Case Study – West Midlands 5G
Travel XR – Connected passenger guidance and information systems for West Midlands 5G.
“O2 Motion data augments Briteyellow technology and analysis to gain insights for travel services.”
The Challenge
Transport for West Midlands and West Midlands Trains operate stations across the West Midlands. They wanted to use new technology to develop deeper insights into passenger journeys and enhance passenger assists with the benefit of 5G, as part of the WM5G Connected Transport project.
- Need for additional travel data to inform decisions.
- Requirement for both offsite and onsite anonymised travel information.
- Flexible approach to integrate with existing working practices.
- Combination of different types of data into a unified whole.
Briteyellow’s TravelXR consortium was chosen as one of the winners in the 2021 West Midlands 5G Connected Transport programme, with consortium partners University of Birmingham, O2 and Bell Integration.
Our Approach
Briteyellow’s in-station people flow movement tracking and counting sensors were installed to give an in-depth picture of how people are using the railway and bus stations.
Briteyellow also digitized the stations, creating a virtual and augmented reality passenger guidance app and wearable tech for advanced wayfinding and assistance for all, including the disabled.
O2’s network-based, anonymised data was integrated to inform Briteyellow on where passengers have come from and where they’re travelling to.
The Solution
TravelXR – Connected Passenger Guidance system with Mixed Reality (XR) App
- In-depth travel insight and assistance for passengers.
- Improved crowd insights and forecasts for operators.
TravelXR provides deeper insights for both passengers and operators. Enhanced customer experience is enabled through augmented reality and virtual reality guidance in the app. Movement data is analysed with Artificial Intelligence and presented to passengers and staff in the form of dashboards, heatmaps and reports to help inform decisions around travel plans, optimised routes, building layout, management and staffing levels.
Benefits
Anonymised, accurate data
- In-station crowding data that can be easily assimilated with other data sources.
None of the data accumulated by Briteyellow can be used to identify individuals, it’s all anonymised and aggregated to identify trends, not people.
Deeper insight
- Clear, real-time insights into passenger movement and behaviour.
Travel XR data sets can be used to predict overcrowding within zones, identify and confirm a wide variety of trends both local and national. These can then be used to inform decisions around crowd management and resources.
Advanced wayfinding & journey planning
- For all passengers, especially useful for those with sight or hearing impairments.
TravelXR’s augmented reality and virtual reality also apps help passengers to plan journey, find their way around buildings and respond dynamically to alerts.
