Page 160 - Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities

140 Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities The Practical Application of Analytics to Transportation 141

A third and perhaps less obvious reason for starting with an integrated
payment system within a smart city initiative is that the connectivity required
to support payment could also form the basis for connected citizen and con-
nected visitor service. The communication channels—the back office and the
smart apps used to enable electronic payment and make payment for services
fast and convenient—also have the potential to support a two-way informa-
tion exchange between the back office and the traveler. In a similar fashion, an
integrated payment system could also support many aspects of the performance
management data collection required for a smart city. The ability to know when
and where a transaction occurred as well as how much the transaction was
worth could form the basis for a performance management system by providing
data regarding the demand for transportation and current or prevailing condi-
tions on the transportation network.
With respect to performance management in a smart city, an integrated
payment system can also enable the use of congestion pricing, variable tolling,
and variable parking fees to manage the demand for transportation. The Lon-
don congestion charge discussed in Chapter 5, for example, explains the use
of a mandatory congestion charge to manage the demand for private car use
in central London. In the United States, while this concept has been studied,
the focus has been placed on the provision of additional service quality levels
in return for a fee, rather than a mandatory charge. This includes the imple-
mentation of express lanes where the toll charged is varied to achieve a specific
predefined level of service. There are numerous examples of the application of
dynamic tolling to express lanes in the United States [1]. Similar techniques
can be applied varying parking fees to affect the demand for parking within
the smart city. It is also possible to apply the same techniques to transit tickets,
although there are likely to be institutional and political barriers to the applica-
tion of variable pricing to transit.

7.6 Integrated Payment System Analytics and Their Practical
Application

Table 7.1 contains a sample of analytics that can be used for an integrated pay-
ment system.
The analytics shown in Table 7.1 are applicable to electronic toll collec-
tion and electronic transit ticketing.

7.7 MaaS—What Is It?

MaaS is a relatively new concept that has been the subject of considerable dis-
cussion within the context of a smart city approach. It recognizes the emer-