Communications of the ACM
How Smart Technology Could Change Public Transit
A Ryerson University professor is using data analysis and mobile computing to try to make Canada's urban transportation systems greener and less likely to be stuck in traffic.
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Ryerson University professor Joseph Chow is working to improve Canada's urban transportation systems using data analysis and mobile computing. Chow says technology can help lower pollution and traffic congestion and encourage the use of renewable energy.
"If you think of society as a human body, then the transportation system is the circulatory system," he says. "Therefore, a strong transportation infrastructure is critical to supporting economic growth."
To make transportation systems more effective, Chow is designing them to respond to people’s actual travel behavior, while allowing for random changes. He says current transportation systems lack flexibility, which creates problems; for example, when several streetcars on the same route arrive at a stop simultaneously due to delays along the line, it strains the whole system and lowers the service level for commuters.
Later this summer, Chow will put his ideas to the test in a special environment at Ryerson’s Center for Urban Energy that will replicate an actual traffic management center. The testing environment has an eight-screen video wall, multiple workstations, and GPS-enabled tablet computers that will enable Chow and his colleagues to simulate an urban transportation system.
From Ryerson University News
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