Innovations

Intermodal Journey Planner

Code

OT1.23

Title

Intermodal Journey Planner

Case study/reference

CIVITAS (2016), Malmö: Real-time information for passengers with in-vehicle displays, http://www.civitas.eu/content/real-time-information-passengers-vehicle-displays#sthash.CSdrGjeF.dpuf

EC (2012), European Commission: Examples of existing national journey planners, 10.10.2012, accessed on 25. Jan. 2016 from: http://ec.europa.eu/transport/its/multimodal-planners/examples-of-existing-national-journey-planners/index_el.htm

Ştefănescu P., Mocan M., Ştefănescu W., Neculai V. P., (2014), Trip Planners Used in Public Transportation. Case Study on the City of Timişoara, Challenges and Innovations in Management and Leadership — 12th International Symposium in Management, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 124, 20 March 2014, Pages 142–148, doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.02.470.

Tang L., Thakuriah P. (2012), Ridership effects of real-time bus information system: A case study in the City of Chicago, Transportation Research Part C 22 (2012) 146–161, doi:10.1016/j.trc.2012.01.001.

KonSult (2015), Real-time passenger information, First principles assessment, http://www.its.leeds.ac.uk/projects/konsult/private/level2/instruments/instrument047/l2_047b.ht

MTA (2015), accessed on 15. Jun. 2017: http://bustime.mta.info/wiki/About;jsessionid=E5087AAC8C138453EF522F1841725B50

Borolea N., Routa D., Goela N., Vedagiri P., Mathew T. (2013), Multimodal Public Transit Trip Planner with Real-Time Transit Data, 2nd Conference of Transportation Research Group of India (2nd CTRG), Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 104 (2013) 775 – 784, doi: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.11.172.

Recommendations for the design

The innovation is targeted at both the traditional and especially a new customer base. The provision of this service free of charge to both transport agencies and travellers could improve the travel experience at no extra cost. While web mapping is being developed, several aspects of its evolution are performing, such as usability, legal limitations, quality and accuracy, etc. The data should be added by the transport agency (PT Operator or PT Authority) which is in charge of them, as otherwise legal and other issues related to data ownership may occur. The Google layers are available in selected regions and can be leveraged free of charge by local transport agencies in order improve the travellers’ experience in the Public Transport sector at limited extra investment cost.

Recommendations for the implementation

As the required technology exists, there are not significant implementation problems. Google Maps Transit acts complementary to the trip planners owned by local transport agencies and can redirect to them, increasing this way the awareness of users who might not consider transit to find the site of the local transport provider. However, there are concerns about security problems (attacks), since everyone has information about the exact location of a PT vehicle. Furthermore, the investments in information systems should not reduce the investments in other sectors of Public Transport systems, as efficient information could nor replace inadequate services.

Brief description

An intermodal journey planner supports intermodal journeys, i.e. using more than one modes of transport. It is expected that a well-designed and intelligent trip planner could attract more customers for the public transport system.

Full description

An intermodal journey planner supports intermodal journeys, i.e. using more than one modes of transport, such as rapid transit or metro, railways, buses and ferries. Some route planners support door-to-door planning, others only between stops on the transport network, such as stations, airports or bus stops. Travel time may be constrained to either time of departure or arrival and other routing preferences may be specified as well.

This innovative solution is presented through the description of specific features of Google Maps. Google Maps is perhaps the largest web mapping service developed by Google, which offers various information, such as: street maps, 360° panoramic views of streets, real-time traffic conditions, and route planning for walking, car driving, bicycling (in beta) and public transport (namely, an intermodal journey planner engine application that suggests the suitable route/journey between an origin and a destination set by the user).

Google Maps Traffic (since 2007), Bicycling, and Transit are integrated features in Google Maps, Google Maps for Mobile and Google Earth. They provide rich multimodal information from many sources helping users to take smart decisions for their trips across multiple transport agencies, e.g. by encouraging users to consider alternative transport solutions considering live traffic data. They integrate information of public transport agencies, for example schedule and route data into Google Maps. Other Google services, such as the “Street View” enable users to learn about the bus station shelter and handicap accessibility.

CIPTEC score

3.9