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Bus Stop Futures - Can it ever be the first choice for
travellers? Continued...
The
touch screen terminals can communicate directly with personal mobile
phones or PDA's where these are 'bluetooth' enabled. So the preferred
choices of the traveller can be downloaded to provide guidance as they go
on their way and receive updates where relevant. Where personal devices
have their own embedded smart cards, bookings can be confirmed with
electronic payments.
By
now you may be thinking, it is not that easy. If the bus services are
infrequent or not available for the desired journeys, then what value is
this new technology? Do I just use it to play a computer game while I
wait? Perhaps I should book a taxi or even, if others are going my way,
share a taxi. Come to that, if there are enough of us maybe we could hire
a coach? No that's impossible, buses cannot be booked at a few minutes
notice to meet a travel demand! Is that really so? We may be able to
predict the arrival times of bus services at stops but can we predict the
travel patterns of the public? This could help us to identify new travel
demands in addition to the fixed well-served routes, and 'grow' new public
transport services. These would provide the appropriate capacity to meet
known and predicted demand which is derived from continuously measuring
passenger movements and analysing the requests made by travellers via the
journey planning and booking systems.
Is there a better way to encourage the use of public transport than
responding to the demands of the passengers.... in real time? Not
possible. On reflection, how did today's courier services and
internet-based freight delivery systems change their working practices to
develop their markets? We are beginning to invest in software systems that
enable us to manage bus and taxis fleets in real time where the
communication links are primarily a two-way data-sharing process between
fleet drivers and passengers with scope for service controllers to
intervene, when necessary. So far, we are using the systems to improve the
adherence of services to planned schedules. However, in time, we will see
the opportunities for dynamic scheduling, by responding to known passenger
demand within acceptable standards of service.
The significant growth in the use of taxi and mini-cab services (469%
increase in passenger-miles in 25 years ) compared with any other form of
public transport service has demonstrated that passengers will opt for a
demand-responsive service, if they can afford it. Taxi owners recognise
the need for larger vehicles to seat up to eight passengers. Teenagers
accept that sharing taxis can bring down their unit travel fares to the
level of some equivalent bus fares. Can the bus/coach and taxis/minicab
operators develop working practices with the aid of new technology that
will enable a truly integrated public transport product to be delivered in
response to the demands of the travelling public? Can the nation's
hierarchy of bus stops play a privotal role in making the public aware of
a 'hub and spoke' network that is already there. It just needs bringing
more into focus. Unless we do that, the individual will have no choice but
to depend on driving themselves in their own cars since no real
alternative is on offer at a price that is competitive for a quality of
service, acceptable to the majority, except possibly those living in major
conurbations.
The
current real time information systems have taken over thirty years to
evolve from concept to reality. Do we have that amount of time to provide
a modern public transport system, considered by most people to be
preferable to using their own car for many of their journeys? Maybe that
is what 'Transport Direct' is all about.
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