Passenger Flow with DILAX
If you’re on the move, you want to arrive somewhere. That’s true for lonely hikers as well as millions of people in major cities. We don’t want to squeeze into full subways and wait forever when changing trains. Everything should flow, that would be ideal. Using a variety of local data, we are able to analyze movement patterns – from the front door to the destination – to make urban mobility more fluid: tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and always.
There used to be only one city that never slept. Today, there are many sleepless metropolises. Being on the move day and night is a very urban characteristic. People going to work, shopping, to school, to conferences, to the stadium, to the theater, to the hospital, to festivals, to friends’ houses... All of it creates passenger flows.
During rush hour, roads and trains become crowded and traffic slows down. Worst case scenario: You don’t make any progress, miss the connection or get stuck in a traffic jam. It’s exhausting and unhealthy for all of us. But how could that be changed?
New priorities
Moving better together
The urban transit revolution is already here – with new mobility services and critical questions about transport policies. Cars don’t automatically have the right of way any longer. Bicycles and pedestrians need room for their own lanes and pathways. And public transport is the only service that can guarantee mobility for millions of passengers every day in an ecological, economic and socially inclusive way.
Patterns
for mobility management
We love surprises – just not in public transport. Because we want to get from A to B and on to C smoothly. And almost always in the same way: directly, without detours. We take the shortest or the fastest route. When many others do the same, you can recognize movement patterns in urban spaces. They are very valuable for understanding the status quo and what could come next.
They tell us how many people board a vehicle and how and when they change or disembark. They become the basis for extrapolations and simulations for new services. For example, the effects additional stops, more trams on a route, a new bus line and modified routing would have.
Urban Intelligence
needs local data
Identifying movement patterns in a city is a challenging project. With an OD matrix and complex algorithms, our analytical software Citisense can generate important analyses and reports on passenger flows in the entire transport network for strategic and operational managers of mobility providers.
How smooth is my way to work in the mornings?
The answer to this question is decisive for the quality of life in a city. Today and even more so in the future. It’s the biggest challenge for all mobility providers and traffic planners in a city. The more we know about people’s movement patterns, the better we can plan for them. Then the way home from work should also be comfortable and pleasant, even during rush hour.
Why do I always have to change trains on the way to the airport?
There might be good reasons for it, but it’s still annoying for travelers. Just like many other connections that are inadequately linked in urban transit networks. We must succeed in offering mobility that is seamless and well connected for all passengers, from the front door to the destination. Passenger flow is the guide to good links and direct connections.
Why don’t I know immediately that the train is cancelled?
This is an old customer question, and today we can finally answer it – via the passenger’s personalized smartphone app and on platform displays for all to see. It is just one of many other applications that result from the analysis of various local data sources, such as passenger numbers, ticket data, WiFi tracking, location data, weather data and event calendars.
Benefits
Investing in passenger flow means investing in:
- Tested investment strategies: The passenger flow’s movement patterns can be used to recognize and simulate how much relief and improvement an expansion would bring to the network.
- More product and service innovation: If you know the exact needs, you can control them better – with new routes, higher frequency, flexible units and other new mobility services.
- High customer satisfaction: Buses and trains that are not just on time and reliable but also offer room for everyone and arrive directly, quickly and without traffic delays – that’s attractive public transport.
- More certainty on the road: Transparent communication provides a more relaxed journey, even at peak times, and timely information about alternative routes, so that people flows are distributed more quickly.
- Increased revenues: When more people get on board, more people are paying for the service.
- Strong partnerships: The more data an analysis receives, the better it gets. Open data platforms with various partners are useful for everyone, especially for citizens.
Why is this important?
„Successful public transport is essential for any transport sector emissions reduction strategy. … To make public transport an attractive and everyday choice for residents, cities must design the service well, and overcome physical and cultural barriers. High quality public transport services are reliable, frequent, fast, comfortable, accessible, convenient, affordable, safe and serve routes for which there is demand."
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in „How to make public transport an attractive option in your city“
Cities need traffic, it’s their veins. People want to get to their destinations directly, safely, quickly and comfortably. High quality public transport is crucial for convincing more people to get on board.
With DILAX you can measure and evaluate the passenger flows in your network. Various local data sources turn into the basis for decisions about investments, expansions, products and changes that have so far been based primarily on speculative assumptions. Well-founded insights into passenger flow pay off in every respect: for the people, for the operator and for the city.
