Human factors
Human factors considerations are discussed in Table 14 for each category in the toolkit of solutions.
Table 14 – Human factors considerations for each category in the toolkit Category Human factors considerations
1. Active passenger management: inter-coach real- time information
In order to be able to achieve the desired response real-time information must be made available and in a form that is identifiable, comprehensible and trustworthy:
Information must be presented clearly and unambiguously. People standing at the platform must be able to see (or hear) the information, and be able to do this at useful locations. Ideally the information would be identifiable along the length of the platform, but as a minimum it should be available at the point where passengers first enter the platform so they can make an informed decision where to stand. Visually presented information must be clearly visible and (if relevant) readable. If information is presented audibly this must be clear and account for background noise.
The information must be simple enough to avoid potential confusion and intuitive enough to cater for people of differing language, culture or
experience of the system. Symbols and colour-coding would probably be most easily comprehended by the majority of people, although ‘traffic-light’ colour coding may be difficult for red-green colour-blind individuals. Real-time information must be perceived to be accurate and up-to-date.
This means the information must accurately represent the actual situation on-board the train, and must be presented in enough time to allow people to act on the information. The information should also be able to cater for last- minute changes in the advice as if this is not conveyed it could be perceived as incorrect advice. If people grow to mistrust the system it will lose its effectiveness. 2. Active passenger management: inter-coach near real-time seat reservations
There would be no human factors considerations, because no decision is required by the passenger.
Category Human factors considerations 3 and 4. Active passenger management: inter-train or inter-route real- time information
The critical factor as to the success of this approach is likely to be in ensuring that the information is made available at a point in time where the user is reasonably able to alter their travel plans. For example, if on arrival at a station a traveller is informed that the next train is full and that the following train is less full, the individual’s decision on whether to act on that information is likely to be influenced significantly by the arrival time of the following train. How long a traveller is prepared to wait is itself likely to be influenced by a host of other factors, such as: how long their overall journey is expected to take; the purpose of their travel (e.g. potential scheduling commitments); trust in the information provided (both as to the predicted waiting time and the certainty that they will get a seat); facilities at the station (leisure, food and drink, toilets, seating, waiting rooms); weather conditions (linked to waiting facilities); whether or not they are booked on a particular service. The effectiveness of any measures may therefore vary considerably between stations, between individuals, and at different times of the day/year. Measures seeking to encourage passengers to take alternative trains would therefore likely be more effective if the information can be provided in advance, perhaps when buying a ticket online or through the use of a smartphone app. However, an app could be expected to have limited market penetration and would be limited by how far in advance information is available to pass on.
5 and 6. Passive behavioural modifiers
Such measures have the advantage that information does not need to be identified and comprehended by individuals, instead relying on people to simply take the path of least resistance. Before employing such nudge tactics it is necessary to consider how different people may behave under different
circumstances, and to be aware of the potential for unintended consequences of changing the flow of crowds.
7. Static crowding information: inter-coach
The purpose of static inter-coach crowding information is to persuade passengers to change their choice of coach. Providing information to
passengers about such patterns of crowding may be less susceptible to issues of trust as with real-time information, as passengers may accept that the guidance will not be right all the time.
8. Static crowding information: inter-train
The purpose of static inter-train crowding information is to persuade passengers to change their time of travel. Posters may be a useful way of targeting regular commuters; however, providing information at the point of sale may allow more opportunity to influence the travel choices of individuals making one-off journeys.
Spreading occupancy evenly across the train (to reduce crowding and improve passenger comfort, satisfaction and welfare, as well as staff welfare)
Spreading the number of boarders and alighters evenly across the platform (to reduce dwell times)
As an example, there is some evidence to suggest that some commuters tend to use coaches closest to their exit, meaning it is likely more people alight at these doors compared to other doors along the train. As such, if the primary goal is to optimise dwell times, it would likely be best to instruct boarding passengers to use other parts of the platform. However, if the primary goal is to optimise levels of crowding, it may be best to instruct the boarding passengers to use the doors where most people have just alighted, because there may now be more capacity on that coach.
Furthermore, there is a possibility that such interventions might make the situation worse; for example, the type of information (message channel, message location/size, message content etc) will have an effect on how many passengers comply with the instruction and there is the possibility that ‘too many’ will comply and more people than intended move to other parts of the platform. Therefore if piloting such real-time systems, it may be sensible to initially trial at a station with a relatively low number of passengers and different types of messages, starting with the least intrusive first before piloting at a busier station.
It seems that most real-time inter-coach solutions identified in §2.3.1 focus purely on how busy each coach is on the approaching train before anyone has alighted, i.e. there is no predictive element on the expected boarding and alighting flows.