When Dutch railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) carried out customer research, it discovered two critical factors affecting satisfaction levels: how crowded the trains are and how easily passengers can find a seat. To significantly increase customer satisfaction and potentially improve resource utilisation with little added cost, the company used several Microsoft Azure services, including Azure Cosmos DB, to build a mobile application that delivers real-time crowdedness indicators and travel disruption alerts to passengers.
NS captures data from internet of things (IoT) sensors on tracks, carbon dioxide sensors in passenger compartments and chip cards with passenger check-in and check-out data, then uses artificial intelligence and machine learning models to predict crowdedness and travel patterns for the following three days. Now, 95 per cent of the one million passengers using the railway every day check the app to see the status of their train.
With the United Nations estimating that over 60 per cent of the world’s global population will live in urban areas by 2030, Microsoft’s Doug Priest predicts that more public transportation providers will be developing similar solutions to optimise their own operations and accommodate increasing passenger numbers over the next few years.
“Public transportation providers are already experiencing ever-increasing demand for their services as more people move to cities and numbers will continue rising beyond 2030, into the next few decades,” says Priest, public transportation lead for worldwide government at Microsoft. “This will put extra strain on public transit networks, and many operators are looking for ways to scale up their services, run them more efficiently and improve how they manage infrastructure to minimise downtime.”
Building efficient and resilient public transport systems that scale to accommodate the rise in demand is challenging.
“Public transit networks in many urban areas were built decades ago, so the infrastructure is old, making it more prone to failure, expensive to maintain and difficult to replace,” says Priest. “Many of these networks haven’t received the investments necessary to cope with the increasing numbers of people who have moved to the urban areas since they were first built either. For example, the rail tracks might not extend to newer suburbs, leaving some inhabitants unable to easily access the service. Issues such as passenger safety and overcrowding are also becoming more important to resolve as passenger numbers continue to grow.”
Consequently, says Priest, city leaders and public transportation providers must find creative ways to scale up their networks to enable them to serve everyone safely, reliably and equitably. The organisations can take immediate steps to improve services and make longer-term investments in physical infrastructure. In addition, they must adapt to meet the ever-evolving demands of public transport users.
“People want public transport systems that are predictable, safe, reliable and easy to use,” says Priest. “If someone is taking a bus, they want to know where to get on, what time it will arrive, how long it will take to reach their destination and how much it will cost. They also expect the bus to turn up on time and to have a safe, seamless journey with no major disruptions. While everyone understands that incidents happen, they don’t want to use public transport systems where services are frequently delayed or cancelled. And when a delay does happen, passengers want to know as soon as possible so they can plan an alternative route.”
People also want to be able to switch easily between different modes of transport depending on which is most convenient at the time. “Currently, this is difficult to do in many towns and cities where services such as the bus, train, metro and taxis are all operated by different independent entities,” says Priest. “Ideally, we’d make it as easy as possible for people to switch between different forms of transport, offering them simple, unified payment options as well as apps to help them plan the best possible routes to their destinations and track the real-time status of their transit options.”
Passengers want to be able to use apps to pay for public transport easily, find out the status of their bus or trains, and more (image credit: iStock/Halfpoint)
One example of such an app is Switzerland’s Rhaetian Railway (RhB) generative AI-powered chatbot Flurina, which was developed in collaboration with Microsoft partner ParetoLabs. Built on Azure OpenAI, Flurina is available any time and can communicate with customers in German, English and Italian to provide reliable information about reservations, travel itineraries and more. “It complements RhB’s existing customer service channels, allowing the company to handle more customer enquires while freeing employees up to focus on more complex tasks,” says Priest. “Employees in other departments can also use Flurina to find all kinds of relevant information.”
To make this enhanced customer experience a reality, city leaders can develop a digital ecosystem that ingests data from public transport operators and other relevant stakeholders, such as the government’s department of transportation.
“By sharing this data to a central platform, transport operators would gain real-time, in-depth insights into both their own operations and those across the entire public transit system,” says Priest. “This would allow them to better understand what is working well, what needs improving and how they can adapt services to ensure seamless travel experiences.”
AI technologies should be at the core of these platforms, advises Priest.
“Anytime we talk about data, we need to talk about AI,” he says. “AI tools help organisations to automatically analyse, organise and make sense of the vast volumes of data they capture – and at a much greater speed and scale than would be possible for humans working alone. New generative AI-powered assistants and chatbots built on tools such as Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Assistant help workers to quickly interrogate this data and get useful information back in simple language, so they can make better informed decisions.”
This data is particularly helpful for keeping services running smoothly at all times, even when an incident occurs.
“If a metro track is blocked and is expected to be closed for several hours, people will likely switch to other forms of public transport, such as buses,” says Priest. “If all transport providers share their data, other transport providers will be automatically notified about the problem, allowing them to prepare for and react to the sudden influx of passengers, for instance by adding more buses to certain routes. Similarly, they could plan for days when there will be a sudden influx of visitors to the city, such as for a sporting event or music concert.”
Organisations can also capitalise on technologies such as AI, predictive analytics and machine learning to manage and maintain the physical infrastructure more efficiently.
“A city’s public transit network typically comprises roads, rail, bridges, tunnels, train or bus stations and many other physical assets,” says Priest. “All these assets must be inspected regularly to ensure they’re safe and well-maintained. The scale of this task means that the workforce needs support to keep up with the inspections and maintenance. When they don't get it, elements of the infrastructure can fail and cause issues in the transportation network, which then impacts all the people using it.”
However, says Priest, technologies such as AI, predictive analytics, machine learning and IoT sensors can be used to monitor assets, identify abnormalities or issues and proactively notify the operator, allowing it to intervene before they cause a major problem.
Tokyo Metro Co, for example, has developed a solution that uses Microsoft Azure AI services and Microsoft Power Platform to rapidly and accurately detect equipment deterioration and abnormalities on the nine subway lines it operates in the city of Tokyo, Japan. The solution analyses images of the 200 kilometres of rail tracks, significantly reducing the time it takes to complete full site inspections and decreasing employees’ workloads. Tokyo Metro is now evaluating how it can use alternative sensor devices and images to improve the efficiency of track maintenance.
“AI supports the workforce in achieving quick and accurate inspections," says Priest. "It also enables organisations to identify trends or patterns in commonly arising faults, allowing them to rethink their maintenance plans or plan and build infrastructure more efficiently in the first place.”
Priest adds that as data systems and vehicles become increasingly connected, public transportation providers will have opportunities to develop new solutions to improve traffic management and increase road safety too. “For instance, we could use IoT sensors and vehicle-to-everything communication to notify drivers about potential hazards and prevent issues such as trucks hitting bridges,” he says.
Microsoft collaborates with its extensive partner network to develop AI-powered tools and other technologies that will improve operations across the public transportation sector.
“Our partners are vital, building on our technology to provide unique solutions designed to help organisations overcome specific challenges,” says Priest. “Partners like Bentley Systems are using our technology to engineer solutions for the design, construction and ongoing management of the physical transport infrastructure, while Hexagon is using it in asset lifecycle management solutions. Our technology is also powering Conduent’s payments tools, SAS’s predictive analytics and predictive maintenance solutions and TomTom’s solutions for traffic flow and junction analysis, among others.”
“People want public transport systems that are predictable, reliable and easy to use,” says Doug Priest, public transportation lead for worldwide government at Microsoft
In addition, Microsoft technology forms the foundation of Accenture’s integrated mobility system. “Accenture is working to bring together all sorts of transport data, focusing particularly on analysing information about crashes and near misses to improve safety,” says Priest. “Another notable partner is Parsons Corporation, which is using Microsoft technology in its Intelligent Networks smart mobility platform. It captures data from different parts of a city’s transportation system to help operators manage their entire networks in real time.”
By using this technology to improve public transportation systems, city leaders can make communities and public spaces more liveable, sustainable and inclusive, says Priest.
“Public transportation is a catalyst for creating better communities,” he explains. “Research shows that people want to live in towns and cities with extensive public transit services that are well-managed, reliable, fairly priced and convenient and easy to access, so they can commute to work, socialise and run errands easily. When communities have well-connected, multimodal public transportation systems, they also typically experience economic growth and, of course, if more people are using public transport than personal cars, this will improve environmental sustainability too.”
Partner perspectives
We asked selected Microsoft partners to explain how their company is using Microsoft technologies to help public sector organisations develop efficient, accessible and sustainable public transportation systems.
“CrowdScan uses wireless IoT sensors to count passengers or monitor general occupancy in airports and public transport hubs and generate real-time heat maps,” says Anton Dierickx, co-founder and chief operating officer of CrowdScan. “The solution runs on Azure, ensuring data is integrated into existing data and video surveillance management platforms to improve safety, daily operations and the passenger experience.”
“By providing analysis of voluminous amounts of various types of data, geographic information system solutions combined with AI can enable a deeper, location-based understanding of changing mobility patterns,” says Terry Bills, global transportation industry director at Esri. “Leaders can use this technology to deliver greater mobility while providing safer, more sustainable, equitable and liveable cities for the future.”
“The integration of Hexagon Asset Lifecycle Intelligence with Microsoft technology creates a powerful platform for managing public sector transportation infrastructure,” says Cynthia Gomes, senior industry consultant at Hexagon. “This combination enables agencies to leverage advanced analytics, IoT and cloud computing to optimise asset performance, improve safety and reduce costs. By adopting these technologies, public sector transportation can achieve higher levels of efficiency, collaboration and service quality.”
“Data and analytics are essential for smart city planning,” says Ralf-Peter Schäfer, vice president of traffic and travel information at TomTom. “Available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace, our industry leading location technology and analytics products deliver critical insights on road transportation and traffic demand. This enables transportation operators, city planners and others to make smarter decisions to reduce congestion and emissions, while improving mobility and services.”
Read more from these partners in the Summer 2024 issue of Technology Record. To get future issues delivered directly to your inbox, sign up for a free subscription.