SOMOBIL Improving Public Transport Planning Through Mobile Phone Data Analysis
Abstract User equitable planning of public transport (PT) is an essential requirement in order to achieve an appropriate accessibility and attractiveness. PT planning requires traffic related data (e.g. source target relationships) which is not available in many cases. Therefore Austrian nationwide mobile network data is used for analysis of large scale transport relations. The research project SOMOBIL deals with the derivation of methods that enable the development of user orientated planning solutions on the basis of floating phone data in coordination with other available transport and mobility data for a defined area of interest. Traffic relationships of the users of public transport are analysed. Within the project, the different data sources are merged. This approach allows the visualisation of traffic relations for different modes of transport. An essential task is the development of algorithms for the identification of PT passengers. With these data, planning solutions are developed according to defined requirements, differentiated by both traffic hours and user groups. In doing so, traffic modelling as part of at least three different planning scenarios is carried out to calculate the impacts of measures in terms of shifting users between different modes of transport. Positive impacts due to this planning process can be produced in terms of optimized travel times. Recommendations are given for the planning of public transport with floating phone data and the use of transport modelling.