eGovernment

Improving Public Transport

Anne GrahamDirector of Public Transport Services

eGovernment Successes ConferenceWednesday, 28 March 2012

Who we are

• National Transport Authority established on 1st December 2009– Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 and Public

Transport Regulation Act 2009

• Responsible for a range of functions including: – transport planning and capital investment in public

transport in Greater Dublin Area– delivery of public transport services nationally– bus regulation nationally– national taxi regulation

Also

• We manage for the Department of Transport– The Regional Cities Grants for traffic

management– The national Accessibility Fund– the national Smarter Workplaces travel

programme– Oversight and funding of the Green Schools

programme– Rural Transport Programme

eGovernment and the NTA

The Authority are committed to implementing eGovernment

best practice to optimise services for

• Customers (e to c) RTPI & Leap

• Employees (e to e) Intranet

• Business (e to b) Online services for bus &

taxi industry

eGov and Public Transport Customers

Direct Consumer Products

• Real Time Passenger Information

• Leap Card

• National Intermodal Journey Planner

• Transport for Ireland brand & website

eGov and Public Transport Customers

Products to improve regulation & complianceIndirect benefit to Public Transport Customer

• CABs Small Public Service Vehicle (Taxi)Licensing

System

• BulitBus Licensing Tool

REAL TIME PASSENGER INFORMATION

Benefits to Customer of Real Time Information

• Best way to engender confidence in bus service

• Individual’s perception of waiting time reduced

• Reduces passenger stress

• Potential increase in patronage - average 5% in other cities (pre-recession)

• Increase in customer satisfaction

Improving the experience of using the bus by providing bus arrival times on:

Signs520 On-Street Displays in Greater Dublin Area, 50 in Cork, 20 in Galway & Limerick and 10 in Waterford

Integrated WebsiteReal Time information for all public transport modes and for all stops www.transportforireland.ie

SMS serviceA One Number text service for all real time transport 53035 Smart Phone Apps

Real Time Passenger Information Vision

The RTPI system

AVL-equipped fleet

CENTRAL PREDICTION SERVER DUBLIN CITY COUNCIL

W W W

smsgprs

On –Street Signs SMS service Website and Apps

Server & time estimation system

AVL-equipped fleet

Server & time estimation system

GPRS

Other operators

Future Project

Not AVL-equipped

No Server & Time estimation system

Preceding Project Dual Interface Development

AVL = Automatic Vehicle Location

Real TimeProgress 2011

• 370 Signs erected in Greater Dublin Area

• Dublin Bus iphone and android app with Real Time– 2.5 million web and app requests per month– Over 500,000 unique users a month

• Phase 1 Transport for Ireland website developed

• Improved accuracy of Dublin Bus data feeds

RTPI Plan 2012

• Complete sign roll-out in Greater Dublin Area (520 signs)

• Complete sign roll-out in Regional cities; Cork, Limerick, Galway & Waterford

• Launch Integrated Website with Real Time for all Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann City Services, LUAS

• Launch Transport for Ireland Android & I-phone Apps and API for other developers

• Commence Tender for Commercial Bus Operator system

• Commence sign erection in regional towns

Real Time Passenger Information

Measured level of accuracy

• On going testing for data accuracy and resolving issues

• Signs have to pass accuracy test (>90%)

• Recent NTA surveys show that:• 90% of Dublin Bus services are showing on RTPI system • Of those 90% the times on the signs have a 96% accuracy level

Feedback on signs

• On feedback website 73% find the service helpful or very helpful (even when commenting on specific error)

• 64% say that it would encourage them to use the bus more often

Dublin Bus RTPI

• Awareness of RTPI is reasonably high– Although there remain a significant cohort who have

no knowledge at all of RTPI.• Awareness generally centres on RTPI bus stops

– Which most associate primarily with city centre and other prominent locations.

• As such, while most see RTPI as a very positive development, many see little tangible benefit for themselves as RTPI is not available on ‘their’ bus stop.– “I’ve seen the bus stop there in Ranelagh alright and

that’s great if you’re getting the bus from there, but between there and Windy Arbour I don’t think there’s one, so it’s not much good to me really, is it?”

Dublin Bus RTPI Dec 2011/Jan 2012 research

• There is also a degree of scepticism about RTPI, with many querying whether the information on the bus stops would be accurate

• Awareness of the RTPI app is relatively low, but where known is felt to be a very significant innovation:– It lacks the physical presence of the RTPI bus stops,

but arguably is felt to be far more useful for those who have the app.

• Several had downloaded the RTPI app – often following being tipped off about it by their children – and is felt to be extremely useful

LEAP CARD SCHEME

www.leapcard.ie

Customer Appeal

• Easy to use, flexible and safe

• Lower cost than using cash for each leg of journey

• Exact change no longer required on buses

• No queuing for tickets on Luas and DART

• A single card working across all GDA public

transport services

• Very similar to other schemes, Oyster in particular

18

Leap Cards are ideal for fast & safe entry/exits at busy stations

Customers do not need exact change for Dublin Bus

Customers can buy and Top Up Leap Cards at convenience stores in GDA

Leap Card – the basic elements

Leap Card Back Office System

FundsCustomer Tops Up their Leap Card

Data

Depot Infrastructure

Customer uses Leap Card on buses

Operator’s HQ Systems

Customer uses Leap Card on Luas or Rail

Brand Identity

Leap Card Key Brand Benefits

“Makes travelling easier” is the most prominent Key Brand Benefit identified and will underpin all communications. Flexibility and value for money are also key benefits of the Leap Card

Topping Up and Buying Products

Internet salesAt Ticket Machines

In convenience stores

Enhancements planned for 2012

+

+

+

Annual/Monthly passes

Ticket products on Leap Cards

School & Student travel cards

Instant Top-Upusing direct debits

Public Services CardFree Travel Pass interoperability

+

Smart Ticketing, e.g. capping

+

+

Bus Éireann

Private Buses

Leap Card Highlights

KEY HIGHLIGHTS Cumulative 21 MarchTotal Transactions (top-up and usage)     2.9 million         

Total Cards issued   Luas replacements   5,700

    Irish Rail replacements   2,400

    Payzone sales   50,700

     Web sales   16,000

    74,800         Top-up Value Cumulative   €4.3 million

         

Usage Value Cumulative   €3.6 million         

Total journeys 2.01 million

Leap Card enhancements

Indicative timeline

Planned enhancements

Q1/Q2 • Extension to more operators – e.g. Wexford Bus and Bus Éireann customer pilots

• Iarnród Éireann vending of card sales & top ups• Luas & Iarnród Éireann vending enabled for web collection• Auto-top facility launched (available across all operators)

Q2/Q3 • Tourist & visitor promotions• Bus Éireann full integration• Additional private bus operators• Fare capping on Luas and Iarnród Éireann• Student travel card scheme launch

Q3/Q4 • Benefit-In-kind (taxsaver) annual & monthly cards• Range of time-based products introduced• Integration with Free Travel Scheme• Fare capping across Dublin city services

National Scheme

• Supports roll out nationally of Public Service Cards for free travel

• ITS systems are all fully scalable• Tourism Spin-Off e.g. Golden trekker on ITS• National infrastructure investment required

Top Up network (Ticket Vending Machines and Shops) Validators on Buses and at Rail stations

National Intermodal Journey Planner

National Journey Planner

• Built off National Public Transport Database

• Door to door• Multi-modal• Multi-operator• National coverage

• (+ Northern Ireland late 2012)

• Journey Plans• Timetables• Interactive maps• Printed maps• Walking routes• Available in several languages

Launch April 2012

Journey Planning on the go

• Available for Android and iOS

• mobile web formats

• Location aware

• Real time integration

Mobile web App

Transport for Ireland Brand & Website

Transport for Ireland Website

• Web portal in development for information on all public transport nationally includes:

– Real time information– Multi-modal journey planner– Better maps and timetables

• www.transportforireland.ie

• Customer information on Taxis

• Fares calculator

Transport for Ireland

Data Management in the NTA

Data Management & NTA

• Data is managed so that it is Fit for purpose and suitable for re-use by many systems

That is achieved by…

• Use of Internationally recognised data standards for all public transport

data (SIRI, TransXchange, VDV, NaPTAN, GTFS)

• Compliant with the INSPIRE Directive for Transport networks data

• Open approach to data – published the maintained national Transit nodes

database for general re-use on an INSPIRE portal and the

www.dublinked.com data sharing website (Fingal,DCC,DLR,SDCC, NUIM)

national journey planner

Social inclusion analysis

bus licensing

Real Time

Fleet monitoring

Open data

n a t i o n a l p u b l i c t r a n s p o r t d a t a b a s e

Routes &

schedules

Localities &

addresses

PT stop

s

Collect once – use many times

Open Data

The NTA are committed to allowing open access to good quality public transport data where possible

People want to access publictransport data (It is the most soughtafter type of data on the DublinkedWebsite)

External re-use of PT data

www.mapnificent.netAreas accessible within 15 mins of a Helsinki suburbBy public transport

Internal re-use of PT data

Accessibility and social inclusion analysis – can people accessopportunities in reasonable time and reasonable cost

Conclusion

Challenges in Delivery

• Integrating Systems of Different Operators

• No direct control of Operators’ suppliers

• Interface requirements under estimated

Opportunities

• Delivery through different agencies– Dublin City Council & other Local Authorities

(RTPI)– Railway Procurement Agency (Leap)

• Delivery to different agencies– Fáilte Ireland (Journey Planner)– Public Transport Operators (Journey Planner)

Future Challenges

• Keeping Data Up-to-date

• Building Awareness of Products

• Financing improvements & extensions