THREE IN FOUR PEOPLE PREFER BETTER-CONNECTED PUBLIC TRANSPORT OVER DRIVING, HITACHI RAIL'S GLOBAL STUDY REVEALS

Hitachi Rail published a major new report investigating attitudes towards public transport and smart mobility in eight cities around the globe. The first-of-its-kind study finds that three-quarters (75%) of people would choose a better-connected public transport system, rather than driving.

The research for the report was conducted by a leading independent consumer research company, Savanta ComRes. The research investigated over 8,000 peoples’ attitudes in eight major global cities: Washington D.C., Toronto, London, Paris, Dusseldorf, Turin, Dubai and Bangkok.

What motivates peoples’ travel decisions?
Overcrowding (48%) and busyness (42%) of services are the single biggest factors that put people off. In contrast, people identify the three C’s – cost, convenience and comfort – as their biggest motivators to travel, with 79% noting the appeal of the ability to avoid crowded services, and 78% highlighting the importance of shortest journey time, and cheapest travel option.

What do passengers want?
A powerful three-quarters (75%) of global respondents would likely choose a better-connected public transport system, rather than driving. 73% suggested they would be more likely to travel on public transport if they could see live information on crowding levels on services. The research also shows the public has a strong general understanding of what ‘smart’ transport means, driven by high levels of take-up of digital apps, with 59% of respondents using them to plan or book their journeys.

However, the move towards digitisation currently presents barriers as well. Almost two-thirds (63%) of respondents are put off from using public transport where they needed to use multiple different apps; while only just over half were willing to share their payment details with multiple travel apps.

How do we fund better-connected transport networks?
The research finds that people would also be prepared to pay more for better-connected public transport. The study also finds that one possible route for charging and paying for better-connected public transport could be via new or increased road charges. Overall, 63% were in favour of this as a revenue source.

Smart Mobility vision
As a global leader in transport and technology, Hitachi Rail’s vision for smart mobility is to digitise and optimise every part of the journey across different types of public transport. In July 2022, Hitachi Rail launched its first smart mobility project in Genoa, Italy, digitally connecting public and private hire transport across the entire city.




Using technology from Hitachi’s new smart mobility suite called Lumada Intelligent Mobility Management, trial-users had access to the 360Pass smart phone app which enabled them to plan their multi-modal journey with live-time service updates, including information on the crowding levels of incoming bus services. Passengers could also travel using hands-free ticketing, with the app simply calculating the best-priced multi-modal fair at the end of the day. More recently, Hitachi Rail also launched its first commercial application of this technology in Trentino.

The new suite embodies Hitachi Rail’s holistic vision for smarter mobility, incorporating solutions across three key areas: smart ticketing, mobility management and electrified mobility solutions.