Evaluation of an integrated mobile payment, route planner and social network solution for public transport

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2017

Authors

Marta Campos Ferreira (Author) FEUP; Fontes, T. (Author) Other; Costa, V (Author) Other; Teresa Galvão Dias (Author) FEUP; José Luís Moura Borges (Author) FEUP; João Falcão e Cunha (Author) FEUP

Conference proceedings International

Title: 3RD CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE URBAN MOBILITY (3RD CSUM 2016)

Pages: 189-196

3rd Conference on Sustainable Urban Mobility (CSUM)

Volos, GREECE, MAY 26-27, 2016

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 21 Citations

Scopus - 23 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00M-WMP

DOI: 10.1016/j.trpro.2017.05.107

Abstract (EN): The proliferation of new technologies is revolutionizing the public transport sector, allowing Operators to replace complex and expensive infrastructures by travellers' mobile devices and online management channels and platforms. This paper aims to present the Seamless Mobility platform, a disruptive solution based on these new channels, which main goal is to facilitate and promote public transport usage for travellers, as well as reducing operational costs for public transport companies. The Seamless Mobility platform integrates three main components: (i) mobile payments, (ii) route planner, and (iii) social network. The payment component is based on the pay-as-you-go concept with check-in and check-out requiring the reading of the corresponding QR Code station. The route planner combines information from published schedules with real-time information to identify the nearest stops, the next departures, or the best route for a scheduled trip. The social network component allows real time sharing among travellers of public transport information, related to several aspects of the service (e.g. noise, skilfulness of drivers). To test the concept, a mobile application, called OneRide, was developed. This application was tested by users in real environment, in the city of Porto, Portugal. The results show that users considered the system extremely useful, since it is more convenient than traditional systems. It was also clear that users valued the integration of additional and complementary services with mobile payments, such as information about their journey, maps and schedules. Regarding the social component some users found it difficult to understand the concept, but once they understood they considered it very useful. The use of the QR Codes to perform the payment has shown to be one of the main challenges to be addressed, since lighting conditions, position and distance to the QR Code influences the reading process. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 8