There’s an opportunity to provide real-time metrics for public transportation showing availability, presence or location and status (on-time, late, cancelled) for buses, trains, and ferries.
A couple of weekends ago, I learned first-hand how we could improve public safety and access to transit systems and the like, by integrating with communications applications. It began with a tour of Lower Manhattan.
I'd arrived in Jersey City and decided to take the ferry over to Liberty Landing and then on to another to Ellis Island and then the Statue of Liberty. Continuing on to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan and then deciding to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and then back was fun. Walking even further to the World Trade Center PATH station proved tiring and fruitless, after finding the PATH station was closed on weekends. The PATH employees suggested another station within walking distance. Upon arrival to that station, NYPD officers greeted us and stated that the PATH line was completely shut down because of a water main break that flooded the tunnel.
Attempting to return to the Newport Station in Jersey City after 7:30 at night can be challenging and costly when the PATH system is down. The cab fare was $60 plus tolls; another option was to take a cab for about $13 back to Battery Park and then try to catch the last ferry back to New Jersey. We made the ferry just in time and didn't have to wait in the long line and could pay onboard for our fare.
The ferry approached the dock in Jersey City but stopped and backed away and then immediately went to Liberty Landing. Next we were instructed to walk straight to the end and curve around to a footbridge to cross back over to Jersey City at Warren Street dock. By the time we crossed the footbridge and made our way to the nearest landmark hoping to hail a cab, it was getting late. After waiting with no cabs in sight, we walked awhile longer to a busier intersection and waited again when a cab approached and we soon arrived safely back to our hotel but exhausted from the day of walking.
What might have made this more efficient? Central Park, for one, has a really cool app that helps tourists with a walking tour of the park along with a locator feature to show your position so you really can find your way through this amazing place. If there were something similar for Lower Manhattan, it could be integrated with transportation information systems; the New York ferries also have an app to purchase tickets and view schedules.
Public transportation can be critical in cities like New York. Unified Communications has focused mostly on people's presence, but there's an opportunity to provide real-time metrics for public transportation showing availability, presence or location and status (on-time, late, cancelled) for buses, trains, and ferries.
I recall writing about minimizing the effects of human latency in business processes and the potential that UC has in doing so. I believe the same potential exists to reduce "system latency" in the public transportation sector. Having a high level overview and what's available or not, including presence or status of transit facilities and assets would allow people to make better choices. Utilization of public transportation I think could also improve. Knowing real time presence, status and availability of public transportation systems and how, where and when they interconnect I think is more valuable than just providing a mass transit route map.
The transit maps depicting PATH and the NY subway system do show connections between the two. Along with these two systems are both the New York Transit Authority and Amtrak. Passengers can view the routes, but the systems lack the feedback (status and location) in real-time to let passengers or potential riders know the whereabouts of train, ferry or bus. Real-time status information relayed to an app enables people to make faster and better decisions.
Integrating the transportation systems also means collecting data on ridership and being able to predict how many cars to add or even changes in frequency. The passenger data for Amtrak could include stocking the dining and snack cars with predictable food and beverage requirements to increase sales and reduce spoilage.
Then incorporating the ticketing functions into the process of using an iPhone or other smart phone for paperless tickets would reduce barriers to entry – in other words, passengers could easily gain access to a train, bus or subway and the app could guide them through best real-time connections based upon real-time data.
Bringing people into the "experience," at least for those in a city such as New York, could alleviate doubt, wasted time and could even increase transportation effectiveness. The really cool analytics would help each transportation system increase fuel efficiency or electric consumption.
Communications systems are not just for people-to-people, but people-to-machine. When you consider singular elements like voice and then incorporate Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or infrared, passenger communications with crew members and operations centers and security personnel is possible. Of course, even if BYOD should and will have a role to play in mass transit systems, it will also challenge the security of these systems.
One last observation: Had we stood in the ticket line for that last ferry to New Jersey, there's no doubt that we would have missed the boat. By luck, someone told us we could purchase tickets on the ferry. Integrating both real-time status and the ability to connect to other systems, purchase or cancel tickets and even board with a smart phone is what anyone should be able to do in any city.
With a little more luck and patience maybe we will begin to see communications tools used in transit systems to include real-time data for feedback and operational efficiencies built into more components and interconnected to related transportation systems. People presence is important, but improved global operational efficiency is achievable by providing better management of resources, by making those resources known along with availability.
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