Using technology to make PTSC better

I had planned to do a Q and A with PTSC about using tech and providing a better service but I pivoted and created this blog post. I crowd sourced ideas from social media and added my own ideas. What persons don't see is the hardship and begging and following up that goes into getting responses and questions answered from some entities. Whenever I can do this easily it is like a breath of fresh air. I would expect entities to be willing and responsive to persons working to make a difference.

What's the point of this you might ask? Someone is already being paid handsomely to come up with these ideas you might say. The point for me and my blog is about brainstorming and educating. We want an informed public. We want a solutions minded public. We want a public that is willing to help regardless. Such a public will be in a better position to hold the technocrats to account. Such a public will be able to demand better and decide better.

I would not go into the benefits of efficient public transport in this blog post except to say that there are huge benefits. I like the points raised in this article, 6 Reasons Why Access to Transport is so Important. The government recently announced that we are going to develop a new transportation plan relevant to the modern times we live in. Below are a list of ideas for the improvement of PTSC using tech that are worth considering

  • IoT and Big Data and scheduling software
  • eTicketing for convenience
  • Mobile app that shows when and where the next bus among other things
  • Monthly NFC pass for regular users
  • Using green energy to reduce cost and help the environment
  • Smart bus stops possibly starting with the Connected Arima project
  • Preventive maintenance software
  • Ticket machines in convenient locations
  • WiFi on buses to be productive while in transit
  • Learn from UWI student projects
  • Open data and APIs to encourage developers to contribute their own solutions
  • Tech for the business processes of PTSC. Think like any profit making business.

Share your ideas in the comments and share this blog post so that we get the most ideas. One comment I got that made sense was that the biggest improvement would come from having buses use separate lanes from regular traffic and this has nothing to do with tech. I agree but I still think tech will be needed for data and analysis to tell us where to put these dedicated lanes and the bus stops. Also what would be cost and time to build a network of dedicated lanes? I would bet that tech solutions would cost a small percentage of this.

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