How big data helping transform public transport system

The Jakarta Post 
Aug 19, 2021 

The affordability of public transport in Indonesia makes it the go-to option for millions of citizens. But for some passengers, such as women, the elderly and people with disabilities, the journey is not always seamless. For instance, the lack of barrier-free walkways and other elderly-friendly infrastructure often makes movement between the waiting area and boarding point challenging for elderly passengers.

Understanding the diverse needs of Indonesia’s passengers is crucial to operating an inclusive transport system. But until recently, obtaining deep insights into rider experience involved prohibitive time and resource costs. That’s especially the case across a geography as complex as Indonesia’s, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that span three time zones.

Today, technologies such as smart cards and online ticketing offer an efficient means of gathering big data on riders’ travel patterns and behavior on public transport. Disaggregating that data—filtering it by categories that can reflect experiences by gender, age, ethnicity or marginalized groups, amongst others —can inform a more people-centric approach to transport. Making transport more inclusive is good for business, but it also accelerates progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

“Apart from having to generate profits, state-owned enterprises (BUMN)  must also become agents of development,” Erick Thohir, the Indonesian state-owned enterprises minister, said in his keynote speech at this year’s UN Global Compact Leaders’ Summit in June. “Their mission is to specifically serve the Indonesian people and protect their welfare.”

The recent data analytics research collaboration between the UN Global Pulse office in Jakarta (Pulse Lab Jakarta), the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), and PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), Indonesia’s national railway company is part of this mission. The collaboration sought to use big data to better understand the behavior and needs of PT KAI’s customer base, and especially the needs of vulnerable populations who use its railway.

The scale and reach of PT KAI—which has been serving the Indonesian public since 1945 and operates across Java and Sumatra—means that enhancing its service offering not only improves social welfare, it also helps grow the economy in some of Indonesia’s most densely populated regions.

The pandemic has impacted human mobility across the country’s archipelago, particularly given the  recent expansion of COVID-19 related restrictions on movement in some provinces. Transport services that are safer, more efficient, and more inclusive can play a vital role in the ability of the population to get back to work after the pandemic. But making transport more inclusive in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country, is a logistically complex undertaking.

Almost 50 percent of Indonesian population are women, more than 16 million citizens are above the age of 64, and more than 20 million are people with disabilities. A recovery from the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic requires improved access to economic opportunities for all.

Through our collaborative research that analyzed big data garnered from users of PT KAI’s services in 2019, we found that half of all passengers that year were female, with a significant number of them travelling in the evening hours. Furthermore, whilst more than 1.5 million trips were completed by passengers over 60 years old in 2019, the data shows that only 4 percent of  elderly passengers used the government's travel subsidy. PT KAI and the Government have since been raising public awareness of this subsidy, as well as simplifying the process for travelers wishing to avail themselves of it.

Our research shows that both women and the elderly face certain challenges in transit and require assistance and supportive infrastructure to improve their comfort and safety. Pulse Lab and UN Women’s prior 2019 After Dark social research, which sought to understand how women in Indonesia navigate public transport, indicated that women’s consideration of safety is complex—existing on a spectrum rather than being a dichotomy of safe or unsafe. Still, the After Dark research suggests the quality of public infrastructure, efficiency of transport services, and women’s own sense of familiarity with their surroundings all factored into women’s experience of travelling at night.

Source
https://www.thejakartapost.com/academia/2021/08/18/how-big-data-helping-transform-public-transport-system.html