The quality and the strategic orientation of passenger information is becoming increasingly important for transport companies. Providing real-time dynamic information along a multi-modal travel chain is a prerequisite for more and more customers and directly affects pas-senger satisfaction and their rating of the transport company.

Against this backdrop, BSL was assigned by a South East European transport company to strategically develop their passenger information system. The scope of the pilot study comprised the transport system of a large city as well as of its adjoining regions, altogether accounting for 1 million inhabitants.

Positioning in a European comparison

The project started with a detailed analysis of existing passenger information channels, the strategic (corporate) objectives as well as of existing and planned cooperations with other transport companies regarding the provision of passenger information. A complementary market analysis and a detailed examination of two case studies concerning the role and design of modern passenger information systems was also carried out in order to rank the present passenger information system in a European comparison.

In the course of the analysis it became clear that the examined passenger information sys-tem had significant development potential in terms of unused information channels, timeliness and scope of provided information. The lack of (technical) compatibility of the background systems was an additional challenge, both within the company, as well as with other transport service providers in the surveyed area, as it hampered the smooth flow of information between the transport companies.

Prioritisation of the information channels and standardised IT interfaces as success factors

Based on the revealed potential for development and taking into account current multi-modal and technological trends in the field of (passenger) information provision, the layout

for a future passenger information system was designed. For the strategic thrust, particular emphasis was placed on the prioritisation of digital information channels and the use of standardised IT interfaces to exchange information between the background systems, as these could be identified as particular success factors in the case studies.

The economic impact of the proposed strategic measures for a further development of the passenger information system were finally determined in a cost-benefit analysis and handed over to the customer, including a strategy roadmap for the implementation time frame as well as the information channel-specific documentation.

19. February 2016