Democratized Smartcard Data for Transit Operator

Smartcard automated fare collection systems provide a huge quantity of information that can be collected and analyzed to provide statistics within the transit authority's intranet. These statistics can be used by operators to adjust the service on a daily basis, given the changing conditions of the demand and the network operations; they can also be helpful to transit planners, who can improve schedules and the level of service of the routes based on longitudinal performance indicators. This paper reports on a study that focuses on the use of Smartcard data for transit operations. The authors stress that there is a need to structure the data and estimate the passenger alighting locations to obtain the load profiles and passenger-kilometers for each run. In their study, they use a transportation object-oriented approach to model the systems and to program SQL queries and extraction procedures. An Intranet website has been developed to provide daily statistics on transit operation, using extended markup language (XML) files, XSL templates and scalable vector graphics (SVG) graphs. Employees can then get the load profile of any operated bus run, at any date, and use that information to improve the services provided. Limitations of the Smartcard system include the lack of comprehensive data for all passengers, particularly on special events days, and the lack of real time information (the statistics are not available until the next day).