Teresa Galvão

Abstract

Abstract
Many public transport mobile ticket solutions have arisen but new technologies can face difficulties when launched for a number of reasons that are directly addressed by usability evaluation – a central process in developing usable, hence useful high quality systems with which humans can interact. This paper presents a usability testing performed in context of use of a recently developed public transport mobile ticketing solution for the Metropolitan Area of Porto, Portugal. The objective was to determine if the application is easy to use and navigate for the average user and to generate valuable suggestions for making the app more user-friendly and tasks such as using public transport services and understanding fares quicker and less complicated. Along with problems detected, a list of recommendations by order of importance for improving usability aspects of the mobile application was provided. This study aims to inform developers about usability practices for making mobile ticketing solutions easier to use and stimulate its wider adoption. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract
Intelligent Transportation Systems are an important enabler for the smart cities paradigm. Currently, such systems generate massive amounts of granular data that can be analyzed to better understand people’s dynamics. To address the multivariate nature of spatiotemporal urban mobility data, researchers and practitioners have developed an extensive body of research and interactive visualization tools. Data visualization provides multiple perspectives on data and supports the analytical tasks of domain experts. This article surveys related studies to analyze which topics of urban mobility were addressed and their related phenomena, and to identify the adopted visualization techniques and sensors data types. We highlight research opportunities based on our findings. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

Abstract
The proliferation of new technologies is revolutionizing the public transport sector, allowing Operators to replace complex and expensive infrastructures by travellers' mobile devices and online management channels and platforms. This paper aims to present the Seamless Mobility platform, a disruptive solution based on these new channels, which main goal is to facilitate and promote public transport usage for travellers, as well as reducing operational costs for public transport companies. The Seamless Mobility platform integrates three main components: (i) mobile payments, (ii) route planner, and (iii) social network. The payment component is based on the pay-as-you-go concept with check-in and check-out requiring the reading of the corresponding QR Code station. The route planner combines information from published schedules with real-time information to identify the nearest stops, the next departures, or the best route for a scheduled trip. The social network component allows real time sharing among travellers of public transport information, related to several aspects of the service (e.g. noise, skilfulness of drivers). To test the concept, a mobile application, called OneRide, was developed. This application was tested by users in real environment, in the city of Porto, Portugal. The results show that users considered the system extremely useful, since it is more convenient than traditional systems. It was also clear that users valued the integration of additional and complementary services with mobile payments, such as information about their journey, maps and schedules. Regarding the social component some users found it difficult to understand the concept, but once they understood they considered it very useful. The use of the QR Codes to perform the payment has shown to be one of the main challenges to be addressed, since lighting conditions, position and distance to the QR Code influences the reading process. (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.