Making the Operating Budget Go Further in Public Transportation
Considering the disruptive impact of disagreements over resource allocations, PTOs and governments are constantly looking for ways to make each stage of the transit value chain more cost efficient and the operating budget go further. A growing number are expanding the portfolio of automated solutions to maximize investments, optimize operations and better manage labor and IT costs.
Automatic Passenger Counting (APC) is among the solutions supporting optimization initiatives throughout the value chain.
Infrastructure Investments
Managing operating expenses starts long before a train is put on a track or a bus on the road. PTOs improve efficiency earlier in the process by ensuring they invest in vehicles and routes that correspond to passenger demands. They can do this more easily by automatically measuring how passengers use their services. And not only the passengers themselves. More sophisticated APC devices are also equipped with object detection, which means PTOs can also identify and count certain objects, such as bicycles and wheelchairs, that are onboard. This extra layer of insight is also key when planning vehicles and routes.
Responsibly collecting objective data about how, when and where passengers are using public transportation can be used to support the fact-based decision-making involved in deciding on capital and labor-intensive projects.
Labor Expenses
Fair wages, benefits, and proper training soak up a significant portion of operating budget, and rightly so. Bus drivers, conductors, maintenance crews, and administrative staff are essential for safe and efficient public transport.
APC can help PTOs optimize staff allocation and wellbeing by delivering real-time and historical data about the number and of passengers and objects both onboard vehicles and platform areas. PTOs can use this data to improve load-balancing, easing pressure on onboard and platform professionals.
Observable trends in ridership can also improve staff planning. By identifying patterns about when trains or buses are most crowded, PTOs can ensure they always have the adequate number of employees—including cleaning staff—to maintain service levels. This data can go a long way in improving staff wellbeing and retention rates, as it helps prevent overload and burnout.
Data Management Costs
Public transit involves a dizzying array of IT systems. Essential for safe operations, IT and data management systems can put significant strain on operating budgets. Expenses surrounding inefficiencies between operating systems can be unnecessarily high, which is why most PTOs are looking for streamlined data management tools.
An APC solution unable to streamline communications between systems risks becoming another inefficient cost source. That’s why PTOs require that new or retrofit APC solutions be equipped with interoperability protocols, ITxPT and VDV-301 among the most common. By ensuring that IT systems speak the same language, PTOs can better reduce the cost of hardware and limit data management expenses.
Xovis, an APC Solutions Provider
Xovis has been working with PTOs in Europe and the Americas on APC solutions that deliver top and bottom-line benefits. Our 3D sensors support onboard analytics solutions that different stakeholders use to lower costs and improve operations.
Tags: | transportation | interoperability | real-time data | passengers | APC | 3D sensors |
