ENHANCING RURAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT ACCESSIBILITY THROUGH IMPLEMENTING A SMART SCAN-ON M-TICKETING SOLUTION: : A UNITED KINGDOM CASE STUDY APPROACH WITHIN RURAL DEREGULATED ENVIRONMENTS

Scott Copsey, Sue Walsh, Liam Fassam, Richard Southern, ‘Enhancing Rural Public Transport Accessibility Through Implementing a Smart Scan-on M Ticketing Solution: A United Kingdom Case Study Approach Within Rural Deregulated Environments’, paper presented at the European Transport Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 5-7 October, 2016.The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how two UK Local Authorities (Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire), the two Universities of Hertfordshire and Northampton and public transport providers have worked in partnership to develop a smart scan-on m-ticketing solution, that integrates into a wider ‘smart city’ solution delivering social good through connected value propositions. Based on the initial success of a Hertfordshire pilot, a specific objective of this work is to establish smart integrated multi-operator/modal solutions. This pilot is subsequently being collaboratively expanded upon, through the UK Department for Transport funded ‘Network Northamptonshire Total Transport’ initiative, a transformative project to improve connectivity, integration and accessibility for rural transport networks. This forms part of the recently signed ‘Heart of England’ economic tri-county alliance agreement, which aims to work collaboratively across three local authority regions (Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire), consolidating £3bn of spending. This provides a further future platform for innovative transport solutions being rolled out across wider geographical areas. The initial Hertfordshire demonstrator pilot project explored how a ‘smart’ m-ticketing platform could provide a sustainable financial business model for implementing ticketing solutions for small and medium bus operators within rural Shires, outside of large urban settings. This unique project was the first scan-on bus mobile ticket product used in the UK (outside of London). It offers a partnership model and governance structure for local authorities, commercial operators and other stakeholders with an interest in integrated sustainable transport to take forward, and leads to the possibility of new, socially innovative models for procuring and delivering transport solutions. Initial user reactions have been positive, generating large digital data sets, analysis of which indicates rapid user uptake in comparison to other schemes. This data enables detailed analysis such as precise user geo-spatial distribution, supporting targeted marketing and route-specific promotions to encourage further service uptake. A critical success factor of the project was to target a reduction of on-bus cash handling by five per cent within the first 12 months. This would aid in reducing bus loading times, improve reliability and operator efficiencies. After an initial 16 month operational use, uptake growth in excess of 7 per cent of total revenue has been achieved, on specific routes the transfer to m-ticket has exceeded 12 per cent, with targets of 10 per cent of total cash to mobile conversion predicted by the middle of 2017, likely to be realised. The effectiveness of marketing campaigns, technical development aspects and implementation issues will be reported. These projects have a wider context. Public transport services in rural areas in England are deregulated, and have at present no effective statutory backing or ring-fenced funding. As a result, with reductions in funding to local authorities, funding for non-commercial bus services is being sharply reduced and many authorities are proposing to cease all funding for local bus services (Campaign for Better Transport, 2016). These projects may offer alternative cost-effective ways of providing local transport services in non-metropolitan areas, and thus provide the potential for unique future research opportunities. These include understanding the uptake of smart multi-modal solutions in rural areas to improve accessibility and connectivity through enhanced services for new users and for those with restricted or reduced mobility networks, whilst also offering efficiencies for operators. This research has added importance, because the UK Government is proposing legislation on bus services in England, which would confer significant extra powers on local authorities to intervene in the bus market in various ways. These projects may act as pathfinders for the use of these powers in non-metropolitan areas. Structures supporting a partnership approach involving all those with an interest in public transport are a critical part of improving rural connectivity and accessibility. Through the experience of establishing quality partnership models in Hertfordshire, this paper will go on to detail the subsequent work now underway developing a Social Enterprise model involving local government, universities, operators, health and education services in Northamptonshire, which will form the basis of the transformation of rural integrated sustainable transport delivery.Non peer reviewedSubmitted Versio

Analysis of roles and position of mobile network operators in mobile payment infrastructure

A number of different mobile payment solutions have been presented the last decade. The phone subscription with its security mechanisms are used for user identification and payments. This is the case for SMS based payment and ticketing systems that are getting more and more popular. However, there are other ways to implement a Trusted Element (TE) , where a SIM card architecture is only one. It can be in the mobile phone, as a separate integrated circuit, as an optional customer deployed plug-in device (e.g., microSD) or be running as an application on a server existing entirely as software. In this paper we analyze what roles and responsibilities different actors have in different types of mobile payments solutions. The main focus is on the implications for the mobile operator business. It turns out that new types of intermediary actors in most cases play an important role. Sometimes mobile operators are not even involved. The emergence of new payment together with other non-SIM card based TE solutions opens up for many different market scenarios for mobile payment services. --

Understanding the role of visuals in commercial website interaction on smartphone display

Flexible and ease of internet access through mobile device in Indonesia has changed the way users interact with commercial websites, especially online ticketing service website. Yet, no study on how the presented website visuals on smartphone display perceived and experienced by users is found. This paper exposes users’ interactive experience on smartphone display, showcasing 3 (three) popular online ticketing service providers in Indonesia, traveloka dot com, pegi-pegi dot com, and tiket dot com. 60 individuals were purposively sampled and each was asked to access all chosen websites using provided smartphone. 2 (two) pages follow-up questionnaire was presented to each respondent: first page is for identifying users’ perception 5 (five) items likert-scale responses and second page is for identifying users’ experiences using Schrepp, Hinderks & Thomaschewski’s UXQ (User Experience Questionnaire). Results show that when interacting with online ticketing service websites on smartphone, sites that look simple and easy to interact with may provide sense of savvyness, comfortability, and security. This indicates that presented website visuals on smartphone display affect users’ experience when using online services. Although further studies are needed, this results offer valuable insights to the discussions of human interactive experience in using online platform

Strategic Niche Management (SNM) beyond sustainability. An exploration of key findings of SNM through the lens of ICT and privacy

Recently the governance of socio-technical transitions to sustainability is gaining attention in the field of innovation studies. One particular approach is that of Strategic Niche Management (SNM), which advocates the creation of protected space to experiment with radically new sustainable socio-technical practices. This paper contributes by asking whether this approach is also useful for analysis and governance of other types of socially desirable change. This question is addressed through a review of six key-findings of Strategic Niche Management and an original case study in the field of Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies for mobile payment. The social value at stake in this case is not sustainability but privacy. We draw three main conclusions. First, we find that the key-findings and concepts in SNM for sustainability are helpful to understand and interpret much of the data collected for the NFC case and privacy. However, there are notable differences in each of the key-findings, i.e findings related to a) the local-global distinction in SNM, b) expectations, c) social networks, d) learning, e) protection, and f) niche-regime interactions. Second, in relation to governance, the role of sustainability values (being a promising value to pursue) and privacy values (being a bottom-line value to defend) are notably different. Third, these differences result in different roles of public bodies in niche development. The paper ends with discussing the consequences for SNM for sustainability research and future research topics.Strategic Niche Management, sustainability, NFC, mobile payment, privacy

Motion Hub, the implementation of an integrated end-to-end journey planner

© AET 2018 and contributorsThe term “eMobility” and been brought into use partly to encourage use of electric vehicles but more especially to focus on the transformation from electric vehicles as products to electrified personal transport as a service. Under the wider umbrella of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) this has accompanied the growth of car clubs in general. The Motion Hub project has taken this concept a step further to include not just the car journey but the end-to-end journey. The booking of multifaceted journeys is well established in the leisure and business travel industries, where flights, car hire and hotels are regularly booked with a single transaction on a website. To complete an end-to-end scenario Motion Hub provides integration of public transport with electric vehicle and electric bike use. Building on a previous InnovateUK funded project that reviewed the feasibility of an integrated journey management system, the Motion Hub project has brought together a Car Club, a University, and EV infrastructure company, a bicycle hire company with electric bicycle capabilities and a municipality to implement a scheme and test it on the ground. At the heart of the project has been the development of a website that integrates the public transport booking with the hire of electric vehicles or bicycles. Taking the implementation to a fully working system accessible to members of the public presents a number of significant challenges. This paper identifies those challenges, details the progress and success of the Motion Hub and sets out the lessons learnt about end-to-end travel. The project was fortunate to have as its municipal partner the Council of a sizeable South East England town, Southend-on-Sea. With a population of 174,800 residents with good road, rail and air links there is considerable traffic in and out of the town. The Council has already shown its commitment to sustainable transport. In the previous six years it had installed a number of electric vehicle charging points for use by the public and latterly had trialled car club activity. An early challenge in the project was the location of physical infrastructure in an already crowded municipal space in order to provide the local ‘spokes’ of the system. In addition to its existing charging points, Southend now has four locations where electric cars can be hired, five where electric bikes are available and the local resources to maintain these assets. Combining a number of web-based services and amalgamating their financial transactions is relatively straightforward. However, introducing the potential for public transport ticketing as well raises additional security, scale and financial constraints. The project has engaged with major players and regulators across the public transport industry.Peer reviewe

65+ Membership Scheme

This report shares the journey of three partners' experiment with digital technology to address societal challenges linked to ageing and social isolation. In recent years artsdepot has seen enormous changes to its business model driven by the advance of digital communication tools, rapidly increasing use of social media, and changing consumer behaviours. The project team felt that digital innovation was typically aimed at the young but wondered if there was greater potential to increase attendance and sales while also addressing social isolation through creating digital innovations with older people. A range of partners worked on the project: artsdepot (arts partner and project lead) is a multi-art form venue based in North Finchley welcoming 130,000 audience members annually. DigiLab (research partner) is an R&D laboratory based at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Ingelby (tech partner) is a digital agency specialising in app building and mobile app development, as well as mobile website design , e-commerce development , customised CRM systems and creative digital media. This project aimed to explore digital technologies that could help create increased levels of arts attendance among older people by identifying barriers and designing digital solutions. artsdepot felt that by enabling increased arts attendance and therefore facilitating opportunities to socialise, they might help establish new friendships while providing enriching creative experiences. Additionally, the team felt there was an additional benefit in terms of demonstrating an economic model for engaging older audiences. Having learnt in the application phase that two thirds of older people have more disposable income than any other age group, artsdepot felt that if it could address other barriers to attendance, it could also improve ticket sales and build a case for increased focus on older audiences