Page 42 - Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities

22 Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities Questions to Be Addressed 23

How Do We Make It Easier for Transportation Customers to Pay?

In most cases, transportation customers have to pay a fee in return for service.
This can include transit fares, tolls, and parking fees. Often the payment of the
fee at the point of service can lead to delays and congestion. The payment of
the fee may also be perceived as a barrier to use of the system. This question ad-
dresses the ways in which technology can be applied to make it easier for users
to pay for transportation services. This leads to other questions such as: can I set
up a single system to pay for all transportation modes within my city? Similarly,
one might ask can I use the data collected from my citywide transportation
payment system as input and for better operational management and planning?
How Do We Improve Service Levels for Citizens?
This question requires us to define what exactly we mean by service and ser-
vice level and what target service levels we are aspiring to for our cities and our
citizens. A service can be considered to be something of value. Table 2.2 sum-
marizes the user services that were identified as part of the National Intelligent
Transportation Systems Development program [3], a multiyear effort to define
a national framework for the application of advanced technologies to transpor-
tation. The program defined eight user service bundles or categories, which are
detailed in Tables 2.3–2.9. A brief explanation of each user service is provided
in the second column of each of the tables (Tables 2.2–2.9). These notes are
not based on the National ITS program work but on my own interpretation.
In transportation, there tends to be a focus placed on the project rather
than the service. It could be viewed that projects are a means to delivery of ser-
vice but that it is the services that deliver the ultimate value in terms of safety,
efficiency, and enhanced user experience. A service evolution approach to the
application of advanced technologies such as connected and autonomous cars
and smart cities could be a very effective way to define a rollout program over
time, space, and level of service. With respect to level of service, there is another
component to this question. Having identified the services that we intend to
deliver to our citizens then what is the desired level of service to be delivered?
This will undoubtedly involve other questions like how much are customers
prepared to pay?

How Do We Improve Service Levels for Visitors?
It is important to consider visitors to a city as well as its citizens or residents. For
many cities the economy is substantially impacted by the activities of visitors as
well as residents. The same comments hold good for visitors as the ones defined
for citizens above, with the added caveat that visitors may have additional needs
related to a lack of understanding of the transportation system and unfamiliar-
ity with the city. This may well lead to additional services being defined and