Can I find a seat? - Occupancy forecast for bus and train passengers

The research project coordinated by the University of Kassel has been launched under the title "U-hoch-3" (carefree urban travel) together with numerous partners, including public transport practitioners from NVV and KVG, and is already delivering usable interim results: The occupancy forecast for public transport in North Hesse now provides information at a glance on the volume of passengers for the desired journey on the train, streetcar or bus. The predicted occupancy is displayed as an indication in the connection information with a pictogram.

If the expected passenger volume on the desired connection is high, alternative routes with an expected lower passenger volume are suggested to the customer in the information. Designed as a learning system, it will be gradually expanded until customers can see the utilization of the entire seating capacity in the vehicles of NVV, KVG and all local public transport authorities in the five districts of the network in the timetable information.

In the project, the project partners are investigating various options for improving public transport and researching the respective effects. Due to the pandemic situation, the team has decided to make the new occupancy forecasting service available immediately in an initial field test version.

"Not only in times of Corona is the occupancy forecast a useful technology to ensure more safety during the pandemic, but also more comfort for passengers. Having a good feeling on buses and trains is an essential prerequisite for continuing to use local public transport in northern Hesse. This new application offers an essential prerequisite for this," says NVV Managing Director Steffen Müller about the latest digital development in NVV information.

"In a second project step, we will record real-time occupancy information and make it available online. In this context, KVG will initially equip seven streetcars with sidecars on line 6 with new, innovative sensor technology. In addition to real-time information on passenger occupancy, these will also enable object recognition so that the occupancy of the multi-purpose areas for passengers with mobility aids, baby carriages or bicycles, for example, can also be identified," says Dr. Michael Maxelon, CEO of KVG, about the ongoing development and application of an information technology assistance system to reduce barriers to use in public transport at KVG.

"As part of the U-hoch-3 research project, the occupancy status of the vehicles and the multi-purpose areas for bicycles, baby carriages and wheelchairs will also be shown on the electronic displays at the stops in future. We are currently investigating corresponding design drafts in our mobility laboratory before they are tested in the field," adds Prof. Dr. Ludger Schmidt, project coordinator and head of the Department of Human-Machine Systems Engineering at the University of Kassel.

The basis for the occupancy forecasts is provided by counting data from automatic passenger counting systems (AFZS), which are installed in the RT vehicles, streetcars and buses of NVV and KVG. These are linked with anonymized query data from the NVV information system. Over time, this results in increasingly accurate estimates of passenger volumes in the entire NVV area. This means that this information can be provided for all routes in the network, although there may be differences in accuracy due to the different data quality of the counting data.

Data protection was also checked. The application was assessed as unobjectionable, as there is no possibility of drawing conclusions about individual persons or groups of persons. To start with, the capacity utilization forecast in the connection information for all smartphones and tablets can be easily accessed via the browser and the NVV app at: www.nvv.de and www.kvg.de

Further information on the "unbeschwert urban unterwegs" research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research can be found at: www.u-hoch-3.de