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Delivering bus arrival information at stops via QR codes – A case study of user take–up and reaction in Southampton, UK

Delivering bus arrival information at stops via QR codes – A case study of user take–up and reaction in Southampton, UK
Delivering bus arrival information at stops via QR codes – A case study of user take–up and reaction in Southampton, UK
Real-time passenger information systems for bus users are now common place with bus stops in major UK cities equipped with arrival countdown displays and several apps now providing similar information direct to the Smartphone. Real-time displays at stops are expensive to install and given the current rate of Smartphone take-up, there could be benefits from using Quick Response (QR) codes linking to adapted, mobile friendly, webpages displaying arrival times of buses. This paper reports on a QR code implementation trial on 44 bus stops in six distinct areas of Southampton, UK.

Each bus stop was fitted with a poster containing a unique QR code, linking to a website giving live bus arrival information taken from the Southampton traffic control centre. Two types of poster were developed (simplistic with minimal text, and a more comprehensive one) to understand what level of instruction was necessary for QR code use. The number of hits at each stop were monitored via the website and surveys of users through an on-line questionnaire (accessed via the QR code) and face-to-face interviews.

The results suggested that there was very little variation in the use of QR codes at stops by day of the week or between peak and inter-peak times but there were variations by geographical area. QR code use improved wait time acceptability and feelings of safety and well-being with the vast majority of users finding the system easy to use.

QRcode, real-time, bus, arrival, information
0966-6923
Gammer, Nick
0dd936aa-9830-4a0a-aab0-b75dd3b1b7ea
Cherrett, T.J.
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Gutteridge, Christopher
e2435169-6925-4fd9-90f3-5b8c34445efc
Gammer, Nick
0dd936aa-9830-4a0a-aab0-b75dd3b1b7ea
Cherrett, T.J.
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Gutteridge, Christopher
e2435169-6925-4fd9-90f3-5b8c34445efc

Gammer, Nick, Cherrett, T.J. and Gutteridge, Christopher (2013) Delivering bus arrival information at stops via QR codes – A case study of user take–up and reaction in Southampton, UK. Journal of Transport Geography. (doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2013.06.014).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Real-time passenger information systems for bus users are now common place with bus stops in major UK cities equipped with arrival countdown displays and several apps now providing similar information direct to the Smartphone. Real-time displays at stops are expensive to install and given the current rate of Smartphone take-up, there could be benefits from using Quick Response (QR) codes linking to adapted, mobile friendly, webpages displaying arrival times of buses. This paper reports on a QR code implementation trial on 44 bus stops in six distinct areas of Southampton, UK.

Each bus stop was fitted with a poster containing a unique QR code, linking to a website giving live bus arrival information taken from the Southampton traffic control centre. Two types of poster were developed (simplistic with minimal text, and a more comprehensive one) to understand what level of instruction was necessary for QR code use. The number of hits at each stop were monitored via the website and surveys of users through an on-line questionnaire (accessed via the QR code) and face-to-face interviews.

The results suggested that there was very little variation in the use of QR codes at stops by day of the week or between peak and inter-peak times but there were variations by geographical area. QR code use improved wait time acceptability and feelings of safety and well-being with the vast majority of users finding the system easy to use.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 2013
e-pub ahead of print date: 19 July 2013
Keywords: QRcode, real-time, bus, arrival, information
Organisations: Faculty of Engineering and the Environment

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 354867
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/354867
ISSN: 0966-6923
PURE UUID: 06ff3555-a318-46c6-916d-bdb4918c9149
ORCID for T.J. Cherrett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0394-5459
ORCID for Christopher Gutteridge: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9201-5987

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 29 Jul 2013 14:09
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:51

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Contributors

Author: Nick Gammer
Author: T.J. Cherrett ORCID iD
Author: Christopher Gutteridge ORCID iD

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