The End of Transport Behaviour Modelling

Civic Technology and Travel Behaviour

Andrew Nash GreenCityStreets.com COST Ac8on TU 1305

Technion

October 16, 2015

Whatever happened to Travel Behaviour Analysis?

Andrew Nash GreenCityStreets.com TRB Transporta8on History CommiFee TRB 105th Annual Mee8ng Washington, DC January 10, 2025

Outline

•  What was travel behaviour analysis?

•  What was travel behaviour analysis used for?

•  What happened to travel behaviour analysis?

•  Outlook

What was travel behaviour analysis?

Travel behaviour was the study of what people do over space, and how people use transport. •  How many trips do people make?

•  Where do they go?

•  What mode do they take?

•  When is the trip made?

•  What route choices do people make? Source: Wikipedia (!!!!)

What was travel behaviour analysis used for?

Travel behaviour analysis was used to help design and improve transport infrastructure and services.

•  Where to build a metro line or highway;

•  How oBen to operate a bus service; •  How to aCract more users.

What happened to travel behaviour analysis?

Travel behaviour analysis was made un-‐necessary by civic technology apps for …

•  ReporFng condiFons; •  Analysing data; •  Designing services and infrastructure; •  Providing transport.

… and vastly improved compu<ng power.

Repor<ng

Collec8ng data became simple and ubiquitous

•  Social media •  ReporFng applicaFons •  Sensor data (automaFc, e.g. from phone)

… giving transport agencies sufficient data to fully understand real 4me transport condi4ons and make projec4ons without complex models.

Chicago Transit Authority – TwiFer Feed

Zurich Public Transport Authority – Facebook Page

SeeClickFix page for San Francisco hCp://seeclickfix.com

Traffic Check hCp://www.trafficcheck.at/

User friendly features needed for mobile phone repor8ng: •  automa8c geo loca8on, •  logical informa8on flow, •  check boxes for data entry.

Meine Radspur, Vienna hCp://www.meineradspur.at/

Sensor-‐based data: Street Bump, Boston hCp://streetbump.org/

Analysis

•  (Smart) city data;

•  ApplicaFon data (e.g. Waze);

•  CiFzen data (cheap sensors).

… data and vastly improved compu4ng enabled transport providers to analyze countless scenarios and develop precise transport plans in real 4me.

* So easy anyone could do it (open data)!

Analyzing all this data became easy*

Ci8zen developed applica8ons and visualiza8ons from open data. Stumble Safely, Washington D.C.

WayCount vehicle counter and so\ware www.waycount.com

Smart Ci8zen sensor and so\ware hCp://www.smartciFzen.me/

Design

•  EducaFon – transport planning is complex; •  BeCer processes – meeFng management; •  Increased engagement – more is beCer.

… improving the quality of ideas, increasing the ability to implement and test new ideas, and helping build community spirit.

Collabora8on became more efficient

Bus Meister game ! greencitystreets.com – Fun ! Learning

Grr-‐Grr-‐Bike game ! grr-‐grr-‐bike.com – Fun ! Learning

Ring Ride game ! ringstrasse150.com – Fun ! Advocacy

Shareabouts – geo collabora8on openplans.org/work/shareabouts/

GreenCityStreets.com … Facebook-‐based collabora8on

Visualiza8on ... ParFcipatory Chinatown Boston

Using virtual reality to help understand city planning. hCp://www.parFcipatorychinatown.org/

Visualisa8on of street cross sec8ons... streetmix

hCp://streetmix.net

San Francisco Mind Mixer website www.improveSF.com

Loomio – public infrastructure for collabora8ve decision making www.loomio.org -‐ please support their crowd funding effort!

Provide

Providing transport became open

•  InformaFon via social networks (TwiCer real Fme); •  ImplementaFon via civic groups (596 Acres, Casserole); •  Behaviour modificaFon (Chromaroma, Walk-‐a-‐Stop); •  Crowd-‐sourced civic works (Spacehive, Kickstarter); •  Service providers & sharing (Uber, BlahBlahCar, Bridj).

… reducing the need for centralized transport planning and service provision.

Informa8on exchange and organisa8on … 596 Acres

Designing passionate, people-‐powered public services

Casserole is an example of how understanding ci<zens as producers as well as consumers leads to services that help communiFes turn the issues they’re passionate about into ways to be more self-‐sufficient and less invested in expensive public services.

Chromaroma game ! Fun ! Influence behaviour

Walk-‐a-‐Stop ! Info + Social Network ! Influence behaviour

Human is an all-‐day acFvity & calorie tracker that inspires you to move 30 minutes a day.

Ac8vity monitor (e.g., Human) +

Public transport travel planner +

Real 8me transport data (official / user) +

Social networking =

Walk-‐a-‐Stop

Users receive push data when staFons are crowded suggesFng they walk or bike one or two staFons. AcFvity is rewarded (transit Fckets), social networking provides info about good routes, interesFng shops, companions to walk with, and/or system suggests, It’s a nice day why not walk?

Crowdfunding for civic improvements … Kickstarter

App-‐based public transport

Uber

“One of the most subtle underlying issues with the rise of Uber is the company’s slow siphoning of the poli8cal will to fix exisFng – or build new – public transit infrastructure in major ciFes. … The people leB riding public transit become, increasingly, the ones with liCle or no poliFcal weight to demand improvements to the system.” MaC Buchanan, The Awl, hCp://www.theawl.com/2015/08/ubiquity

The dilemma in 2015

How could these technological improvements and new services be harnessed for the public good?

•  Public-‐private partnerships? •  Strong public benefit requirements?

•  Privacy requirements and data ownership?

•  Role of the market?

Whatever happened to Travel Behaviour Analysis? OK, travel behaviour analysis is probably not going away, but it’s clearly going to change significantly.

Andrew Nash develops engaging public parFcipaFon applicaFons and games designed to improve city live-‐ability and transport. •  GreenCityStreets.com •  Ringstrasse150.com •  AndyNash.com

The End of Transport Behaviour Modelling

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