Five initiatives to strengthen the resilience of public transportation

There are several approaches to improve the resilience of public transportation, including developing swiftly adaptable urban mobility systems, carrying out accurate risk assessments, and providing crisis response training.

However, the industry is always innovating and changing. Furthermore, a few of those improvements could make public transportation even more resilient.

Enhanced communication networks

Numerous advancements in the field of public transportation are based on telecommunication technology. Everything from contactless ticketing to on-demand transportation depends on a consistent and dependable flow of data.

A greater number of devices may be linked to the internet at faster rates as telecommunications technology advances, moving from 4G to 5G and beyond. Not only does this improve real-time information delivery to passengers, but it also makes intelligent connection and user-demand management more feasible.

Providing passengers with up-to-date, precise information is crucial, especially during emergencies when services may be interrupted or rerouted. Keeping a close eye on user demand is another way to effectively distribute limited resources.

Distributed ledger and blockchain technology

Decision-makers and public transportation operators are paying more and more attention to distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain in areas ranging from vehicle manufacture to passenger experiences.

In a virtual, decentralized database, DLT keeps an eternal record of transactional data that is often encrypted for security. DLT is exemplified by blockchain technology, which powers virtual currencies like Bitcoin.

Because DLT is decentralized—that is, the whole ledger is kept on many devices dispersed throughout the network—it is especially well-suited to thwart cyberattacks.

Some travelers choose to use Bitcoin to cover their tickets in places like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in order to avoid the fluctuations in the value of local currency.

Blockchain also helps businesses in the public transportation sector optimize their supply chains and inventory control. Inventory management based on DLT can boost productivity and decrease turbulence.

Our research on distributed ledger technology in public transportation has just out.

Micromobility and on-demand

There are many different players in the mobility sector, from conventional public transportation operators to those that have benefited from technological advancements and digitization. Consider ride-sharing, ride-hailing, car and bike sharing services, autonomous cars, and the micro-mobility industry.

These transportation options are essential to the sustainability of urban areas. Shared bikes and scooters provided socially distancing transport choices during the COVID-19 epidemic. Additionally, they offer multimodal choices to people who live farther away from public transportation by integrating them into networks of transportation.

As a result, micromobility and on-demand services not only increase a city’s crisis resilience but also contribute to the fight against global warming. People may lessen their carbon impact and increase road safety by becoming less reliant on their automobiles.

Artificial intelligence and big data

We covered five ways that data supports resilient, smart, and healthy cities in a previous piece. Transport for London provides a compelling illustration of this, as they use a database of 500,000 photos of London’s bicycle resources to encourage active travel. This encourages prospective bikers to transition to active, multimodal journeys by boosting their confidence. Furthermore, people are better equipped to recover from crises the more mobility alternatives they feel comfortable with.

Ticketing taps are another helpful data item that Transport for London uses. Put plainly: how frequently do patrons tap a ticket to enter or depart a particular station? By making this data available to the public, people may choose to travel during off-peak hours or take a different route when a station is overcrowded due to an emergency.

Since the operator is aware of how many passengers will require other modes of transportation in the event that an incident turns into an emergency, this data naturally aids in the formulation of emergency response plans.

AI facilitates the analysis and use of these datasets. The significance of data will become apparent in many facets of the public transportation industry as artificial intelligence advances.

Renewable energy and electrification

Fossil fuels account for almost 95% of the energy consumed in the transportation industry. Despite being the more robust fuel source, just 5% of energy comes from renewable sources. Decarbonizing public transportation is the quickest and most economical approach to create resilient communities and reach carbon neutrality.

Recent world events have demonstrated how readily the supply of fossil fuels may be interrupted. Prices rise as a result, which might put governments and operators of public transportation in financial jeopardy. The continuation of services may be in jeopardy if the supply declines any further.

Local resources are available for renewables like wind and solar power. For instance, one operator in Brazil covered their stations with solar panels to reduce distribution costs and ensure that the station would have adequate energy from local sources to run.

However, the public transportation industry is making great efforts to electrify its fleets of buses in order to run on renewables. For instance, the goal of the TUMI E-Bus Mission is to encourage 500 communities to purchase over 100,000 e-buses by 2025. As a consequence, CO2 emissions are reduced by more than 15 megatons.

Decarbonization will ultimately result in a cleaner transportation sector that is more robust to fluctuations in energy prices. The industry as a whole should be happy about it.