The Real-Time Information Challenge Cities & Transport Authorities Face In Nudging Behavioural Shift Towards Public Transport.

2.3 million Londoners are digitally excluded or disadvantaged.

Travel in London has seen a significant change in user behaviour over the last few years with the annual share of total trips using public transport versus private cars growing to around 36% of all trips. However, whilst private transport usage (including taxis) has declined, it still accounts for 37% of all trips. Whilst there can be expected a continued uptake of ridership of public transport due to ULEZ, the congestion charge, cost of living crisis, improved services, consumer sentiment and travel restrictions on private car usage it is necessary to accelerate the behavioural switch in order to reach net zero.

To accelerate the switch to public transport, the perception of choosing it needs to be easy, convenient and accessible. This challenge is pertinent for the 2.3 million Londoners who, according to the London TravelWatch 2023 report 'Left Behind Londoners' are digitally excluded/low digital use alongside other casual customers who find choosing public transport daunting.

PassageWay smart bus shelter digital signs provide route information, disruption notifications and onward travel status.

This challenge is particularly evident for customers considering which bus service to take. Whilst bus travel remains the most used form of London transport modes, accounting for around 20% of all daily journey types across London (including all TfL modes plus car, walking and taxi) it can be a very anxious choice for digital excluded, low digital engaged, casual or first time customers. Although there are more than 18,000 bus stops in London, currently only approximately 2,000 display any real time information, forcing customers to interrogate printed timetables to discover if the stop will take them to their intended destination. Mobility apps and online search tools including Google offer a solution with personal journey planning but the level of penetration amongst the general population remains low with only circa 20% of smartphone users having downloaded an app and far fewer using them on a regular basis.

This real time information gap between those who use mobility apps and everyone else represents a significant impact on customer demand.

The figures quoted in the London TravelWatch 2023 report 'Left Behind Londoners' are staggering. In their 2021 UK Consumer Digital Index, Lloyds Bank estimated that 270,000 Londoners are offline (3%) and nearly 2 million (20%) have very low digital engagement. Compared to Londoners overall, digitally disadvantaged or excluded people are more likely to be older (55+), white, Disabled and have a lower income. Digitally excluded and disadvantaged people have less access to tools and services which facilitate travelling around London -- particularly planning information, payment platforms and up-to-date information on timetables and disruptions. The result is that many digitally disadvantaged customers make shorter, more familiar trips. Indeed, the TravelWatch report states that digitally excluded and disadvantaged people are much less likely to use public transport than digitally included people. Of all TfL modes, 69% of those surveyed for the TravelWatch report use buses the most frequently.

PassageWay answers the challenges this demographic face by providing universal access to live public transport information without recourse to smartphone, registration, download, login or other interaction.

We believe customers can be encouraged to choose public transport by providing universal real-time information on local services, disruptions and onward travel status. And by transforming large format digital screens into digital signs, public transport can be more effectively promoted to all customers regardless of digital capability. In doing so we can help to close the gap between those who use mobility apps and everyone else.

About PassageWay

PassageWay offer a portfolio of different RTPI sign designs to meet differing use cases, from bus stations to smart bus shelters. We have also developed multi-modal public transport digital signs suitable for place-based locations such as schools, hospitals etc.