With a renewed focus, transportation providers are fast embracing technology in a bid to provide much more enhanced transportation services to end consumers. While there has been much focus and investment on the private transportation sector (airlines, ride-sharing, etc.) the public transportation has had a late start as far as technology adoption is concerned. Experts believe there is a need for an end-to-end mobility services for Public transportation.

Why Public transportation needs enterprise mobility?
Firstly, public transportation is the most used and stands way ahead of private transportation with regard to number of users. This is further vetted by a survey of 4,500 shared mobility users in the US – around 65% of the users stated that Public transit, which includes train and bus, is the top shared mode of transportation.

Secondly, the Public transportation is yet to achieve its optimal potential. It needs a comprehensive technological solution that binds all aspects of the transit value chain making it both easy and comfortable for commuters to find end-to-end transportation solutions.

Right now, the public transportation system is at different levels of mobility in different places. While Europe and America lead in mobility services adoption, the developing economies of Asia are still finding their footing.

Perhaps, a strong reason for public transportation to adopt technology is that more and more people are looking to use public transit. The office-goers are no longer interested in using their cars and the millennials are no longer interested in owning cars. Under these circumstances, the need for and usage of public transportation will touch higher levels begging for the need to have end-to-end mobility services.

Delivering end-to-end mobility services
Delivering end-to-end mobility services means going beyond just providing relevant information on transport and commuting. End-to-end services help redefine the public transportation value chain by involving and enhancing the functions of all stakeholders from commuters to bus operators to transportation and traffic management authorities.

Access to essential information for commuters: The end-to-end mobility services cycle begins with provision of correct and near real-time information such as position of vehicle, arrivals/departures, interchange options/transfers, alternative commute for better experience (e.g. seat availability), obstructions/detour, etc. These help the users to improve their overall travel experience.

Real-time information such as road works, construction blockades, traffic, and alternative routes will help create a more informed and hassle-free travel for both drivers and users.

Solving the last-mile problem: While a major segment of the transit cycle has found a solution with the interconnection of private and public transport, last-mile connectivity remains an issue. End-to-end mobility services are playing a key role diminishing the problem of last-mile connectivity by connecting commuters with shared services via mobile applications. The average commuter can now access various transportation options even at the last-mile connectivity level.

Enabling efficient services for operators: From the operational point of view, bus operators have a huge trouble in terms of managing bus services under different conditions. Be it bad weather, heavy traffic or road blockades, operators find it increasingly difficult to ensure schedules and timings are adhered to. End-to-end mobility services play a vital role here - information on traffic status empowers them to re-align both the bus routes and schedules thus making for an effective schedule and route management system in place. It simply enables faster and better decision making.

Mobility services also enhance the operator efficiency by providing several solutions from helping manage efficient bus services to drawing flexible route plans to identifying traffic congestions. The services also help to plot a trend analysis and even predict journey timings based on road conditions, congestion, and past data.

Reducing traffic hassles: Traffic congestions can jeopardize the travel schedules of commuters and create havoc on the roads not to mention put a huge stress on traffic authorities. End-to-end mobility services will capture and provide raw traffic feeds to the users on their mobiles and to the traffic management authorities through the back-end. This enables the authorities to use the traffic feed and manage the traffic and routes in a much more controlled manner. Mobility services provide traffic management authorities greater visibility on the traffic situations helping them perform their roles better. It also helps the authorities greatly minimize on their investments into traffic infrastructure.

End-to-end mobility services will reimagine the public transportation system by creating seamless, hassle-free, and on-demand services. By finding solutions to the perennial issue of last-mile connectivity or transportation, end-to-end mobility services will more or less deliver a comprehensive transportation solution for the average commuter. We are not far away from the day where we can leverage voice assistance for an enhanced user experience. Thanks to end-to-end mobility services, public transportation will get a face lift and will get more effective and efficient.

Author: Vivek Madathil, Chief Architect, Digital Transformation Services