Assignment 2: Preventing ‘Bus Bunching’ with Smart Phone Application Implementation - Draft 1 (Summary)

In the article “Preventing ‘Bus Bunching’ with Smart Phone Application Implementation”, Sprogis (n.d.) claims that implementing a smartphone application for bus drivers will help shorten waiting times and prevent bus overcrowding. Sprogis analyses the data of bus crowds using AnyLogic's GIS features to create a solution called "Equilibrium" based on the distance between buses. By doing so buses will make refined adjustments to the route by “slowing down or stopping until sufficient space in front of them is available". Thus accommodating it to the rider’s needs, making their experiences more enjoyable. Although it helps buses run more efficiently, “implementation can be costly and/or risky”. However, Sprogis (n.d.) believes that this helps to make the riders in each bus more consistent and develop more predictable waiting times. He adds on to share that it also “eliminates excessively long wait times and dampens overcrowding of buses”. In conclusion, I support Sporgis’s idea. I feel that the usage of the application using a phone app can be easily applied and accessed by bus drivers.

Firstly, usage of a smart phone application to tackle bus bunching has been successfully tested. In a CBW article “Bus Bunching prevention technology successfully trialled in Washington DC”, CBW (2015) mentions about smartphones installed in buses which updates every three seconds and alerts drivers immediately to slow down or speed up. Shashkin, a technical partner at EastBanc shares that the application will “transmit a positioning signal every three seconds from every bus through EastBanc’s TransitIQ system”. He also claims the system to be “easy, reliable and cheap” as its “devices used are smartphones, and the data is stored in a cloud and publicly available”.  Since smartphones are so common and widely used today, it is only practical to use this as an advantage. With that being said, Sprogis’s idea was very similar to the idea brought up by Shashkin in terms of the usage of smart phone applications. In my opinion, this solidifies and proves that Sprogis’s idea is feasible.

 

Reference

Preventing 'Bus Bunching' with Smart Phone Application Implementation. (n.d.). Analogic. Retrieved, September 25, 2020 from https://www.anylogic.com/preventing-bus-bunching-with-smart-phone-applicationimplementation/

Bus Bunching prevention technology successfully trialled in Washington DC. (2015). CBW. Retrieved, September 27, 2020 from https://cbwmagazine.com/bus-bunching-prevention-technology-successfully-trialled-in-washington-dc/ 

Comments

  1. Ezekiel Joshua6 October 2020 at 00:41

    Dear Shimin,

    Thank you for the detailed write up on this implementation of smart phone application. After reading your Summary Draft 1, I do agree with you the implementation of the smart phone application. The smart phone application will not only benefit the commuters but also the drivers. I supposed your thesis should be working towards how easily accessible for the bus drivers?

    Yours sincerely,
    Ezekiel Joshua

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. smmmm100017 October 2020 at 01:00

      Dear Joshua,

      Thank you for the feedback! I have made some changes to my thesis, you can check them out on my latest blog post.

      Yours sincerely,
      Shimin

      Delete

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