IMPACTS

Public transport is a crucial aspect of urban mobility, allowing people to commute, socialise, and explore their cities safely and cost-effectively. However, overcrowding, limited digitalisation, outdated reporting mechanisms and decreased perceived safety due to the pandemic, have discouraged its use. This has resulted in decreased use of public transport and missed opportunities for multimodal mobility, traffic reduction, and citizen feedback.

To address these issues, the project aims to create a human-centric public transport system that promotes passenger safety, encourages support for fellow travellers, and collects feedback to improve the services and urban environment. The project is deploying a socio-technical tool that connects passengers both online and offline and enables issue reporting in the urban environment, enhancing trust through a rating system. The tool uses real-time localisation algorithms, open transportation data, and minimal personal data collection.

The cities of Istanbul (Turkey) and Dugopolje (Croatia) are partnering with the project to improve their transportation services and urban environments. In Istanbul, the project will pilot a historic peninsula targeting visitors to support their transportation experience and digitise the current feedback mechanisms. In Dugopolje, the project aims to increase connectivity between passengers in the suburban metropolitan area of Split. The tool enables passengers to search for fellow passengers using demographic and other criteria.

The Technical University of Berlin manages the project and explores different business development options by leveraging their partners and associated networks, including the European Passenger and Women’s Rights Associations, to disseminate the results. The Centre for Research & Technology Hellas assesses transportation networks and service models for the demonstration cities and support survey design and result transferability. Meanwhile, WizGo, as the technology provider tests and co-designs the surveys, as well as manages data analysis. The company also conducts technology and marketing research for local transportation apps.