Presentation on how social media could impact transportation behaviour modelling. Prepared for COST Action TU1305: Social Networks and Travel Behaviour. Presented 15 October 2015, Technion, Haifa.

1. Civic Technology
and Travel Behaviour
Andrew
Nash
GreenCityStreets.com
COST
Ac8on
TU
1305
Technion
October
16,
2015

2. Whatever happened to
Travel Behaviour Analysis?
Andrew
Nash
GreenCityStreets.com
TRB
Transporta8on
History
CommiFee
TRB
105th
Annual
Mee8ng
Washington,
DC
January
10,
2025

3. Outline
• What
was
travel
behaviour
analysis?
• What
was
travel
behaviour
analysis
used
for?
• What
happened
to
travel
behaviour
analysis?
• Outlook

4. What
was
travel
behaviour
analysis?
Travel
behaviour
was
the
study
of
what
people
do
over
space,
and
how
people
use
transport.
• How
many
trips
do
people
make?
• Where
do
they
go?
• What
mode
do
they
take?
• When
is
the
trip
made?
• What
route
choices
do
people
make?
Source:
Wikipedia
(!!!!)

5. What
was
travel
behaviour
analysis
used
for?
Travel
behaviour
analysis
was
used
to
help
design
and
improve
transport
infrastructure
and
services.
• Where
to
build
a
metro
line
or
highway;
• How
oBen
to
operate
a
bus
service;
• How
to
aCract
more
users.

6. What
happened
to
travel
behaviour
analysis?
Travel
behaviour
analysis
was
made
un-­‐
necessary
by
civic
technology
apps
for
…
• ReporFng
condiFons;
• Analysing
data;
• Designing
services
and
infrastructure;
• Providing
transport.
…
and
vastly
improved
compu<ng
power.

7. Repor<ng

8. Collec8ng
data
became
simple
and
ubiquitous
• Social
media
• ReporFng
applicaFons
• Sensor
data
(automaFc,
e.g.
from
phone)
…
giving
transport
agencies
sufficient
data
to
fully
understand
real
4me
transport
condi4ons
and
make
projec4ons
without
complex
models.

9. Chicago
Transit
Authority
–
TwiFer
Feed

10. Zurich
Public
Transport
Authority
–
Facebook
Page

11. SeeClickFix
page
for
San
Francisco
hCp://seeclickfix.com

13. Traffic
Check
hCp://www.trafficcheck.at/
User
friendly
features
needed
for
mobile
phone
repor8ng:
• automa8c
geo
loca8on,
• logical
informa8on
flow,
• check
boxes
for
data
entry.

14. Meine
Radspur,
Vienna
hCp://www.meineradspur.at/

15. Sensor-­‐based
data:
Street
Bump,
Boston
hCp://streetbump.org/

18. Analysis

19. • (Smart)
city
data;
• ApplicaFon
data
(e.g.
Waze);
• CiFzen
data
(cheap
sensors).
…
data
and
vastly
improved
compu4ng
enabled
transport
providers
to
analyze
countless
scenarios
and
develop
precise
transport
plans
in
real
4me.
*
So
easy
anyone
could
do
it
(open
data)!
Analyzing
all
this
data
became
easy*

20. Ci8zen
developed
applica8ons
and
visualiza8ons
from
open
data.
Stumble
Safely,
Washington
D.C.

21. WayCount
vehicle
counter
and
soware
www.waycount.com

22. Smart
Ci8zen
sensor
and
soware
hCp://www.smartciFzen.me/

24. Design

25. • EducaFon
–
transport
planning
is
complex;
• BeCer
processes
–
meeFng
management;
• Increased
engagement
–
more
is
beCer.
…
improving
the
quality
of
ideas,
increasing
the
ability
to
implement
and
test
new
ideas,
and
helping
build
community
spirit.
Collabora8on
became
more
efficient

26. Bus
Meister
game
!
greencitystreets.com
–
Fun
!
Learning

27. Grr-­‐Grr-­‐Bike
game
!
grr-­‐grr-­‐bike.com
–
Fun
!
Learning

28. Ring
Ride
game
!
ringstrasse150.com
–
Fun
!
Advocacy

29. Shareabouts
–
geo
collabora8on
openplans.org/work/shareabouts/

30. GreenCityStreets.com
…
Facebook-­‐based
collabora8on

31. Visualiza8on
...
ParFcipatory
Chinatown
Boston
Using
virtual
reality
to
help
understand
city
planning.
hCp://www.parFcipatorychinatown.org/

32. Visualisa8on
of
street
cross
sec8ons...
streetmix
hCp://streetmix.net

33. San
Francisco
Mind
Mixer
website
www.improveSF.com

34. Loomio
–
public
infrastructure
for
collabora8ve
decision
making
www.loomio.org
-­‐
please
support
their
crowd
funding
effort!

35. Provide

36. Providing
transport
became
open
• InformaFon
via
social
networks
(TwiCer
real
Fme);
• ImplementaFon
via
civic
groups
(596
Acres,
Casserole);
• Behaviour
modificaFon
(Chromaroma,
Walk-­‐a-­‐Stop);
• Crowd-­‐sourced
civic
works
(Spacehive,
Kickstarter);
• Service
providers
&
sharing
(Uber,
BlahBlahCar,
Bridj).
…
reducing
the
need
for
centralized
transport
planning
and
service
provision.

37. Informa8on
exchange
and
organisa8on
…
596
Acres

38. Designing
passionate,
people-­‐powered
public
services
Casserole
is
an
example
of
how
understanding
ci<zens
as
producers
as
well
as
consumers
leads
to
services
that
help
communiFes
turn
the
issues
they’re
passionate
about
into
ways
to
be
more
self-­‐
sufficient
and
less
invested
in
expensive
public
services.

40. Chromaroma
game
!
Fun
!
Influence
behaviour

41. Walk-­‐a-­‐Stop
!
Info
+
Social
Network
!
Influence
behaviour
Human
is
an
all-­‐day
acFvity
&
calorie
tracker
that
inspires
you
to
move
30
minutes
a
day.
Ac8vity
monitor
(e.g.,
Human)
+
Public
transport
travel
planner
+
Real
8me
transport
data
(official
/
user)
+
Social
networking
=
Walk-­‐a-­‐Stop
Users
receive
push
data
when
staFons
are
crowded
suggesFng
they
walk
or
bike
one
or
two
staFons.
AcFvity
is
rewarded
(transit
Fckets),
social
networking
provides
info
about
good
routes,
interesFng
shops,
companions
to
walk
with,
and/or
system
suggests,
It’s
a
nice
day
why
not
walk?

43. Crowdfunding
for
civic
improvements
…
Kickstarter

45. App-­‐based
public
transport

46. Uber
“One
of
the
most
subtle
underlying
issues
with
the
rise
of
Uber
is
the
company’s
slow
siphoning
of
the
poli8cal
will
to
fix
exisFng
–
or
build
new
–
public
transit
infrastructure
in
major
ciFes.
…
The
people
leB
riding
public
transit
become,
increasingly,
the
ones
with
liCle
or
no
poliFcal
weight
to
demand
improvements
to
the
system.”
MaC
Buchanan,
The
Awl,
hCp://www.theawl.com/2015/08/ubiquity

47. The
dilemma
in
2015
How
could
these
technological
improvements
and
new
services
be
harnessed
for
the
public
good?
• Public-­‐private
partnerships?
• Strong
public
benefit
requirements?
• Privacy
requirements
and
data
ownership?
• Role
of
the
market?

53. Whatever happened to
Travel Behaviour Analysis?
OK, travel behaviour analysis is
probably not going away, but it’s
clearly going to change significantly.

54. Andrew
Nash
develops
engaging
public
parFcipaFon
applicaFons
and
games
designed
to
improve
city
live-­‐ability
and
transport.
• GreenCityStreets.com
• Ringstrasse150.com
• AndyNash.com