Real-time information is critical to keeping public transit a competitive mobility option, researchers suggest.
Transit agencies struggling to sustain ridership in the face of increasing on-demand services have looked to improve their quality of service and user experience. A new research review suggests that real-time arrival and departure data is crucial to that effort.
Sidewalk Labs editor Eric Jaffe reports on a review of studies by researchers from the University of Tennessee and Georgia Tech that evaluated the impacts of real-time data, as well as the barriers to adoption. In a Q&A with researcher Candace Brakewood, Jaffe explains:
The primary benefits include reduced wait times (people use an app to time their walk to a stop or station), reduced travel time (people adjust their trip choices), and increased transit use (people like reduced wait and travel times). In time, the higher-order impact stands to be even greater: a future where integrated real-time data from all transportation options enables a true mobility system that rivals private car use on convenience.
FULL STORY: The real benefits of real-time transit data
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