Background

Why it is important to optimize the transport system?
An efficient transport system has direct benefits on the well-being of people, businesses, environment and the economy in general.
Making public transport more efficient (eliminating waste of time, delays, paper tickets) and cheaper (charging only the actual route traveled and not a fixed fee per ticket) means encouraging more people to use public transport: this result would lead to a less use of private cars, which consequently would lead to a reduction in traffic, and therefore to a decrease in air pollution and noise pollution.

Challenge

According to the definition of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, sustainable mobility means:

“giving people the opportunity to move freely, communicate and establish relationships without ever losing sight of the human and environmental aspects, today as well as in the future”.

Moving in a sustainable, economical and safe way within urban spaces has now become one of the priority challenges of modern society.
This challenge should rather be conceived as an opportunity for a reorganization of the entire transport sector, with the application of a model based on criteria of sustainable and integrated, intelligent, clean and waste-free mobility.
Furthermore, during the Covid-19 crisis, which discouraged travel by public transport, it became very clear that, to minimize the risk of contagion, it is necessary to optimize the flows of people, to avoid gatherings, and that cashless ticketing solutions are essential.
It is in this direction that the efforts and investments of the management bodies must move.

Solution

A first step to encourage the use of public transport, with a view to freedom of movement and sustainable mobility, was the development and introduction of new digital services to make bus travel safer and more comfortable.
In fact, a new ticketing system based on the use of the customer’s smartphones has recently been introduced.
This solution is called Check-in/Be-out (CiBo). When the user gets on a means of transport (busses, ferry, sbway, s-bahn and regional trains), the traveller smartphone with a dedicated app installed is recognized. When the traveler gets off the smartphone disconnects, and the route that the traveler has taken is calculated. In this way, the price of the ticket will be calculated on the route actually traveled.
With CiBo, the passengers start the departure point of the journey (Check-in). What customers need to do is simply scroll through the mobile app corresponding menu item. The data is encrypted and sent to the centralized system via the phone internet connection. If there is no connection, the data is temporarily stored and synchronized as soon as the smartphone is back online. At the end of the journey, however, the system automatically interrupts the connection (Be-out) between the smartphone and the router, in order to avoid the risk that passengers forget to close the connection, being then forced to pay an excessive amount. For greater security, the passenger receives a confirmation directly via push notification.
The innovative solution has been developed and supplied by the technology company Scheidt & Bachmann for public transport companies in Germany, and aims to create a modern and easy-to-understand offer. In this way the service is accessible to all travelers anytime and anywhere, and it will not be necessary to look for the nearest ticket office.

This automatic ticketing system was created with the installation of beacon Bluetooth LE on the various means of transport that are used to record the exact data of the customer’s journey and compare them with the GPS position data of the smartphone. The beacon works independently, without connection to a data network, and sends encrypted and dynamic transmission signals to the app. Installation is cheap and simple, with no cables required, and the battery lasts for approximately 8+ years. These features allow a reliable system for real-time operation in determining journeys.

Results

Check-in / Be-out (CiBo) is a cutting-edge, simple and fast system, which guarantees the freedom of movement mentioned by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
It allows passengers to always travel at the best possible price, as well as to pay only the kilometers actually traveled, without wasting any money.
The fully automated system makes the purchase of tickets before departure obsolete and makes the users of the service feel safer with respect to the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.
As a result, CiBo significantly improves the passenger’s public transport experience.
By improving access to public transport, travelers are encouraged to use public transport, rather than to use private transport, for more sustainable and cleaner mobility.