. This paper outlines the development of vehicle monitoring and control systems and their use in the public transport arena. The paper shows how one such system, that operated by Datatrak Ltd., has been adapted to provide a real time passenger information system for the RiverBus Partnership in London.The RiverBus service described in this article ceased operation in August 1993. The collapse of the RiverBus Partnership followed the financial difficulties surrounding Olympia and York, developers of Canary Wharf in London Docklands. Passenger use and perception of the system is evaluated, based on surveys of RiverBus users. This provides an evaluation of the system, and highlights the importance of introducing such systems based on user information needs and as part of the total marketing package.