Context-Aware Travel Support During Unplanned Public Transport Disturbances
This paper explores the possibilities and challenges of realizing a context-aware travel planner withbidirectional information exchange between the actor and the traveller during unplanned traffic disturbances.A prototype app is implemented and tested to identify potential benefits. The app uses data from open APIs,and beacons to detect the traveller context (which train or train platform the traveller is currently on).Alternative travel paths are presented to the user, and each alternative is associated with a certainty factorreflecting the reliability of the travel time prognoses. The paper also presents an interview study thatinvestigates PT actors’ views on the potential use for actors and travellers of new information about certaintyfactors and travellers’ contexts, during unplanned traffic disturbances. The results show that this type of travelplanner can be realized and that it enables travellers to find ways to reach their destination, in situations wherethe public travel planner only suggests infeasible travel paths. The value for the traveller of the certaintyfactors are also illustrated. Additionally, the results show that providing actors with information abouttraveller context and certainty factors opens up for the possibility of more advanced support for both the PTactor and the traveller.