There are short-term (2015-2020)
opportunities in better presenting transport
information to travellers that effectively ‘nudges’
their behaviour. A key challenge is how to
engage the traveller if only 12% make an active
choice about their travel. Without reaching a
significant number of travellers the benefits
will centre on the individual. This could provide
significant value for travellers that are more
flexible in how and when they travel – being able
to avoid congestion throughout their end-to-end
journeys.
In the medium-term (2020-2025),
transport systems are expected to become
increasingly connected, including V2V and V2I
communications. This will give a step change
in the ability to dynamically manage demand
and supply in real-time. With live information
from vehicles (e.g. their destination, expected
routing, and time to the next traffic light),
traffic management systems will be in a much
better position to manage flows. Further
measures such as dynamic road pricing could
be introduced and a direct feedback loop to
the vehicle allows for much better traveller
interaction and guidance.
In the long-term (2025-2030), this could
culminate in city ‘central flow’ optimisation
with every vehicle participating in the system.
However, such a ‘command and control’ scenario
is unlikely with a significant number of legacy
vehicles still on the road and no requirement
to participate. It is more likely that ‘localised’
optimisation algorithms are in place and that
advanced measures such as dynamic lane
allocation or flexible one-way systems are
implemented. Furthermore, dynamic and
predictive timetabling of public transport will
enable significantly better supply management.
This will not only address many traveller pain-
points, but also boost the overall efficiency of the
transport network – delivering cheaper journeys
for travellers and more efficient public spending
for government.
Integration Theme
Description
The Integration theme brings together
disparate information, systems, and services to
provide travellers with a seamless end-to-end
experience within the transport network. This
integration covers three key areas: information,
ticketing, and interchanges. For the purposes of
this report Integration refers to the integration
between the different transport modes and
operators that travellers may encounter on their
journeys. Integration in the traffic management
sense (e.g. flow control through V2I communications)
is considered as part of the Demand and Supply
and Automation themes.
Integrated information is relevant to all
transport modes, which allows travellers to
better plan their full journeys and make an
increased number of informed transport modal
choices – even adjust their journeys as they take
place. A lack of integrated ticketing and booking
across transport modes and geographies is
currently a key barrier to multi-modal travel.
Improving the interchange experience through
enhanced indoor navigation or more dynamic
platforming and timetabling will further
encourage multi-modal journeys and remove
key pain-points. However, integration is perhaps
most valuable in combination with the previous
themes discussed. For Access, it unlocks
‘Mobility as a Service’ where travellers can
seamlessly travel across all transport modes
without having to think about payments and
ticketing. It also brings new transport modes
for the first and last mile of travel – significantly
broadening the appeal of multi-modal travel by
making it convenient and flexible. For Demand
and Supply, the integration of data sources is
a key means to system-level optimisations but
also provides the ability to engage with travellers
on their journeys.
Development Path
More and more information is already being
integrated and there are several players who
have taken great strides in providing integrated
travel information – notably Google, Citymapper,
ITO World, TransportAPI, and TrapezeGroup in the
UK. This has been enabled by open data initiatives
such as TfL in London, through purchasing of
commercial data, and through integration of
non-traditional transport data sources (e.g.
smartphone data). There will be continued
evolution in the coverage and quality of traveller
information across all transport modes, including
integration of information beyond transport such
as restaurant or theatre bookings.
How this data is presented and interacted
with by the traveller will also continue to evolve
with expected next steps being the proactive,
dynamic, and context-aware presentation of
information across devices – including wearable
technologies such as smart watches.
Different ticketing systems need to be
integrated, including those of new transport
service providers such as car or bike sharing
schemes and app-based taxi services. Whilst
the Oyster and contactless system in London
is world-leading in ticketing systems, this
could be extended towards nation-wide multi-
modal travel if commercial arrangements can
be made to integrate all possible transport
providers. In the short-term it is likely that
third party providers currently focusing on
end-to-end traveller information will attempt to
integrate ticketing and act as an intermediary.
In the medium-term, standardised end-to-end
ticketing could be achieved, with a long-term
vision of a full ticketing system for mobile
devices that does not require physical payment
and optimises costs for the traveller.
Developments in physical interchange are
highly situational and continuous development
is expected in the short- and medium-term.
Step change can be achieved once dynamic
timetabling and routing is common place in
public transport.
Enablers
The fundamental enabler of the Demand
and Supply theme is the availability of open,
reliable, and highly granular data. Transport
systems will be able to manage travel flows
significantly better if real-time data can be
aggregated (e.g. congestion levels and incidents
on road and rail). Currently unavailable data that
would significantly enhance capabilities include
data on the types of vehicle (e.g. differentiating
between cars, taxis, buses and cyclists on the
road), intended destinations, and live loading
or capacity data of all public transport vehicles.
This could be further enhanced by integrating
predictive and prescriptive capabilities, but
significant analytical capabilities will be required
(both in terms of computational power as well
as algorithm design and data visualisation).
There is significant value in not just using
this data for centralised traffic control systems
but also in making it open to encourage third
party developers to create intelligent journey
solutions. To ensure demand can be adequately
managed (e.g. incentivising traveller behaviour)
a good understanding of traveller psychology
and behaviour is necessary. Understanding
how travellers react to guidance or to dynamic
pricing is important, as is the ability to predict
behavioural changes when incidents occur
in the transport network. There is both a role
for academic research to understand the
fundamentals but also to conduct business
experiments to validate and refine their theories.
Demand and Supply developments will radically
change entire transport systems.
There is a requirement for more active
engagement from local and central government
to support developments in this area. This
increased involvement should be leveraged as
an effective means to collate and disseminate
behavioural and psychological understanding.
Also, a city or national approach to Demand
and Supply could prove fruitful and, in doing
so, would provide travellers with a consistent
traveller experience. Finally, a step change in the
effectiveness could be achieved in combination
with autonomous mobility. A connected and
autonomous vehicle will be able to better follow
central guidance, adjust its speed in real-time
to enable smoother flows, and provide better
throughput of more vehicles on the road (e.g.
platooning). With a fleet of autonomous taxis that
are always on the move, parking infrastructure
could be minimised and the right vehicle for the
right traveller type and journey could be provided
(e.g. smaller pods for individual travellers).
THERE IS SIGNIFICANT VALUE IN
MAKING DATA OPEN TO ENCOURAGE
THIRD PARTY DEVELOPERS TO CREATE
INTELLIGENT JOURNEY SOLUTIONS.
INTEGRATION FOCUSES ON IMPROVING
THE EXPERIENCE OF END-TO-END
JOURNEYS – REMOVING MULTI-
MODAL PAIN-POINTS AND PROVIDING
RELEVANT INFORMATION TO MAKE
JOURNEYS BETTER.
DEVELOPING INTEGRATED TICKETING IS
AS MUCH A COMMERCIAL CHALLENGE
AS A TECHNICAL ONE.
Opp:
The Demand and
Supply of future
mobility options
will both have to
be considered
for Intelligent
Mobility.
Opp:
Integration
Theme.
3736
Traveller Needs and UK Capability Study
Four Transformational Themes for Intelligent Mobility
Four Transformational Themes for Intelligent Mobility