Public buses have a lot of problems: lack of funding, congestion, and overcrowding, to name a few.
But there’s one relatively cheap thing that transit agencies can do to both radically improve passenger experience and increase ridership: provide accurate real-time information.
As in this article I wrote about how transit agencies can cheaply deliver real-time info, real-time information is important. Access to accurate real-time information turns your local bus – with the exact same schedule, speed, and frequency – into a reliable asset rather than a time-suck.
And this common-sense principle is backed up by academia, too. Numerous studies demonstrate the power of real-time information to both improve rider experience and increase ridership. Mobility Lab’s very own researcher and PhD candidate Sahar Esfandyari gives us the scoop.
Improve rider experience
How many things are worse than waiting for the bus in the rain when it was supposed to arrive five minutes ago?
Although transit agencies might struggle to keep the buses on time, providing accurate real-time information to riders is achievable, and the benefits are tenfold.
A 2011 study of Seattle found that riders who accessed real-time information on their cell phones not only perceived their wait for the bus to be shorter, but they didn’t actually wait as long, either – two whole minutes less than riders without real-time info. A 2014 study in Tampa found the same results, and that riders with real-time info experienced “significant decreases in levels of anxiety and frustration” than riders without real-time info.
I love standing in the pouring rain trying to guess if my bus will show @OCTranspoLive. 4 mins after its due your app finally tells me it’s just started the route. #transitfail
— Jackie Cunningham (@jackie_reads) February 20, 2018
(Yep, here’s an example of real-time info gone bad.)
But inaccurate real-time information doesn’t help transit agencies: if people perceive real-time information to be inaccurate, then the real-time information is just as useful as the printed bus schedule (hint: not that useful).
How can transit agencies provide the most accurate real-time info possible? They can use crowdsourced data, or install cheap smartphones in buses to collect GPS pinpoints.
Increase ridership
So if real-time information makes your local bus more reliable, would more people ride it? That’s what researchers have found.
A 2015 study of New York City found that real-time information increased ridership on long routes (perhaps the routes most susceptible to deviating from the printed schedule). An earlier study from Chicago, conducted between 2006 and 2009, found the same results – which is even more impressive because riders could only access real-time information as text or email alerts instead of checking a smartphone app.
While real-time information can’t replace low fares and frequent service, for cash-strapped transit agencies, accurate real-time information is worth investing in.
Smartphones or dynamic message screens?
There’s more than one way of accessing real-time info, though. People can check out real-time info on their smartphones or a computer, or on dynamic message screens placed strategically at bus stops, transit hubs, or public spaces.
Although studies show that people prefer to receive real-time information via smartphone, transit agencies shouldn’t abandon dynamic message screens. Although smartphone ownership has been rapidly increasing, only 67 percent of low-income Americans own smartphones. Without dynamic message screens, over a quarter of low-income people wouldn’t have access to real-time information.
Sahar Esfandyari contributed to this reporting. Photo by William Murphy.