Optibus, a software platform for public transportation planning, scheduling, and rostering, has partnered with safety telematics provider GreenRoad Technologies to increase passenger safety and comfort by bringing historical road safety data into the earliest phases of transportation planning.
The partnership was announced at ITS World Congress, which is being held this week in Hamburg, Germany.
“Although public transit is one of the safest ways to travel, thousands of passengers, as well as drivers, pedestrians, and occupants of other vehicles, are still injured or killed each year in bus-related crashes. Many of these incidents could be prevented if safety data was used to plan networks that are safer,” said Optibus CEO and co-founder Amos Haggiag. “Partnering with GreenRoad allows us to do just that, by creating the first-ever integrated planning and safety system for public transport providers.”
According to Optibus, the lack of safety data at the earliest stages of transportation planning means many road and driving hazards are detected only after services roll-out, at the driver-level. This exposes passengers to low-quality, risky services that compromise their safety and comfort and increase the rate of injuries or incidents per million miles. Some operators and agencies increase running times to mitigate accidents, thinking slower is safer, but longer travel times only decrease passenger satisfaction, increase expenses, and harm operational efficiency.
To reduce risks, Optibus and GreenRoad are empowering operators and agencies to account for safety factors, such as road and ride quality, collisions, injuries, and driver behavior including speeding, sudden acceleration and braking, and sharp turns, at the network planning stage.
On the Optibus platform, planners can harness GreenRoad’s Safety Heat Map to visualize and assess the safety score of existing routes within their network. Planners can re-plan low-scoring routes to avoid hazard areas and increase safety, assess the impact of rerouting on the entire network, and support local authorities in identifying and fixing road hazards.
By optimizing route safety, it is hoped that the partnership will reduce the number of injuries per million miles and produce a smoother ride that feels safer to riders, while increasing passenger satisfaction and trust.
“Early insight into route safety enables operators to reduce risks, save lives, and deliver better services to passengers,” said David Ripstein, GreenRoad Technologies’ CEO. “The combination of GreenRoad’s world-class safety data and telematics and Optibus’ cutting-edge transportation planning software creates a powerful, essential tool for ensuring the safety of mass transit.”