Skip to main content

Optibus makes it count in Japan's Akita City

Company's software will be used in redesign of city's public transportation network
By Adam Hill December 21, 2023 Read time: 1 min
Optibus will determine how many buses are required to run services efficiently (© Cowardlion | Dreamstime.com)

Akita City in Japan is to redesign its citywide public transportation network using Optibus' software.

The capital of the Akita prefecture, which has 300,000 residents, published the third edition of its policy vision for public transport in March 2021.

Optibus' digital planning and scheduling solution will be used to improve efficiency and optimise the redesign of route plans, timetables and vehicle counts.

The company says: "Network redesign and optimisation will also help Akita City to account for challenges when reimagining sustainability, including driver shortages and changes in ridership demand due to demographic changes such as a shrinking population and ageing society."

Using AI and optimisation algorithms, Optibus will also help determine how many vehicles are required to run services efficiently, based on Akita City’s operational standards and passenger demand, "resulting in a more effective network redesign and improved discussions with local bus operators".

The solution also allows the creation of multiple planning scenarios for the redesign which can be compared with one another.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Saving the world, one parking space at a time
    December 7, 2020
    Donald Shoup, professor of urban planning at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), tells Adam Hill about why parking is too cheap – and how Monopoly could seriously raise its game
  • ITS America publishes connected vehicle guidance
    April 22, 2015
    Guidance on the likely impact of multipath communications on connected vehicle development has been published by ITS America. ITS America’s Connected Vehicle Technical Insight looks at the challenges and opportunities wireless interoperability could provide in vehicle applications. In particular the 22-page document examines the processes by which data can be transferred from one vehicle to another (V2V), or between a vehicle and the infrastructure (V2I).
  • Real time GPS tracking on school buses drives efficiencies
    January 25, 2012
    Application of real time GPS tracking to school buses is driving operational efficiencies and allowing parents to follow their childern's movements, report Jason Barnes
  • Transportation applications move to machine vision’s mainstream
    June 11, 2015
    The adaptation of machine vision to transport applications continues apace. That the machine vision industry is taking traffic installations seriously is evident by the amount of hardware and software products tailor-made for ITS applications that are now available on the market. A good example comes from US-based Gridsmart Technologies which has developed a single wire fisheye camera that provides a horizon to horizon view for use at intersections. Not only does the single camera replace four or more in a