Smarter Public Transport: Reflections from the Labour Party Conference
Following his first Labour Party Conference, Nigel Thorley, Magellan’s Strategy Principal, Transport and Mobility, reflects on the conversations shaping the future of safer public transport, from AI and smarter use of data to human-first and empathetic design.
He explores how technology, collaboration and local decision-making could remove barriers to access and help create transport systems that are both safe and feel safe.
My first attendance at any party conference and although my role was merely as a panellist alongside my colleague Asiya Jelani, the energy of the lively host city of Liverpool was inescapable.
Nigel Thorley
Strategy Principal
Magellan were co-sponsors of a breakfast roundtable with Intelligent Transport Systems UK, exploring the crucially important topics of Road Safety as well as Safety & Integration on public transport. The fringe event we joined shone a light on the part technology has to play in both areas with the increasing capabilities of artificial intelligence.
It also looked at how needs and opportunities must be balanced with the right to privacy and a recognition that different people engage with technology to different extents and in different ways.
The discussion resonated well with the human-first approach we advocate at Magellan in the exciting area of transport tech.
Experts from both public and private sector, including MPs, industry associations, start-ups as well as larger enterprises, shared their views and it was fascinating to hear the challenges faced as well as successes achieved.
It all reinforced my belief that digital infrastructure is, in fact, social infrastructure and that we need to build systems which are empathic by design.
Here are just a few of the things I learned from my peers across government and industry:
The Right to Feel Safe
Everyone has the right to feel safe as well as be safe.
It sounds simple, but sadly it’s not always the case as the parliamentary inquiry into Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) has shown.
If we design services, whether physical or digital, with a human-first approach we can make them both be safe and feel safe. Actions which address the risks relating to VAWG also have the power to make things better for all vulnerable people and society more broadly.
Unlocking Safety through Data
The answer is in the data.
Take journey planning, it’s centred around routes, modes and costs. Algorithms rapidly connect different nodes across a network to provide a solution which we trust to be efficient.
But what if we could augment this with data relating to safety? For example, street lighting data for active travel legs, CCTV coverage where a person might have to wait for a connection or ensuring that the route includes populated areas and modes.
The data is there, our technology can consume it so we have the potential to plan journeys that are both efficient and safe.
Whole System Thinking and the Power of Devolution
Improved collaboration across organisations and whole system thinking for transport systems is vital.
A recent night bus pilot in Shrewsbury gave revellers a public transport option to get home, supporting the nighttime economy by increasing access to it with safe, affordable transport. A secondary benefit of reduced crime was realised and has helped make the case for a self-funded service. How many more use cases like this exist up and down the country which deliver better options for the public, increased trade for business and improved safety?
The devolution agenda could be a huge enabler of the above, with regional empowerment potentially enabling more pilots, local data sharing and services keenly targeted to community need.
The challenge will be how to make the most of national initiatives such as GBR in this highly localised and devolved context to get the best of both worlds.
Removing Barriers to Access
Today urban transport systems work well in places such as London, Manchester and the West Midlands and replication of these to other conurbations seems logical, but there are challenges to overcome in the rural context.
Across the industry we all have a duty to remove barriers to access public transport, whether perceived or real. For Magellan, this is about developing digital technologies that increase the number of travellers, reduce anxiety and help create a better understanding of what is often a fundamentally good network.
Do this and we can and will create public transport systems which are safer for everyone.