The Significance of Public Transport
As a country’s population increases, so does the number of people that use public transport services. It’s the people’s top choice as a mode of transportation as it offers flexibility and freedom to the commuters. It also helps people save money, ease traffic congestion, and even help reduce carbon emission.
Indeed, public transportation brings about many advantages on a widespread basis—to people, communities, and even a whole country’s economy. However, it doesn’t get as much attention or recognition as it deserves. Nowadays, the media is all too focused on featuring the latest self-driving cars and environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles that the general benefits of public transport often get overlooked.
To bring public transportation again into the spotlight, we then present its many benefits in detail.
Benefits of Public Transport
1. It livens up the economy. Every dollar that the government spends on public transportation means thousands of jobs that are generated and increased economic returns.
2. It is easier on the environment. It is considered more efficient to move large groups of people in buses, trains, and subways than it is to make them travel in single cars. This then translates to reduced carbon emissions, which is better for the environment overall.
3. It increases fuel efficiency. It also leads to a great decrease in the total quantity of energy needed to take people to and fro, compared to when everyone travels by private car. In fact, according to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), around 4.2 billion gallons of fuel are saved by the US due to public transport alone.
4. It reduces traffic. It helps to reduce traffic congestion by a great deal as the system itself is built to convey masses of people to certain points of destination all at the same time. This leads to fewer cars on the street and lesser congestion.
5. It helps people to save on daily expenses. Taking the bus or subway is far cheaper than driving your own car to work. With the latter, you’ll have to pay for gas, parking, maintenance, and many other similar expenses every day. With the former, all you’ll have to worry about is a few dollars of fare.
6. It is safer. If there’s strength in numbers, there is also safety. A person is much more likely to get attacked or robbed when he is alone driving than when he is in the midst of many people while riding a bus or subway. He is also less likely to get into accidents because public transit drivers or operators are generally well-trained and strictly adhere to rules.
7. It encourages a healthy lifestyle. Studies have shown that people who take public transport every day generally get more physical activity than those who don’t. When you’re riding a bus or subway, usually you’ll still have to walk to your final destination.
How GPS Tracking Devices Can Help Public Transport Systems
However, despite having all these benefits, there is still room for public transport systems to improve. The current systems we have now still need a lot of streamlining for increased efficiency. Thankfully, technology has come to the rescue with the recent introduction of GPS tracking systems. To maximize efficiency and profitability of your public transport service, it needs to be upgraded using the latest technology such as GPS tracking. Monitoring your fleet of buses using GPS system can help improve public transportation.
But before we get into how a GPS tracking system can enhance public transport, we first need to know what it is.
What Is GPS Technology?
Simply put, GPS stands for “global positioning system,” which is a type of technology that works out exact locations of things with the help of satellites that have been put into orbit around the Earth. This technology is made use of in many ways to track down many things—objects, people, and even vehicles. For instance, if you wanted to monitor the whereabouts of your child, you can do so with a personal GPS tracker. Such technology can also work for vehicles, as it can help them navigate their way from point A to point B. This technology is able to carry out what it does via special satellite signals that are then processed by a receiver.
But the question remains: how can public transport systems benefit from GPS tracking systems? Let us learn the ways.
How Public Transport Systems Can Take Advantage of GPS Tracking
1. With a GPS tracker, the administration for public transport systems can easily monitor the whereabouts and activities of their employees. GPS systems can provide location data, route history, and service completion in the most efficient way possible. As such, they can give the management a way to track employee and vehicle performance and check for possible driver misbehavior and misuse of vehicles. This way, they can provide better guidance to their drivers as well as faster emergency response in case of accidents.
2. Through trackers, there is efficient route management as well improved decision-making. Because there is lesser idle time and shorter routes, fuel costs are reduced as well, making it beneficial for the company in the long run. Passengers are also satisfied because of how streamlined the services have become.
3. Vehicles are also monitored properly, and timely data is provided regarding vehicle performance and speed. This makes it easier to determine when vehicles may need repairs or maintenance. In turn, this helps reduce repair costs or incidence of malfunctioning equipment in the future.
4. It also enhances communication between drivers and dispatchers. With GPS technology, dispatchers can easily view location data of their fleet of vehicles with the simple accessing of an online database or an app. This helps them to stay on top of the situation. When there are accidents and obstructions, dispatchers are readily informed of it; thus, they can then think of possible solutions for it beforehand.
5. It helps the passengers get better access to real-time updates. They can easily be updated on arrival, departure, and waiting times of their chosen transit. Accurate updates are given with the help of real-time tracking features, and they can access such data just by accessing an app. Overall, because they are provided with interactive and are better informed, passengers are left feeling satisfied of the level of service that has been provided to them and thus are much more likely to repeat their usage of the service.
GPS Features That Can Help Improve Public Transportation
It depends of the kind of tracking system that is used, but they can offer many different features that can help improve the quality of public transportation.
Live Maps
This feature allows commuters to view the real-time location of the buses and the estimated time of arrival. Using the device’s live map tracking system, the management will be able to check whether your buses are on schedule. Traffic conditions can also be viewed on the map, allowing you to reroute the bus in case it’s needed. The location updates are all done in real time, and they are regularly refreshed at intervals of sixty seconds, thirty seconds, and even ten seconds.
Real-Time Alerts
Another GPS tracker feature that can help improve public transportation is the live alert feature. It will help the management ensure the bus and the passenger’s safety. You can customize the device for the kind of alerts you prefer to receive. For instance, geo-fencing automatic alert will notify you if your bus deviates from its pre-assigned route. Speed alert will tell you that your driver is traveling above the speed limit. Motion alerts will tell you if a vehicle is in motion or if it has too many stopovers. It can also be helpful in detecting and reducing idle time.
Fleet Analytics
In addition to real-time tracking updates, GPS trackers can also keep records of the fleet’s past activities including where it went to, at what time, at what speed did it travel, and how long it traveled or stayed at certain locations. This information can be used to analyze the performance of both your bus and driver, whether your bus is consuming more fuel than necessary or your driver is engaging in harmful driving behaviors. You can then use such data to come up with more efficient systems or to address poor vehicle and driver behavior.
With the passengers not having to wait long for the bus to arrive, it’s very convenient and can certainly help improve public transportation. You can say they will be riding your buses again. So for public transport providers that will be using the GPS technology, a fast return on investment is guaranteed.
Conclusion
Overall, public transport is an important aspect of our society, and as such, it should be maintained well. Any issues should be directly and instantly addressed. And opportunities to enhance and improve it should be grabbed. Like all things in this world, it is crucial that it stays up to date with the demands of the times.
Watch the videos below
