Public transport gets smart

Intelligent travel systems such as 'pay-and-wave' technology could help solve traffic congestion and reduce council budgets – so why are many local authorities unaware of the benefits?
Passengers using the automatic barriers at Stratford Station on the Jubilee Line
Commuters in London are used to transport technologies such as the Oyster card, but many other areas of the UK could benefit from similar schemes. Photograph: Stefano Cagnoni

If you have recently undertaken one of the 25 million trips made to, from or within London each day, the chances are you used an Oyster smartcard to swipe in and out of trains, buses or, perhaps, the cable car in Docklands.

Other "intelligent transport" systems in use in London include new contactless payment technology, known as "pay-and-wave", which went live at the end of 2012 and could one day replace the Oyster card. Paying the capital's congestion charge via the internet, or using an access fob to hire bikes from the city's popular cycle-hire scheme, are yet further examples.

Some of these systems, particularly the Oyster card, have become so commonplace that many people in the capital barely stop to consider just how much it has simplified their daily commute. But experts are becoming increasingly concerned that, outside of London, local authorities are failing to recognise the potential benefits of deploying IT to improve their transport networks.

Panellists at a roundtable, which took place on 5 December, were broadly in agreement that intelligent transport technologies could play a key role in reducing congestion and encouraging more people to use public transport. The roundtable was organised by the Guardian and held in association with Centro – the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority – as well as the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

IT-based solutions

According to Transport for London, in the 10 years from 2000 to 2010 the distance travelled by private vehicles in London dropped by 6.7%, while the distance people travelled by public transport grew by 45% over the same period. Part of this increase can be attributed to the rise of the Oyster card, which was introduced in 2003.

The roundtable heard that IT could be used to reduce road congestion and disruption that, according to the CBI, costs the economy more than £8bn annually.

Reducing traffic on the roads would also improve the environment, participants were told, which is a major concern as the UK is currently failing to meet a number of EU pollution limits. The 2008 Climate Change Act set legally binding carbon-reduction targets for the UK and cutting traffic emissions will form a key part of meeting those targets.

With 200,000 traffic casualties reported each year in the UK, road safety is another area participants thought could benefit from intelligent transport technology. In a recent report, Philippa Oldham, the head of transport and manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, called on the government to make it mandatory for all heavy goods vehicles to be fitted with intelligent safety systems, such as Lateral Safe – a sensor system developed with European Commission funding, which alerts lorry drivers to cyclists in their blind spots.

"Casualties are estimated to cost the UK £19bn a year," she told the roundtable. "There are systems out there and we need to look at what they are, and how we can put them in our vehicles."

The UK needs to be a thought leader on road safety, added Oldham, "so we can influence Europe on the decisions that are made and help boost UK businesses".

Oldham also said new transport technologies should not be introduced in silos, but rather as part of a package of new measures.

The institution is urging the Department for Transport to adopt an Oyster-style approach to the rest of the UK, in an attempt to create a single product that would make the public transport network more able to compete with the car.

Prof Richard Folkson, of the University of Hertfordshire, agreed. "As a consumer, I want to know why I need to use separate smartcards to access networks and modes of transport in different parts of the country," he said. "I can fill up with petrol at any garage in the world and it's a single system, but I can't use a transport card anywhere in the world."

This kind of venture, however, not only requires collaboration among authorities, but also industries, including companies that may usually be in competition.

In Korea, for example, Seoul's Metropolitan Government linked up in 2004 with the electronics firm LG Group, along with credit card and telecommunications companies, to launch the "T-money" smartcard, which is accepted on all types of transport and can also be used for purchases from vending machines and thousands of convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and car parks.

Five years later, T-money transactions were averaging 30m a day, allowing Seoul's subway to become paper free, producing savings of £18m over the course of 2009.

Back in the UK, most local authorities are only starting to get to grips with smart-card technology, but the benefits, such as better transport-usage information, are already becoming clear.

Alex Burrows, head of strategy for Centro, is anticipating gathering a raft of new data as consumers in the West Midlands take up his company's new Swift public transport smartcards.

Rather like a supermarket loyalty card, public transport smartcards can record passenger data, which in turn allows providers to analyse and shape a better service. Operators can also provide more information to customers.

"Information is really important to passengers," said Burrows. "Where public transport's really booming, it is mostly because of the passenger experience, quite often more than the infrastructure itself."

Burrows also maintained that IT systems are cheaper to deploy than hard infrastructure, such as new roads, bus services or rail tracks, which could be a key selling point for many local authorities facing swingeing budget cuts.

"To actually use the assets we have in an efficient way via technology is probably the most cost-effective way of making those step changes," he added.

Mike McDonald, professor of transportation engineering at the University of Southampton, urged local authorities to introduce pay-as-you-drive schemes using location communication technologies to create a revenue stream to help cut the cost of public transport.

Alan Whitehead, MP for Southampton Test, agreed that politicians need to take "radical" steps so the car is no longer perceived as a cheap mode of transport. "There's a long-standing, deeply embedded myth in this country about the relative costs of motoring against the relative costs of public transport and that is a substantial factor in political decision-making.

"We're a very long way away from tackling that problem and I agree that we've got to use more radical measures to physically transfer funds from one area to another," he said.

But some panellists were concerned that many local councils are failing to recognise the long-term benefits of using ICT and, as a result, are not investing in the systems, or the people who can best operate them.

"A lot of the decisions are being pushed down to local authorities, but … many of them really struggle to understand the potential for investing in these new technologies," said Phil Blythe, professor of intelligent transport systems at Newcastle University.

"For example, everybody's introducing smartcard schemes in some way or form. That generates a massive amount of management data about where people get on and off buses, where you need to pre-load the card, how long you need to wait.

"It could completely change how you design your transport system to be much more bespoke for what people want. But people are not converted yet and it's a wasted opportunity."

Panellists also agreed that mobile phones would improve services by providing passenger information or being used as payment mechanisms.

O2 and Transport for London have already conducted a trial, the roundtable heard, in which they gave 500 customers "O2 Wallet" phones with near-field communication technology integrated into them, enabling passengers to use their mobiles to pay for travel.

"The beauty is that you've then also got the communication media to check balances, you've got your information services on your mobile phone," said Blythe. "The mobile phone is going to become the platform for so-called 'fully loaded' travel in the future."

McDonald added that hand-held devices would allow operators to move from merely providing information to actually guiding passengers about where and how to get to their destination.

"There's this difference between information and guidance," he said. "People don't want information. They want to be told exactly where they should go. On mobiles you can tell people that they need to move 10 metres to the left and that's the bus stop for the bus they want, and it will be there in five minutes.

"That gives a confidence and it doesn't matter if they have to wait five or 10 minutes because they have the knowledge," he said.

Overall, local authorities do appear to be opening their eyes to the benefits of IT, such as pay-and-wave technology, to become more efficient, reduce congestion and improve safety. It now remains to be seen if the government will also recognise the benefits and introduce new initiatives, such as a UK-wide, integrated public transport smartcard scheme, that would see intelligent transport technologies become commonplace across the country.

Key discussion points

Transport for London's contactless-payment systems went live just before Christmas, allowing passengers to use a specially adapted credit or debit card instead of an Oyster card. But much of the rest of the UK is still getting to grips with similar smart-ticketing systems.

This was a real concern for many panellists, who believed that smartcards and mobile phones could help herald a revolution in public transport.

The government is being urged to introduce a package of measures – including nationwide smart-ticketing systems – to encourage a greater uptake in public transport, reduce congestion and improve traffic safety and the environment.

At the table

Gwyn Topham (Chair)
Transport correspondent, the Guardian

Alex Burrows
Head of strategy, Centro

Philippa Oldham
Head of transport and manufacturing, Institution of Mechanical Engineering

James Morris
MP, Halesowen and Rowley Regis

Iain Stewart
MP, Milton Keynes South

Lilian Greenwood
MP, Nottingham South

Lord Berkeley
Secretary, All-Party Parliamentary Cycling Group

Prof Phil Blythe
Professor of intelligent transport systems, Newcastle University

Prof Richard Folkson
Visiting professor for design and innovation, University of Hertfordshire

Prof Mike McDonald
Emeritus professor of transportation engineering, University of Southampton

Dr Alan Whitehead
MP, Southampton Test

Prof Roger Vickerman
Professor of European economics, University of Kent

Roundtable report commissioned by Seven Plus and controlled by the Guardian. Discussion hosted to a brief agreed with Centro and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Funded by Centro and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Contact John Armstrong on 0203 353 3363
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