Advanced traveller information systems; real-time information on the Jammie shuttle service at the University of Cape Town

Abstract

Paper presented at the 31st Annual Southern African Transport Conference 9-12 July 2012 "Getting Southern Africa to Work", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

South African transport policies documents have been focused on providing mobility for all, for more than a decade now. The White Paper on National Transport Policy (NDOT, 1996) indicates in its vision statement to ‘provide safe, reliable, effective, efficient, and fully integrated transport operations and infrastructure, which will best meet the needs of freight and passenger customers at improved level of service’. Government has also identified that the provision of public transport plays a crucial role in working towards this vision. Independent of the physical infrastructure and vehicle type, the provision of information has been identified as an important element that provides, or improves, customer satisfaction (Mitretek Systems, 2001). Internationally, the trend is to provide real-time information through the implementation of Advanced Traveller Information Systems (ATIS). This paper describes the implementation of an ATIS system for the Jammie Shuttle service at the University of Cape Town (UCT), with the aim to act as a demonstration project for other public transport systems in South Africa and beyond. Preliminary customer satisfaction findings will be presented.