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.
Read the full story: The real benefits of real-time transit data
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City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello