In the age of climate change and the cost-of-living crisis, public transport is more important than ever. Here’s why:
- It’s better for the environment
- People can save money compared to traveling by car
However, despite the climate-saving potential of public transport, it still struggles to attract enough people. This is true in the US, the UK, and endless other developed countries. Therefore, the responsibility rests with councils to turn things around and get more people on buses and trains.
How exactly can you do this? Here are some tips and tricks to help you!
1. Upgrade Your Public Transportation Vehicles
Firstly, it’s a good idea to upgrade your public transportation vehicles, such as buses. This doesn’t mean replacing them entirely. Instead, it means making some tweaks and changes to improve the practical and visual side of things.
For example, a great place to start is by adding passenger information displays from Things Embedded to the inside of your buses and trains. These edge computing devices help passengers to keep track of where they are on the road and how far away their stops are. Not to mention, they also help drivers and operators to keep track of important data in real-time, thanks to the edge computing factor.
2. Accept More Payment Methods
The days of public transport users wanting to pay by cash are almost over. Now, it’s all about contactless card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more. With this in mind, you need to go the extra mile to offer more payment methods to riders. For example, offering Apple Pay is a surefire way to attract more young people to use your services.
3. Implement Better Pricing
During the cost-of-living crisis, more people than usual have started using public transportation. However, many of them are slightly put off by the high prices that are now commonly associated with buses, trains, and the like. So, if possible, you should do everything in your power to implement better and fairer pricing. This is a great strategy to attract and maintain new customers. After all, people will be less likely to return to driving if public transportation prices remain low and affordable.
4. Offer Special Deals
Special deals are yet another way that you can make public transport more attractive. Here are a couple of examples:
- Student discount
- Working professional discount
It’s common knowledge that students and workers are the two biggest users of public transport (as their roles require them to travel almost every day). Therefore, because they’re the most frequent users, it’s a good idea to offer them discounts to further incentivize them.
Summary
Moving into the future, public transport is going to be key to saving the planet and allowing people to cut costs. Therefore, make sure to use all of the above-mentioned tips to make your public transportation services more attractive, from edge computing technology (such as passenger information displays) to implementing better pricing and granting special perks like discounts.