State of the art and future perspectives for smart support services for public transport

Abstract

This paper summarizes existing systems and research on information transport services, and proposes a hypothetic scenario for future travellers using public transport. Increased distributed intelligence in pervasive mobile smart devices and in sensor networks in public transport vehicles is enabling a new approach for enhancing the experience of public transport customers. Such environment could be modelled through a distributed multi-agent service system. This paper presents advanced information services already available on such environments, in particular the MOVE-ME smartphone application, and indicates a possible service environment where people's feedback may benefit all transport service stakeholders. Mobile computing and crowdsourcing are key enablers for enhancing user experience in the transport services, and also for enhancing overall public transport services. Better experience leads to increased usage of shared mobility modes, and therefore to more sustainable cities in the future. Concerns about data security, and anonymity of travellers will need to be adequately addressed in the future scenarios presented. © 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland.