Improving customer experience while ensuring data privacy for intelligent mobility
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: Faculty of Engineering & the Environment
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Simon Blainey (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Treharne H
(2017)
Personalised rail passenger experience and privacy
in IET Cyber-Security Hub
Pritchard, J
(2017)
Smart Ticketing on the UK Railway Network: A review.
| Description | The research has included a review of rail customer complaints to help identify where better information provision and/or the use of more personal data could be used to mitigate issues in the future, and survey work to understand how rail passengers value data privacy. Different scenarios were considered, which highlight the potential for better information provision and the potential for personal data to enhance the experience of passengers. There is a potential trade-off between how anonymous data really are and the usefulness of the data (e.g. for making operational decisions or providing passenger information); this can also translate into a trade-off for passengers between data privacy and the level of service available to them. The research has assessed the trade-offs passengers are prepared to make between provision of personal data and an improved journey experience, especially during times of disruption. This involved carrying out on-train passenger surveys, and found that passengers can be categorised into four groups according to their attitudes to data privacy. Outputs from the survey work have helped to establish the extent to which railway passengers are willing to trade personal information in order to gain a better level of service. The survey analysis found evidence that rail passengers would be prepared to trade privacy for service improvements, and that privacy concerns may have less of an impact on actual behaviour than is implied by people's stated preferences. There is a suggestion that passengers could be incentivised to become data providers for location-based services which offered them benefits. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes from the funding have significant potential benefits for the rail industry and for rail passengers. In particular, they could be used to develop a framework for evaluating the benefits of improved information provision and service enhancements, which properly takes in to account the importance of data privacy and the willingness of passengers to provide any necessary data. We plan to continue to work with rail industry partners, in particular the Rail Delivery Group (through an ongoing secondment) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board, in order to achieve this. |
| Sectors | Transport |
| Description | A follow-on secondment with the Rail Delivery Group has enabled the findings about data privacy to be presented to a key working group in the 'Smarter Information, Smarter Journeys' programme which was seeking to improve information provision to rail passengers. The programme was partly in response to criticism from the ORR and partly in recognition of the need for rail to better compete with other modes in terms of information availability and provision, and the opportunity to incorporate the findings from the DICE project was timely. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Transport |
| Impact Types | Policy & public services |
| Description | Providing improved information to rail passengers & understanding the value of data privacy |
| Amount | £34,587 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 06/2020 |
| End | 07/2021 |
| Description | Joined a working group looking at "the ultimate customer experience" in relation to customer information provision |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | As part of the EPSRC Impact Acceleration secondment with the Rail Delivery Group, I have joined the Smarter Journeys, Smarter Information Programme. As part of this, I have joined a working group looking at "the ultimate customer experience" in relation to information provided by the rail industry to customers. I have been able to contribute some of the learnings from the DICE project to the discussions we have had so far - including making comment on the use of customer complaint data and providing insights gained from the data privacy survey I conducted. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |