Skip to main content

Low public transport usage solved by BusPlus journey planner

BusPlus, a ‘hub and spoke’ off-peak public transport option designed by National ICT Australia (NICTA), will be featured at the 2015 ITS World Congress. NICTA claims this service is particularly beneficial during off-peak times, when public transport is frequently inefficient, poorly utilised and expensive to deliver.
July 31, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
NICTA researcher Dr Phil Kilby has developed a system for new off-peak public transport in Canberra
BusPlus, a ‘hub and spoke’ off-peak public transport option designed by National ICT Australia (NICTA), will be featured at the 2015 ITS World Congress. NICTA claims this service is particularly beneficial during off-peak times, when public transport is frequently inefficient, poorly utilised and expensive to deliver.

The solution came from solving low public transport utilisation in Canberra, by introducing a hub and spoke model to the problem.

Hubs are linked by buses, which run frequently (typically every 15 minutes) to facilitate public transport. Passengers are connected to these hubs by taxis, which will bring them to their nearest bus stop by simply booking a trip online, by phone or by downloading the app – and only 15 minutes before they need to go.

According to Dr Phil Kilby, the beauty of this solution is that the BusPlus system plans the whole route including pickup at a user’s local stop, bus travel, and a taxi waiting at the other end to complete the journey. Passengers may share taxis (up to three passengers per taxi) and, when necessary, minibuses can also be used as shuttles.

Other notable NICTA projects on show in Bordeaux include TrafficWatch, a real-time traffic incident detection and monitoring system using social media, as well as NICTA’s ground-breaking research on CBD hotspot prediction, roads performance estimation and smart motorways.

Related Content

  • MTA's Bronx bus route re-jig 'streamlines' trips
    February 28, 2023
    New York's transit agency says commute times for bus riders have been cut
  • New markets for travel information apps
    November 26, 2013
    Purpose-designed travel information apps are emerging to support the real estate market in the US – and potentially more widely – in a major diversification away from the conventional automotive and navigation device sectors. In July 2013, Washington State-based Imprev, which develops web-based marketing support aids for realtors, announced its App Generator. Claimed as an industry first, this enables property businesses to create their own branded mobile apps to give away as marketing tools to potential
  • How to outsmart the rat runners - use data
    June 12, 2023
    Proactively solving transport problems with powerful empirical evidence is appealing: Emily Bobis of Compass IoT explains how vehicle-generated data can be the missing link
  • Real-time travel information to roll out in South East Queensland
    October 20, 2014
    The South East Queensland government, Australia, is set to roll out real time travel information across South East Queensland from next month. Announcing the new technology, Transport and Main Roads Minister, Scott Emerson, said: “This new technology is all part of our strong plan for a brighter future to improve public transport for Queenslanders and boost the local economy. Real-time technology enables passengers to know exactly where their bus is in the morning which could mean enough time for an extr