Elsevier

City, Culture and Society

Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2011, Pages 201-210
City, Culture and Society

Using real time information for transport effectiveness in cities

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2011.12.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Most of the world’s cities have significant traffic problems involving peak hour congestion and pollution. Information supplied to potential users via the internet and phone systems can improve transport effectiveness in two major ways. The first is to inform travellers of integrated public transport options using real time accurate information. Travellers can then accurately choose their public transport route. Second, since most cars are occupied by a driver only, a market can be set up for potential drivers to meet potential passengers in an effective ridesharing scheme, in which authentication, micro-payments and effective coordination can be executed using real time hub and mobile phone technology. This paper outlines the form of these systems and presents a market research study which demonstrates that such services would be popular. Benefits of such services would accrue to many stakeholders: governments would avoid future capital expenditures on expensive road capacity, citizens would be able to travel faster due to reduced congestion, and the environment would suffer from less carbon and other forms of pollution due to reduced and faster flowing traffic volumes.

Highlights

► Real time information via a hub can significantly improve transport effectiveness. ► Authenticated car pooling can be enabled using real time systems. ► About 40% of those sampled would participate in such a system. ► Real time public transport information systems can be created and would be popular. ► Quality of life (amenity aspects) in cities using these approaches would be enhanced.

Section snippets

Introduction: the challenges of transport in modern cities

Growing global populations and increased urbanisation are bringing more people into cities, with longer travelling distances from expanding urban fringes. At the same time, increased affluence, coupled with increased manufacturing efficiency, are making vehicles more affordable. In combination, this means that urban car populations are increasing. Cities are ever-changing as social, political, economic and technological developments impact on them (Sasaki, 2010).

However, increased automobile

Potential solutions to cities’ congestion through information and technology

In this article, we explore this link between technology, amenity, and usage by examining what could happen if technological capabilities broadly equivalent to those currently available to drivers were made available to prospective public transport users and ride sharers. In particular, we conduct an initial investigation of the feasibility and impact of two possible software applications on the attractiveness of ridesharing and public transport for potential users. These hypothetical

Improving the people transport effectiveness in cities

Two major steps forward in effectively moving people in cities from their source to their destination are possible. These significant enhancements have become possible through new information and telecommunications technologies, and require no additional physical infrastructure such as vehicles or roads, but aim to improve use of existing physical assets. A potentially useful metaphor is from the manufacturing sector, in which better information and coordination in factories and supply chains

Attractiveness of these solutions: if we build it, will they come?

In the research reported here, we presented 449 travellers – 262 undergraduate students and 197 general citizens – with scenarios describing the two applications, and asked them a series of questions concerning the attractiveness of the underlying transportation mode, the impact on their usage, and their willingness to pay for either the application or the underlying transport. The results suggest that the development of applications exploiting these technological possibilities has the

Sample

Data were collected by survey from four groups in Australia. Two groups were undergraduate students at two large universities. Undergraduates are seen as important potential users of the applications being explored here. They have lower vehicle ownership rates (see Table 1), they are more likely to adopt novel technologies, they are not yet entrenched in routinized travel habits, they have less routinized travel needs than older adults, and they are likely to be less risk averse than older

Discussion and conclusions

Cities are becoming increasingly congested with traffic problems, causing loss of productivity, reduced social cohesion and even ‘road rage’. Yet most private passenger vehicles are occupied by only 1 person, even though potential passengers are likely to be wanting to go from about the same source to about the same destination at about the same time as every car. Further, the unreliability and lack of technological sophistication of existing public transport systems reduces the utility of such

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