Automated and accessible re-routing during disruption
Lead Participant:
ZIPABOUT LOCAL LIMITED
Abstract
The Journey Alerts service provides real-time travel times for passengers of rail and bus companies in the UK. Licenced by companies such as P&O Ferries, Southwestern Railway (SWR), East Midlands Railway (EMR), Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) and other transport operators, it keeps passengers informed of any delays and provides multi-modal journey planning across the UK.
To address the challenge, Zipabout has brought together a group of stakeholders who all want to improve access to public transport for everyone, and have particularly identified those with hidden, complex or cognitive disabilities as a large audience we may be able to help. Specifically, we have identified that anxiety, and fear of making mistakes during disruption, is a key barrier to travel for this audience, and we believe we have a solution that will not only work, but can also quickly be disseminated to a wide audience through existing Transport Operator channels. Our proposal is to combine existing channels with new technology and integrations from Uber, to provide a new service - one that can not only monitor a passenger journey, but also fix it when things go wrong.
The proposal is innovative in a number of ways - namely: it is the first pro-active journey planner that can correct journey disruption based on real-time performance of services; it is the first instance of journey assitance technology that does not rely on apps, and can work on a normal mobile phone via SMS (with a view to powering other devices in the future); it is the first instance of wayfinding technology that can understand accessibility requirements and map them to real journeys (such as choosing a suitable point to get off one service), and can also correct disruption by booking, and using, taxis to join two modes (such as between stations or from bus to train) as well as complete a journey by taxi, all without using a taxi app.
We believe that, by providing technology that can get each passenger home or to their destination, aligned with their own preferences, no matter what disruption occurs, we can begin to reduce the fear and anxiety that getting lost, disrupted or making a mistake causes for almost 10m people in the UK. More, once tested, we are able to immediately launch this capability to a large, engaged audience through transport operators across the UK.
To address the challenge, Zipabout has brought together a group of stakeholders who all want to improve access to public transport for everyone, and have particularly identified those with hidden, complex or cognitive disabilities as a large audience we may be able to help. Specifically, we have identified that anxiety, and fear of making mistakes during disruption, is a key barrier to travel for this audience, and we believe we have a solution that will not only work, but can also quickly be disseminated to a wide audience through existing Transport Operator channels. Our proposal is to combine existing channels with new technology and integrations from Uber, to provide a new service - one that can not only monitor a passenger journey, but also fix it when things go wrong.
The proposal is innovative in a number of ways - namely: it is the first pro-active journey planner that can correct journey disruption based on real-time performance of services; it is the first instance of journey assitance technology that does not rely on apps, and can work on a normal mobile phone via SMS (with a view to powering other devices in the future); it is the first instance of wayfinding technology that can understand accessibility requirements and map them to real journeys (such as choosing a suitable point to get off one service), and can also correct disruption by booking, and using, taxis to join two modes (such as between stations or from bus to train) as well as complete a journey by taxi, all without using a taxi app.
We believe that, by providing technology that can get each passenger home or to their destination, aligned with their own preferences, no matter what disruption occurs, we can begin to reduce the fear and anxiety that getting lost, disrupted or making a mistake causes for almost 10m people in the UK. More, once tested, we are able to immediately launch this capability to a large, engaged audience through transport operators across the UK.
Lead Participant | Project Cost | Grant Offer |
|---|---|---|
| ZIPABOUT LOCAL LIMITED | £89,935 | £ 89,935 |
Participant |
||
| INNOVATE UK |
People |
ORCID iD |
| Alex Froom (Project Manager) |