Appropriate technology for automatic passenger counting on public transport vehicles in South Africa

Abstract

Paper presented at the 23rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 12 - 15 July 2004 "Getting recognition for the importance of transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. The National Land Transport Transition Act 2000 requires that Current Public Records (CPTRs) be completed by each planning authority. The CPTRs consist of data on infrastructure, fleet, timetables, routes, passenger volumes, etc regarding public transport in the planning authorities region. However this data is collected manually and therefore time consuming and subject to inaccuracy. The main aim of this project is to explore possibilities of collecting most of the data required for transport planning electronically. A market survey was conducted to establish the need for automated passenger counting systems. The results showed that indeed there is a need for automated passenger counting systems. This paper contains a technology scan on the automated passenger counting systems that gives a basic understanding of these systems. Furthermore, an extensive research was undertaken to identify automated passenger counting systems developers. Ten systems developers where identified. A database of such developers was developed together with their contact details. Passenger counters can be categorized according to four groupings based on the key technology used for counting. The following groupings exist: ! Manual (Turnstiles) ! Infrared (IR) beams ! Infrared optic sensors ! Low ultrasonic frequency sensors, and ! Treadle mats. (Load cells) ! Video camera A field trial was undertaken with Infodev on the City of Johannesburg’s Metrobus. The main objective was to test the system on real life situation and its acceptability to passengers. It was found that people did not notice the presence of the sensors on top of the door. Also the system gave accuracy levels around 99%.