People Counting for Public Transportation

Accurately counting passenger traffic and identifying ridership patterns are vital components of transit service planning, scheduling, and forecasting. Passenger counting is a key measure of transit agency effectiveness, and an important factor in analyzing performance and productivity (using measures such as passengers per revenue mile or cost per passenger).

Decisions made based on passenger counting—from real-time to long-term—bear significance to all aspects of a transit service company’s operations, from bus scheduling and routing to passenger safety on overcrowded platforms.

Transit agencies count and track ridership at different levels, depending on the type of data needed. Senior managers may be concerned primarily with system wide ridership trends. Schedulers and planners need to know passenger loads at key times and points along each route. Marketing and planning staff may need to know fare classification information.

The Benefits of People Counting

• More effective peak hour management
  
• Informed off-peak hour management
  
• Greater passenger safety
  
• Increase tickets to passengers ratio
  
• Truthfully measure promotion and announcement
  
• Enhance general service efficiency
  
• Enhance service efficiency for particular or demanding passengers
• Plan more effectively
  
• Respond to real-time demands