Motivations and barriers to bus use
Jun-2023
Study into why people do or do not use buses. Report finds that there is a sizeable group of people who have not returned to bus use post-pandemic, buses are perceived as inconvenient, there is some interest in more bus use, the £2 cap for buses provided value-for-money for many users, and a lack of knowledge about services discourages many users.
7th TAS National Bus Fares Survey: 2022
Apr-2023
Analysis of survey data collected concerning bus fare data. Report looks into impact of different ticket categories (i.e. day tickets replacing, and exceeding return tickets), financial pressures on local bus services, preferences between multi-operator tickets and smartcards, reach of contactless payments, including tap-on, tap-off.
Dream Ticket? The challenges and opportunities of delivering smart ticketing in the city regions
Nov-2022
Report investigating challenges and opportunity in smart ticketing for transport projects. The report highlights challenges such as: the high number of solutions - each having advantages and disadvantages - producing a complex landscape for procurers, lack of affordability for the systems, lack of standards means multi-operator/modal systems can be challenging to produce. The report highlights willingness to engage and understand of the importance of smart ticketing by operators, central and local government as key opportunities for smart ticketing.
A synthesis of mobile ticketing applications used by commuters railroads in the United States
Sep-2022
Study into the features of mobile ticketing applications used by train operators in the United States. Study compared the applications through four categories: the ticket validation process, ticket types offered in the app, additional features in the app and the process for transferring to other modes using the app.
fflecsi - The experience of Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) in Wales
Aug-2022
Two reports studying the implementation of a Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) pilot schemes in Denbigh, Pembrokeshire, Conwy Valley and Newport. Interviews were conducted with passengers, potential passengers, operators and local authorities.
Public transport users’ willingness to pay for a multi-county and multi-operator ticket
Jun-2022
Study investigating willingness to pay among public transport users for a multi-county, multi-operator integrated ticket. Study finds strong evidence that passengers are willing to pay, especially among men and non-commuting passengers.
Funding local bus services in England
Jun-2022
Report in the funding of bus services. Report notes the severe impact the pandemic has had on the provision of bus services. Suggests that the current strategy has produced funding gaps, as LTAs with smaller transport teams are less capable of applying for funding. Report suggests ways this may be remedied, but ultimately recommends a substantial increase in funding for bus services.
AI-based neural network models for bus passenger demand forecasting using smartcard data
May-2022
Study intends to improve short -term forecasting of public transport demand, using AI-based deep learning models for prediction of bus passenger demands based on real patronage data obtained from the smartcard ticketing system in Melbourne. Study found that the models were able to predict passenger demand with over 90% accuracy.
The end-user benefits of smartphone transit apps: a systematic literature review
May-2022
Literature review into the studies concerning end-user benefits of transit apps for use on smartphones. Study covered the time period between 2010 and 2020. The study identified three categories of user benefits: Perception and psychological changes, time savings on trips, and travel behaviour changes. The review found that transit apps had the capability to improve perceptions of transport reliability and safety, reduce anxiety, reduce wait times and boost ridership. The study recommends future studies to adopt more rigorous study designs and methods, to study infrequent and non-riders, to consider the captive users (e.g. rural users who rely on infrequent transport services)and to make more use of empirical evidence to quantify benefits of public sector transport apps.
Seamless public transport ticket inspection: Exploring users’ reaction to next generation ticket inspection
Apr-2022
Study investigates ticket inspection preferences and identified factors that may influence a user's likelihood of accepting "seamless" ticket inspection. Study found that, given the five inspection options, women and young people selected "seamless ticket inspection". The study recommends further research on aspects surrounding "seamless ticket inspection".
Survey of automated fare collection systems in public transportation
Apr-2022
Study conducts a comprehensive literature review to understand the state of public transportation and to facilitate the development and implementation of automated fare collection solutions. In summary, the paper considers developing and implementing automated fare collection solutions to have a positive impact on customer experience, the emergence of new business models and the reduction of polluting emissions.
Every Village, every hour - 2021 buses report
Mar-2021
Report into the viability of improving bus services in rural areas, with a focus on providing a bus every hour, seven days a week to every village. Report recommends continuing emergency bus funding, recognising a universal basic right to public transport, establishing bus regulations, providing funding in the order £2.7bn per year, redirecting road building funding towards bus provision, ensuring rural public transport is low or no cost and to investigate how England might move to a Swiss-style pulse model of transport scheduling.
Unravelling individual mobility patterns using longitudinal smartcard data
Mar-2022
Study intends to identify distinctive market segments in terms of habitual temporal travel patterns of public transport users, making use of smart card data from more than 3 million smart card holders in Stockholm County, Sweden. The study classified 10 day-of-the-week comparisons, as well as 5 hour-by-hour weekly profiles.
Beep4Me: Automatic ticket validation to support fare cleaning and service planning
Feb-2022
Study concerning how a cross-operator revenue sharing integrated ticketing service might function. Study highlights the difficulty in finding a system which all operators could agree on. Study presents a solution (Beep4Me) which aims to automate the process of ticket validation and solve issues with other methods of revenue sharing.
Examining the effect of integrated ticketing on mode choice for interregional commuting: Studies among car users
Feb-2022
Study on the extent to which car commuters are likely to use public transport following the implementation of integrated ticketing. Study finds integrated does promote transport use, especially among male car commuters. Study suggests integrated ticketing should take greater role in efforts to induce public transport use.
Strategic analysis of current bus safety issues
Feb-2022
Review into safety on buses, intended to understand current weaknesses of current bus safety measures, to develop best practice recommendations for improvement and to provide an overview of how to address safety challenges in the bus system.
Partnership or franchising to improve bus services in two major English urban regions? An institutional analysis
Sep-2021
Paper investigating how franchising, classified as a "formal institution", and bus partnerships, classified as an "informal institution", handle the "unintended consequences" of a deregulated market. Includes an overview of the recent history and current state of the bus market in Britain.
Big data for big issues: Revealing travel patterns of low-income population based on smartcard data mining in a global south unequal city
Sep-2021
Study makes use of smart card data mining to compare the urban transit movements of low income residents with middle/high income residents. Research finds that most lower income residents start their journey between 05:00 - 07:00, whilst higher income residents start between 07:00 - 09:00. Paper suggests that the empirical evidence from this paper shows the potential of smart card data to infold low employment spatial and temporal patterns.
Back the Bus to Level Up
Sep-2021
Report into post-pandemic recovery for buses, uses models to predict different scenarios for growth in passenger volumes and vehicle kilometres after the pandemic. Advocates for funding reform to keep pace with transformation being brought forward by post-pandemic improvements.
Supporting local authorities to improve local use and expand zero emission bus provision
Sep-2021
Report into how the Bus Back Better strategy might be achieved. The report finds that the capacity and capability to deliver the strategy varies greatly between authorities, that it is unclear how zero emission vehicle standards will be enforced in local authorities which have enhanced partnerships, that there is uncertainty about funding cycles, making local authorities postpone investment decisions and that there are gaps in knowledge concerning the acquisition of zero emission buses.