Why know passenger flows ?

Many transport networks have understood the importance of knowing the passenger flows on their networks in order to optimise their transport offer and their operations while increasing passenger comfort and safety.

To do so, many have chosen to carry out counting in vehicles (trains, metros etc.) via counting cells at each door. The counting flow is then fed back into a software that indicates the passenger loads in real time according to the vehicles, missions, stops etc…

At the same time, many operators have also decided to count people in the stations themselves, as knowing the passenger flow is crucial for making business decisions, adjusting manpower levels and optimising security.

We can therefore say that if a network performs both on-board and ground passenger flow analysis, it will have a complete coverage of its network, even if this is partially true.

Partly true, because in our experience, on-board and station count data are rarely matched in a single tool, or a single analysis. 

There are many reasons for this :

  • The providers, technologies and software for on-board and ground counting are often different
  • There is no internal tool or expertise to centralise all the data and analyse it
  • The data chains of the different counting solutions are often complex
  • Counting solutions can be outdated

Passenger flows and counting solutions

Overcoming these obstacles will therefore make it possible to have a global view of passenger flows while maximising the counting solutions already in place:

  • To know in real time the number of passengers on the network
  • To have a more precise forecast of passenger flows (for example: the number of passengers in a station may be at a correct level but if 3 full trains arrive in less than 15 minutes, the flow in the station will be very busy)
  • Make the right safety and operational decisions
  • Bridge the gap between on-board and ground

In order to achieve this, it is important to choose a counting solution provider that has extensive experience in both on-board and station/ground counting so that it can use its expertise, tools and experience to unify passenger flow data and thus enable operators to get a better return on their investment in their different counting solutions.

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