The Hustler's Digest StaffOne of the best ways to transform your transit agency and significantly improve efficiency across your operations is to incorporate intelligent transport systems.
To show you how this can be achieved, this article will take you through what intelligent transportation systems are, and how they can transform your transit agency.
Read on to find out more.
What are intelligent transport systems?
Intelligent transport solutions (ITS) are essentially, technologically advanced systems that provide a variety of crucial data and insights for operators.
ITS are often provided through a range of different software, that each monitor, analyze, and interpret data from different aspects of your services, to help create a ‘smart transport’ operator – a transit agency that relies on the combination of ITS to improve efficiency.
The ability to evaluate data using artificial intelligence is central to ITS. With the collected data, it will then provide a range of insights, predictions, and suggestions for your agency.
This means the systems don’t just provide you with data that’s present but use this information to predict patterns and future actions within your services.
For example, one of the solutions you could incorporate in your transportation company is the use of automatic vehicle location (AVL).
This tracks and monitors the positions of your vehicles, along with other aspects – such as speed, direction, etc. The system will then use this information to predict how long each vehicle will take to reach their stops or complete their journeys.
By factoring in various data to offer key insights, your ITS can be the ideal system for giving your transit agency the boost it needs.
How can intelligent transport solutions transform your transit agency?
By incorporating ITS, you can transform your transit agency in a wide variety of ways, such as:
- Improving visibility and vehicle management
ITS can provide your agency with more visibility over every aspect of your service, and offer in-depth insight into how efficiently your agency is performing.
For instance, with your AVL, you’ll have a clear picture of how each of your vehicles are whilst operating on their routes, and how this contributes to your overall operations.
This means you’ll be able to see if vehicles are spread out optimally at each stop, or if certain vehicles are predicted to arrive at the same time or too far apart.
With this visibility, you can make the necessary adjustments to your routes, to create a more efficient service for your riders and avoid things such as gaps in your transport.
With a smoother running service, the better the rider experience will be. The better the rider experience, the more likely they are to not only use your transportation again, but recommend it to friends and family too, which in turn could potentially boost your revenue further.
- Enhancing the rider experience
When using ITS, you’re able to offer your riders real-time passenger information (RTPI), which gives them an accurate insight into how your service is running.
You can set up RTPI displays for your riders, which can be put on vehicles, platforms, and streets, for easy accessibility.
These displays will show riders updated schedules and predicted arrival times of vehicles, using intelligent data analysis – from vehicle locations, for instance.
This will help riders plan their journeys more effectively, and tailor it around your service operation times, for a better experience and increased rider satisfaction.
- Increasing revenue and cutting costs
Another way ITS can transform your transit agency is by helping you increase revenue and cut costs where necessary.
One of the ways this can be done is through data-driven driver schedules, where your system will help assign the right number of drivers to cover all the journeys and routes necessary.
This will allow you to optimize capacity across your network, and ensure you’re not spending unnecessarily on routes that are already sufficiently covered.
As well as this, your AVL can ensure your vehicles are taking the optimal route to complete their journeys efficiently, and not waste any fuel – such as needing to wait at a stop longer than usual.
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If you’re looking for the best way to transform your transit agency, and generate a larger inflow of riders and revenue, then be sure to look at how ITS can boost your operations.
