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Community => Community Discussion => Topic started by: asaphxiix on January 26, 2014, 04:27:58 PM

Title: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: asaphxiix on January 26, 2014, 04:27:58 PM
http://www.moovitapp.com/the-state-of-public-transit-around-the-world-2014-infographics/
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: Ters on January 26, 2014, 05:30:49 PM
I rarely need to use public transport, as my normal working place is within walking distance, but for those days were I have to take the bus to another office, I'd have a hard time choosing one answer to the third question. The bus might come five minutes before or five minutes behind schedule at the stop where I get on (since it's a pair of buses in the morning and in the afternoon, it's likely both), it's always fifteen minutes late at my destination, and it's somewhat crowded (although only for a short while). And I'd come out slightly worse than Rio in the second question, although I might do better than Barcelona on the first with careful planning, if time spent on the bus while it's standing still don't count.
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: isidoro on January 27, 2014, 01:02:44 AM
In the place I live in, you can see in Internet in real time when the buses will arrive at a certain stop.  So, it is fairly easy to be on time to ride the bus.

The main problem is an awkward system based on pre-paid cards I can't trust.  Apart from privacy issues, the card is a black box and you have to trust the company each time you pay with it.  With old cardboard cards (punched each time you rode the bus), I could see with my eyes that everything was right.

The ticket price without the card is more than double price!  But with me, they are losing money.  I pay more each time I ride, but I seldom ride due to that.

Another problem is line distribution.  Bus in city center is absent, but that is another question...

Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: Ters on January 27, 2014, 06:05:48 AM
Quote from: isidoro on January 27, 2014, 01:02:44 AM
In the place I live in, you can see in Internet in real time when the buses will arrive at a certain stop.  So, it is fairly easy to be on time to ride the bus.

I don't think real time tracking is working outside the capital. There they have live signs telling when the next bus, tram or metro/subway train arrives. Not that I see the need, because there's only a few minutes between each. I'm not sure how the live tracking would work when there are two buses operating on the same entry in the schedule, leapfrogging down the stops. (This works since the first hour in the morning and first fifteen minutes in the afternoon is spent almost exclusively picking up passengers. No leapfrogging when letting passengers off obviously.)

Quote from: isidoro on January 27, 2014, 01:02:44 AM
The main problem is an awkward system based on pre-paid cards I can't trust.  Apart from privacy issues, the card is a black box and you have to trust the company each time you pay with it.  With old cardboard cards (punched each time you rode the bus), I could see with my eyes that everything was right.

At least it sounds like the system is working, which was the biggest problem with electronic tickets in Oslo. Fortunately, I rarely travel in Oslo and day passes was the last kind of ticket to be electrified. Haven't needed any since then. The system seems to be working now, judging from the lack of complaining in the media, although not as originally envisioned. (Originally, you were supposed to need a valid ticket in order to open the new doors into subway stations, installed as part of the upgrade. That would both remove the need for ticket controls and keep undesireables out. But the doors were deemed a hazard in an emergency, never activated and left standing open.)

Quote from: isidoro on January 27, 2014, 01:02:44 AM
The ticket price without the card is more than double price!  But with me, they are losing money.  I pay more each time I ride, but I seldom ride due to that.

It's the same in Oslo, although for the bus I take when going to Oslo, they actually cut the normal ticket prices this year, and raised the price for monthly passes. This was because those travelling only now and then complained that the price was high. Now the commuters complain. They also reduced the number of bus that stops at many stops, since those travelling end-to-end complained that it took so much time. Now those traveling only part of the distance complain. Some found that the stop where they get on and the stop where they get off no longer are served by the same bus! And this isn't a local line where stops are so close that you can normally just walk to the next, or where you can transfer to another line.
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: asaphxiix on January 27, 2014, 01:40:50 PM
so yeah, that's pretty much what moovit does, gives real time information (and rather successfully, at least here in Jerusalem) on bus arrival times. I'm not sure how they do it, I suppose they use a GPS API, which is almost science fiction for my country, but somehow works.

As for electronic tickets, I suppose it's essential this time and age, I still rub my eyes every time I get on the bus and the driver's eyes and hands are busy with collecting money and giving change.

Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: Ters on January 27, 2014, 03:48:48 PM
Maybe it's built on the anonymous (or so they say) GPS tracking data collecting happening from "all" smartphones, just like the traffic density maps around here.
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: asaphxiix on January 27, 2014, 04:22:39 PM
but would they have access to that?
or collected from people using the software at the same time?

question would be then, how do they know who is traveling on which line.
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: isidoro on January 27, 2014, 11:37:29 PM
Quote from: asaphxiix on January 27, 2014, 01:40:50 PM
As for electronic tickets, I suppose it's essential this time and age, I still rub my eyes every time I get on the bus and the driver's eyes and hands are busy with collecting money and giving change.

The problem I see with electronic tickets is twofold:
When it rains, it pours.  I've got certain nasty experience with these systems.  A private company taking the place of another one that broke.  Business was photocopying.  An "opaque" magnetic card worth 300 copies that mysteriously and suddenly cannot be read.

Would you accept a bill (money) printed in an ink you cannot see?
Title: Re: some interesting public transport statistics, world cities (moovit)
Post by: asaphxiix on January 28, 2014, 05:58:00 AM
well, privacy is something I think we should give up on in this century, it's just a thing of the past :)

as for transparency the solution should be simple, there should be an online account where you can see and control the ticketing (top-up, cancel stolen card etc). not clear why this is never implemented.