Data analysis of transit systems using low-cost IoT technology

Abstract

The rapid increase of modern wireless technology opens the door for several new applications using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology. In an educational environment, students depend on the transit bus system for their daily routine and there is a high demand of people to be served by buses around university campuses in the United States of America. Often times, the members of university communities find themselves waiting for a significant amount of time for a bus to arrive at the bus station. Universities have numerous bus stops as well as routes on which riders can use for travel. Several of these bus stops are covered by WiFi capabilities, and usually students are checking their smart phones while waiting for bus arrival. In order to monitor the quality of transit buses and passengers' services, we design, develop, and demonstrate a low cost IoT system that detects the majority of the riders on the bus system at each station. In this paper, the IoT devices collect, analyze and archive transit and passenger data (e.g., waiting times) to Cloud Storage from each bus station. The goal is to improve the passenger's experience by refining the current infrastructure in place, focusing on better planning and increasing bus ridership through better scheduling. By collecting such data (e.g., waiting times), the performance of the bus system can be further analyzed and suggest changes to a route in order to achieve a more efficient and sustainable urban transportation system.