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ITS applications in public transport: Improving the service to the transport

system

Article in Journal of Advanced Transportation · June 2000

DOI: 10.1002/atr.5670340302

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ITS APPLICATIONS IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT: IMPROVING THE SERVICE
TO THE TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Phil Blythe, Toby Rackliff, Richard Holland, Jenny Mageean

Transport Operations Research Group,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, United Kingdom.
Tel. +44.191.2227935, Fax. +44.191.2228352, [email protected]

1. SUMMARY

This paper examines all the disparate technologies and techniques capable of smoothing
the integration of public transport modes and services at both the urban and interurban
scale. The paper focuses on the application of information technology and telematics
solutions which have been designed to create as seamless a journey as possible from the
point of view of the transport system user. The scope of the paper is therefore
deliberately wide-ranging and includes an examination of measures as apparently
unconnected as smartcard ticketing, bus priority systems, automatic vehicle locationing,
trip planning and on-board information systems as well as new public transport services
offering demand responsive travel and integration with taxi services. The paper intends
to show how such technological solutions can be used to increase the attractiveness and
competitiveness of fixed public transport networks in comparison to the door-to-door
flexibility of the private car.

2. INTRODUCTION

New communications and computing technologies, usually described by the generic

term of ITS (intelligent transportation systems) are now emerging as a set of key tools
for improving the management and operation of the transportation networks. At the
moment many of these key ITS tools have been applied singularly to solve a particular
problem, however up to now the full potential of the integration of ITS tools has not yet
been adequately considered, nor the business case for such integration made. This paper
identifies the ITS requirements of public transport modes and services and discusses the
key tools available before embarking on a detailed description of ITS applications
currently available in the public transport sphere. The paper then concludes with a
speculative look at the future potential of public transport ITS .

3. ITS REQUIREMENTS IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The decentralisation of residential areas and opportunities has caused problems for
private car users and public transport providers. Longer and more frequent car journeys
contribute to road traffic congestion, whilst public transport providers are required to
produce ever more extensive networks.

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Given a finite supply of transport infrastructure, one of the many proposals for reducing
road-traffic congestion is to provide “better” public transport (DETR, 1998). However,
the increase in the complexity of the public transport network and the operational delays
incurred particularly by buses due to road traffic congestion, causes difficulties for both
the public transport provider, in deciding when and where the new services should
operate, and for those travellers who wish to use the system, both in planning their
journeys and in accomplishing them. Privatisation and deregulation of the rail and bus
services in the UK has further compounded the problem as the competitive market
environment discourages private operators from co-operating and co-ordinating their
services.

Furthermore, as transport is a commodity which cannot be stored, that is it must be

consumed at the point of production, it is essential for efficient operation that supply
and demand are matched as closely as can be practically achieved. This in turn requires
that potential users of public transport systems have sufficient knowledge of their
services that are available in order to satisfactorily plan and complete their journey.
There is evidence that to suggest that public transport passengers know only about their
own services, and do not perceive the public transport system as an integrated network
(Bradshaw, 1994).

Among the reasons for the non-optimal level of awareness of public transport services is
the trade-off between the level of dissemination of paper or information and the cost to
the public transport user or provider. As long ago as 1984 information technology was
heralded as a possible solution to the problem of providing low-cost personalised
Information. It is only in the 1990’s, with the exponential growth of both internet and
sophisticated mobile communications devices that the true potential for providing
readily available, fully understandable and relevant data to the prospective traveller.

The nature of the problem thus leads to two distinct solutions at present. Firstly, there is
the requirement for planning any journey using one or more modes. Secondly, it is also
necessary to provide reassurance to the traveller that his chosen service is running
according to the schedule which he has been given. Later in this paper we shall examine
how ITS is beginning to provide tools to service these requirements.

4. KEY ITS TOOLS

4.1 ITS AND TRAVEL DEMAND MANAGEMENT

Intelligent transportation systems offer new tools for a number of different aspects of
the management and operation of transportation. These must be considered in the
context of travel demand management since the new and emerging technologies and
techniques described in this paper are, in general, designed, either singularly or through
a combined package of measures, to manage travel demand through affecting the modal
split of travel. There are a number of possible ways to affect peoples’ choice as to
which mode of travel to select in space and in time, in broad terms, these are:

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 reduce the reliance or attractiveness of private transport through measures such as
private vehicle access control, pay as you drive (road-use pricing and tolling) and
parking controls - all of which may be considered as ‘road-pricing’ in its generic
sense;

 increase the attractiveness of more environmentally and sustainable forms of

transport (such as public transport, car-pooling etc.) through better pre and on-trip
information, more demand-responsive travel and improved ticketing and ‘chained-
product’ services within and between modes; and

 the use new telematics means to reduce the reliance on travel into congested business
areas and city centres by trip substitution in the form of teleworking/telecommuting
etc.

Figure 1 illustrates these options, albeit with a non-exhaustive list of possible

techniques.

WALK /
CYCLE

FERRY modal shift

ENVIRONMENT
EFFICIENT
TRAIN Pre- and
PUBLIC On-Trip
TRANSPORT M METRO Information
SERVICES
time of day changes
BUS

ZONE ROAD-USE CORDON /

PARK
AND RIDE
P PARKING ACCESS PRICING POINTTOLLS

PHONE PRIVATE MOBILITY

/ FAX SERVICES
OTHER USER
NETWORKS trip substitution
spatial changes
TELEMATICS (tele-working, etc)
MULTI-MEDIA (route/destination)
SERVICES LIBRARY
VIDEO
CONFERENCING

Figure 1: The Scope of Demand Management Options and Types of Traveller Response
(Source Blythe and Hayes, 1994)

The key to the illustration is not just the actual measures taken for influencing mode-
choice through pricing and other measures but also the ability to provide timely
information to the traveller (or potential traveller) prior to making the trip and also
whilst making the trip. Pre-trip information may influence the time of day of a journey,
route and mode, whereas on-trip information may influence route and mode. For
example, on-trip information about public transport alternatives can be used to
encourage use of a park and ride facility (see Figures 2 and 3) when a car driver reaches
the outskirts of a city rather than take the car further into a congested city centre which
may have restricted parking opportunities and where, in future, road-pricing costs may
be incurred.

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Figures 2 and 3. Pre-trip information for a Park and Ride site in Helsinki (Source:
ADEPT II Project)

While the basic answer to the problem is simple, matching supply and demand, there is
no straight-forward solution. Different cities and regions have, and will continue to,
come up with their own strategies to tackle the problem in the context of each city’s
own socio-economic environment and sustainability policy. In terms of integrated
transport and demand management, a key requirement is to facilitate the interchange
between the private and public transport. Whilst the information provision, both on-
trip and pre-trip, provide the mechanism by which the traveller makes an informed
decision on mode, time and route, the private mobility control measures represent a
'‘stick” to the “carrot” of better integrated public transport with multi-modal ticketing
and convenient interchange facilities.

4.2 MANAGEMENT OF THE TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

The management of the transport infrastructure can lead to a number of means by which
vehicles can be managed, controlled and, if necessary, prioritised. In terms of private
cars this may be urban or inter-urban traffic control schemes and both in-vehicle and
roadside-based vehicle guidance and navigation systems. For public transport,
dedicated bus lanes and the other bus priority measures are key to providing a service
with more reliable travel times and a speedier route through the congested road network.

4.3 MANAGEMENT OF VEHICLES

Management of the public transport fleet is also achieved through automatic vehicle
location (AVL) systems which provide a real-time position of the vehicle. This may be
used for management purposes (e.g. to maintain service reliability and frequency) but
can also serve as a mechanism for informing the passenger about likely arrival times.

4.4 INFORMATION PROVISION

The provision of information is key to the success of transport integration and

interchange. ITS offers many new routes to the provision of that information - both
before the user begins his or her trip as well as dynamically providing information to

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users, on-trip, through in-vehicle delivery of information, roadside-mounted VMS,
personal information devices (pagers and SMS-telephones) as well as from the Internet,
kiosks and information boards at interchange facilities.

4.5 MULTI-MODAL TICKETING

The final major tool is the potential for offering a convenient way of paying for a chain
of services. This may be tolling, parking and public transport - or it may be park and
ride and several forms of public transport. Smart ticketing using smart cards seem to
offer a potential solution to this problem and improve both the convenience of the
payment (one card for all services), reduction in boarding times, as well as helping to
increase the perception of the quality of the overall service.

5. DESCRIPTION OF THE ITS SERVICES

5.1 BUS PRIORITY / BUS LANE OPERATION

In bus priority terms, the most widespread and successful application of IT has been the
modification of traffic signal timings to give priority to public transport vehicles at
intersections. The systems range from a simple public transport advance signal which is
included in every signal phase regardless of actual requirement, to vehicle detection
systems which identify individual public transport services as they approach a junction
and automatically alter the set signal timings to minimise the delay to these services.
This is usually accomplished through an extension of green time or a reduction in red
time and advanced recall of the green signal aspect as appropriate to the current signal
phase.

On segregated sections of tramway and bus lanes it is possible to install simple vehicle
detection systems, which detect all vehicles passing a particular point, since all vehicles
using the segregated infrastructure should be public transport services. On mixed-use
infrastructure, however, a more advanced form of selective vehicle detection (SVD)
system is required. SVD systems necessitate on-board equipment in the form of
transponders in the vehicles as well as the installation of inductive loops/beacons to the
infrastructure. The effectiveness of such SVD systems is constrained by the percentage
of suitably equipped public transport vehicles on a particular route. For example, in
open access public transport market environments such as the UK, the benefits of SVD
installation could be much diluted in areas where services may be provided by different
private operators not all of whom would be willing to invest in the necessary equipment.

In Germany, successful vehicle detection based bus priority measures have been
introduced in cities such as Hamburg, where peak hour bus journey times have been
reduced by 15% and Darmstadt where the implementation of vehicle detection systems
at 35 traffic signals along the main north-south tramline has resulted in an average
journey time saving of 9.5 minutes (Schabbach, 1991)

5
Electronic route guidance systems represent another potential form of bus priority which
could possibly be integrated into both urban traffic control and passenger information
systems. Based on the successful factory floor guidance applications of the 1970s, the
most widely publicised of which being the Fiat Strada production line which featured in
the memorable television commercial, electronic bus guidance systems were developed
and tested throughout the early 1980’s by two German PSV manufacturers, MAN and
Daimler-Benz. The principal of both systems was the essentially the same and based
around a guide cable buried along the centre line of the desired vehicle path, through
which an alternating current is passed in order to produce a concentric magnetic field.
This induces voltages in antennae mounted on the vehicles, the size of which varies
according to the relative position of the antennae compared to the cable, which are
converted by an on-board microprocessor into instructions for the vehicle’s hydraulic
steering mechanism. Although a trial passenger service did operate successfully in
Fuerth in 1985 no further public transport applications of this technology have been
implemented although the City of Newcastle has recently revived the Quayside Busway
proposal which was to have been electronically guided. A similar version of the
Daimler-benz guidance system does however operate in service tunnel of the channel
tunnel allowing high speed running of maintenance and emergency road vehicles in the
restricted confines of the tunnel.

5.2 INTERCHANGES AND INTERMODALITY

At major public transport interchanges such as bus or rail stations IT applications can be
used to improve the interoperability between different public transport services.
Automatic vehicle location systems can be used to provide constantly updated
information about departing services at key transport interchanges and can also be used
as a management tool by operators to ensure the punctuality and correct frequency of
services which is particularly important for connecting services. Advanced ticketing
systems also benefit interchange passengers by removing the inconvenient and time-
consuming requirement to purchase separate tickets for each section of a journey.
Although paper-based through ticketing systems already operate in many countries, in
deregulated public transport markets the problem of correctly apportioning revenue
between different operators may deter operators from participating in such schemes.
This problem could be overcome through the use of smart card ticketing systems
(described later) which can potentially log every stage of a public transport trip and
provide precise data for revenue distribution purposes.

At smaller interchange points on the public transport network where as few as two
public transport services may interconnect, the potential benefit of IT applications may
in some instances be greater than at larger interchanges, since a missed connection may
result in a far longer wait for connecting passengers. The installation of some form of
vehicle detection equipment could be used to inform drivers of the imminent arrival of a
connecting service enabling them to slightly delay the departure of their own service in
order to maintain the connection. Such a system has been successfully implemented in
the Austrian city of Graz, where relatively infrequent suburban bus services connect
with the end stops of the urban tram network.

6
Graz also boasts a public transport / taxi connecting service arrangement, whereby
passengers boarding a bus or tram can get the driver to book a taxi to meet them at a
particular stop and transport them to their final destination. This service, marketed as
“Hallo Taxi!”, only requires a basic two-way radio system connecting vehicle and depot
and offers a near seamless public transport service, which can compete with the door-to-
door flexibility of the private car and offer a cheaper alternative to a taxi for the entire
trip length.

5.3 PUBLIC TRANSPORT ON-BOARD INFORMATION

In-vehicle real-time information provision, although arguably less important than at-stop
or trip planning information is nevertheless useful both in the event of delays and to
passengers unfamiliar with a particular public transport service. The new generation of
trains currently being built for London Tilbury and Southend rail line will be the first in
Britain equipped with a GPS-based passenger information system. This uses a
combination of timetable data and satellite positioning to “provide up-to-the-minute
information about the next station stop through interior visual displays and automated
PA announcements. The trains, which are capable of self-fault-diagnosis, are also
linked to their depot via GSM radio enabling maintenance staff to be ready to rectify any
problems immediately a train returns to a depot, which should improve both the
efficiency and reliability of services (Modern Railways, 1998). There is obviously a
potential for future trains to be capable of providing on-board real-time information via
GSM radio about connecting services at the next station stop as this information is
currently available for many stations and has already been proved capable of being
posted on the Internet (North Western Trains – Website).

5.4 TRIP PLANNING

Planning a trip in a car requires some knowledge of the network, or that that knowledge
is garnered from an external source such as map. Trip planning software is now
available that automates this process. Performing the same task for public transport is
often more complex as services operate on only a sub-set of the road network, or on
other networks altogether. Services also operate at discrete intervals of time, so planning
is necessary for both the spatial and temporal aspects of the journey.

Various ITS solutions have been applied to the problem of planning a trip using public
transport. One of the most popular methods of obtaining the relevant data is to telephone
an enquiry line run by a public transport operator or a PTE. Many of these services rely
on having personnel equipped with all the relevant timetables and maps to plan the
journey for the customer. Some computerised solutions have been attempted,
particularly for London (BUSROUTES) and the Journey Enquiry Support System
(JESS) in Strathclyde (Thomas et al, 1998).

Other automated solutions have been developed that put the customer directly in
communication with a relevant trip planning database. There are numerous practical
implementations of this, but current popular solutions include dedicated trip planing
terminals, general purpose information terminals, and the use of desktop PC’s. Little

7
research is available on the use and effectiveness of terminal-based trip planning
systems.

Trip planning can be achieved using either a stand-alone terminals or by using software
running on a personal computer that can access relevant timetable data. Trip planning
terminals have been implemented at many locations in Europe. Notable examples in the
UK include the ROMANSE TRIPlanner system and the EUROSPIN project. The
ROMANSE system allows a user to plan a journey using both car and public transport.
Such trip planning terminals are often located at transport interchanges; in the case of
ROMANSE terminals are located at both Southampton airport and Southampton central
railway station.

Alternatively, trip-planning data can be provided on personal computers. This may be

achieved either by running a dedicated programme, or by accessing it would timetable
data an over the Internet. The number of dedicated programs that are produced for this
application is declining as more and more effort is put into producing data that can be
accessed over the WWW. Internet journey planners have been developed for Railtrack
and National Express, and for Dutch and German national railway systems, among
others.

Both approaches, terminals and internet access, require that a critical mass of systems is
achieved such that the traveller can have confidence that the relevant information
needed to complete any journey is available to him or her at the right and in the right
place. The development of mobile communications and Internet access systems and help
alleviate the requirement that the data is in the right place. Further, the development of
internet kiosks, along the lines of phone boxes, may help travellers to access the Internet
information at public transport interchanges simply and cheaply. However, a level of
detail offered by current traveller information systems is too low to generate a high level
of confidence that any particular journey can be easily completed using public transport.

A secondary function of the traveller information systems is to generate confidence in

the day-to-day running of public transport services. The first of these systems was the
provision of a real-time passenger information at bus stops and train stations. However
such systems merely alleviate the anxiety of waiting for a given service. In order to see
such information, the traveller must have already made the mode choice decision. If a
traveller were to make a mode choice decision on the basis of this information that was
readily available to him, even a public transport system equipped with real-time
passenger information at the stop may not be attractive, as the waiting time is not
materially affected by the passenger information system. The effect of real-time
information on mode was considered by Hickman and Wilson (1995), and is being
further developed by others (Holland, 1998).

In order to get the information to the traveller before the mode choice decision is made,
or before a regular public transport user sets off to catch a service, several information
technologies are available. One proven technology is to post real-time bus arrival data
to the Internet (see Figure 4) which has been demonstrated in Ipswich using Superoute
66 (Thomson and Sheat, 1998).

8
Figure 4: Superoute 66 Live Java interface

Using an Internet server as the primary data source, additional technologies maybe used
to provide additional functionality. In the particular case of Superoute 66, potential
passengers can use both pagers and interactive voice response (IVR) mechanisms to be
alerted when a bus is approaching their stop. The use of pager systems (Figure 5) has
also been demonstrated by the INFOBUS (INFOPOLIS, 1996) system in France.

Figure sent a separate file.

Figure 5: INFOBUS pager (Source: INFOPOLIS, 1996)

Developments in micro-payment technology, and exploiting information technology for

marketing purposes a lead to a situation where it is commercially viable for frequently
accessed data such as bus rivals. Whether the users of the transport service are prepared
to pay outright for this data, or are prepared to accept subsidy of the information
provision through advertising remains to be seen. The challenge for the intelligent
transport systems industry is then to deliver economically viable ways to deliver the
right data to the right people at the right time. Smart cards and electronic ticketing may

9
be used to both gather relevant passenger data and to disseminate information about
services.

5.5 DEMAND RESPONSIVE TRANSPORT

Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) is an intermediate form of public transport,

somewhere between a regular service route using small, low-floor buses and special
transport services using a shared taxi mode. DRT is typically based on either an
automated or manual booking system at a Travel Dispatch Centre which is linked to an
on-board unit (OBU) on the vehicle via a trip booking, planning and dispatch system.
The prospective user contacts the Travel Despatch Centre and is given a provisional
meeting time, which, in the case of advance bookings, is usually confirmed
automatically within 30 minutes of the actual meeting time.

The route between the end points is totally flexible according to the demand for pick-up
and drop-off. Pick-up and drop-off may be at the door or at a meeting-point within a
short specified walking distance (usually less than 150 metres). Although a
development of more basic dial-a-ride services, the DRT advanced telematics optimise
use of available vehicles and improves the overall efficiency of the service. This makes
DRT suitable not only for mobility-impaired groups such as the disabled and elderly, but
also for: sparsely populated rural areas; urban areas with low demand; provision of new
integrated transport opportunities; express feeder services for airport users; and
connections with conventional bus services. In these scenarios, DRT implementation
should enable operators to reduce transport costs without reducing levels of service.

5.6 ELECTRONIC TICKETING

At the moment public transport automatic fare collection is by far the major market of
smart cards in transport (Blythe, 1994 and Blythe and Holland 1998).

It has been apparent to many operators that the use of smart cards both as a payment tool
and as a way of monitoring passenger journeys and preferences is a viable option.
Moreover, if the apportionment of trips (and therefore money) for passenger journeys
can be calculated more accurately with smart card data than with traditional on-board
survey (OBS) techniques, then this will provide a greater incentive for operators to
participate in multi-operator schemes such as through-ticketing and concessionary fares.
Additionally, the cost savings in terms of not requiring to conduct on-board surveys to
collect this data would offer a good business case for the introduction of smart cards
(indeed the typical OBS costs of a Regional Public Transport Authority, PTE have been
quoted in the region of £500,000 pa or more in the UK).

Although there have been many trials using different forms of cards contact, contactless
and hands-free wallet the conclusion of most operators is that contactless cards are
preferred since with contactless cards it is possible to speed up the boarding time of
passengers both on the vehicle and at terminus entry/exit gates.

10
The ability of smart cards to improve boarding times and to reduce the amount of cash
handled are the most obvious reasons for their use in public transport. However, other
benefits and uses are also apparent, in particular the possibility to obtain more exact
information on who uses which service - this helps in focusing the product more closely
to the travellers needs as well as making the estimates of patronage between a number of
service providers who participate in a journey pass scheme more accurate. Some smart
card suppliers are developing systems which provide short-range read-write capability
of entry and payment functions and a longer-range read-only capability for logging when
the passenger with a card has exited the vehicle or terminus gate (Blythe 1997). Earlier
this year Swiss Rail introduced such an entry exit systems with smart cards. Moreover
offering chained services between different modes of travel (park and ride, bus, metro,
train, ferry etc.) thus becomes more viable and also more attractive to the traveller as
only one card is required.

At the moment the trend seems to be to link the public transport smart card to together
city services. This in itself may attract more customers (who may initially have the
smart card for other services) and make the citizen feel he or she has a valuable and
useful card (Blythe 1998, Blythe and Shield 1999). In the Netherlands such a trend is
beginning to emerge from the evaluation of the DISTINCT multi-function cards which
use the Chipper and Chipknip e-purses as the base card - but add functionality such at a
public transport purse and city-functions onto the card (Figs. 6a - 6c). Is this the future
for public transport cards - or will the transport sector remain in partial isolation from
other complementary sectors or card users?

Figure 6a: Fare Payment Figure 6b: Telephone Figure 6c: Booking and
paying for theatre tickets

One significant example of the use of smart cards in public transport is the ITSO
specification in the UK. ITSO (Integrated Ticketing Smartcard Organisation) has been
formed as a body which represents all the bus companies, PTE’s and train companies in
the UK, with the sole aim of defining a National Interoperable standard for smart cards.
This work began in mid-1999 and the final specification (which is to be adopted as a
UK standard) was completed in July 2000. This standard allows any transport company
who wishes to use smart card in an interoperable way to ‘buy in’ to the open ITSO

11
specification. Thus a user with a smartcard from Newcastle can upload electronic fare-
products for any other ITSO region onto his or her card. These products may be
purchased using cash, credit card or the standard ITSO electronic purse which resides on
all ITSO cards. The ITSO specification supports different types of contactless smart
cards and ensures interoperability can also be achieved with any legacy smart card
systems that are already in place. This is a significant achievement for a cash-strapped
public transport and rail sector and is seen as a way in which the transport operators can
attract new customers by making the convenience of purchasing tickets more attractive.
In the UK London (The Prestige ticketing project), Manchester, West Yorkshire and
Tyne and Wear PTE’s are committed to adopting the specification in the next two years.
ITSO and the DETR are taking this significant move forwards in interoperability to
Europe through the CEN TC224 standardisation committee. Hopefully an ITSO like
solution for Europe is not too far away.

6. THE POTENTIAL FOR INTEGRATION OF ITS TOOLS AND SERVICES

So far a description of a number of ITS tools and services which currently are, or have
the potential to be used by Public Transport entities to improve their management and
operations. However in this day of high performance and (relatively) low cost
communications and computing systems the potential for the integration of
complimentary sets of these measures to meet the demands of a specific operating
scenario.

If one considers the ability to locate and monitor the vehicle en-route, this information
may be utilised not just as static management data but can be provided dynamically to
the end-user on displays, web-sites, etc. This data may also be useful to update trip
planning sites in real time – delivering a quality of service not yet seen. If different
modes and different supplier of information can be integrated into a single system – then
this may be extended to multi-modal use. In the UK a government initiative, PTI 2000
is attempting to catalogue and integrate all UK Public Transport Information sources
into one seamless system – which can be accessed by telephone, internet or by on-street
or interchange information kiosks. If this information was timely, accurate and gave the
types of options and preferences that a user would require this would most certainly be a
quantum leap of improvement over the current systems. In the UK this is now
perceived as possible and researchers and industry are working towards this.

Couple the above with dynamic scheduling, then the concept of dial-a-ride and flexible
services becomes closer to reality and economic reality. At off-peak times and in rural
areas this may encourage substantial additional patronage if the service was available.

Considering the use of smart cards – which many industry insiders now see as a key tool
to the future improvements in public transport operations. This smart card is more than
just a convenient payment tool which can be extended to interoperable and multi-modal
use. The smart card system also delivers a great deal of entry/exit and usage data which
was not possible to collect before. This in itself is a valuable tool for management and
tailoring operations to suit the customers travel patters. However the smart card also
offers the potential for the development of innovative products, loyalty schemes and

12
chained services (linked to park and ride – and ultimately road-user charging). The
smart card can also be used to store the card holders profile and preferences, such as
preferred travel routes, home, work and leisure locations and information of disabilities
and accessibility requirements. Such cards can be used over the internet or in on-street
kiosks to obtain information customised to that particular user – again bringing forward
the whole idea of better convenience and comfort for the traveller. As previously
mentioned, the DISTINCT project has extensively piloted such an idea. The response
from users was overwhelming with over 82% of those surveyed (aggregated across the 5
countries participating in the trail) would be willing to pay for the use of such a card).
The market is out there – it just requires tapping, which in turn requires the elaboration
of a business case which can demonstrate a return on investment of such schemes. One
is confident that the current climate in the UK and Europe is ripe for such a radical
change in transport policy thinking.

Figure sent a separate file.

Figure 7: Card enabled information kiosk, operated by ATM Public Transport

Company, Turin (Source, DISTINCT)

7. SUMMARY

This paper has provided an insight into the current state of ITS technology, with
particular reference to public transport related applications. It has attempted to
demonstrate the potential for such applications to improve public transport, at an
individual service and at a network scale, as well as the efficiency of the transport
network as a whole. However, as this paper has indicated perhaps the greatest benefits
in future will stem not from isolated applications of particular ITS technologies, but
rather from an integrated development of ITS with the eventual aim of creating a truly
intelligent transport network.

The full potential for the integration of ITS tools in public transport has, too a large
extent, not yet been exploited. ITS applications such as Automatic Vehicle Locationing,
Public Transport Management systems, Urban Traffic Control, Vehicle Guidance and
Navigation Systems, Bus Priority measures, On-board, At-stop and Internet- or Pager-
based Real-Time Information systems and innovative public transport solutions such as
Demand Responsive Travel and Bookable Taxis could all theoretically be integrated if
some degree of compatibility (through some form of standardisation) were to be
established between them. An interoperability between different ITS applications could
eventually lead to the development of a multi-modal transport information network
based on accurate, real-time information about the constantly changing state of the
different modes and services that combine to form the transport network as a whole.

Such a powerful transport information tool would benefit the transport system users in
terms of trip-planning both prior to and during a particular journey. However, and
perhaps more significantly, it could provide an effective demand management tool for

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optimising the efficient utilisation of the transport network through a combination of
both private vehicle restraint and an improved public transport network. These
improvements would take the form not only of vastly improved public transport
information provision, but also of improvements to the reliability and speed of
individual public transport services and, in particular, more reliable interchanges
between different services achieved through a combination information-led improved
in-service management and intelligent bus-priority systems.

On a more basic level, the inconvenience of interchange between different public

transport services could be greatly reduced through the through-ticketing possibilities
that could be gained from widespread application of smart card ticketing systems.
These not only remove the inconvenience of having to purchase separate tickets for each
stage of a journey, but also speed up boarding and alighting times and therefore overall
journey times. Smart cards also have great potential benefits for both operators and
PTEs in terms of accurate allocation of revenue from concessionary fares and multi-
operator tickets. Additionally the data collected from smart card public transport could
serve as a important new tool for strategic transport planning purposes and provide
detailed information about overall travel behaviour and demand, providing that any
potential data protection and civil liberties problems can be satisfactorily addressed.

8. REFERENCES

BALOGH, S (1995)"COUNTDOWN" to the revolution in bus passenger information -

London Transport's passenger information system at bus stops Proceedings of the 26th
Public Transport Symposium, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon
Tyne, England

BLYTHE P.T. (1994) Smart Card Applications in Transport. International Smart Card
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BLYTHE, P.T. (1997) Implementing Smart Card Technology to Transform Payment

and Customer information. Proc. Intelligent Transportation Systems 4th World
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BLYTHE, P.T. (1998) DISTINCT: Extending the functionality of smart cards. Proc.
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BLYTHE, P.T., and SHIELD, C.M. (1999) DISTINCT: Developing the Business Case
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BLYTHE, P.T., and HOLLAND, R.J. (2000) Integrated Ticketing Smart Cards in
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BOYLE, E. (1997) Partnering to Develop Cost-Efficient Smart Card Programmes. Proc.
ICM Conference in Smart Cards and Electronic Ticketing in the Air Industry, London,
February

BRADSHAW, S (1994) Bus passengers awareness of travel opportunities MSc

dissertation, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

BROWN M (1994 )Improving quality in public transport - ROMANSE project

Proceedings of the 25th Public Transport Symposium University of Newcastle upon
Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, England Civil Engineering 1994 8

DETR (1998) A new deal for transport - Better for everybody, Department Of The
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FORSYTH E and SILCOCK, D T (1985) An evaluation of the provision of real-time

information for passengers on the Northern line of the London Underground TORG
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HAYES S. and BLYTHE, P T (1994) Chairmans report on the achievements of DRIVE

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HICKMAN, M D and WILSON, N H (1995 ) Passenger travel time and path choice
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HOLLAND, R (1998) fuzzy logic model of mode choice that incorporates public
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INFOPOLIS (1996) Review of public transport access information terminals CETÉ

Mediterranée ISBN 2-84040-086-3

Modern Railways (1998), “Class 357 takes to the rails”, 817-819, Ian Allen Publishing,
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SCHABBACH, K (1991) Giving trams the green light, Urban transport International
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THOMAS J, SALT G & VAN NIFTERICK W (1998) JESS - Journey Enquiry Support
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THOMPSON, S & SHEAT, D E (1998) Exploiting telecommunications to deliver real

time transport information Road Transport Information and Control, IEE Conference
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 UNKNOWN (1998) Class 357 takes to the rails, Modern Railways December 1998,
817-819, Ian Allen Publishing, Surrey

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