Public Transportation Occupancy Rate

Abstract

European cities face increasingly more challenges caused by road traffic. Most people use individual cars, but this represents a huge demand on the existing infrastructures. As an alternative, public transportation is a good solution for the environment, safety, and affordability. Therefore, a lot of city centers are already investing in this solution, although one of the main issues pointed out as an obstacle is the lack of real-time information and the unpredictability of its use. To fulfill this necessity, computer vision systems are widely used in this type of application. However, financial costs and topics related to users’ privacy arise which can lead to future problems. ioCity project aims to improve existing solutions by keeping its costs low and its reliability as high as possible by mitigating its negative aspects. The solution developed uses ubiquitous passive technologies; it is pervasive, modular, and maintains the user’s privacy. This work presents the first approach to the conception and implementation of a low-cost system capable of monitoring the occupation rate on a bus with, at least, 70% accuracy.