Public transportation is not only a great way to get to work, to school, or to go shopping, it's also an environmentally friendly mode of getting around. Even though many public transit options include diesel-powered buses, which are not known for being the cleanest vehicles on the road, the difference is made up for in both the fuel efficiency (as measured in Person-Miles Per Gallon (PMPG)) and the fact that they take up far less space than the number of single-occupancy vehicles needed to transport the same amount of people.
Although the rapid pace of innovation in consumer technology is much more visible, especially when it comes to mobile devices and electronics in general, a great many tech advancements are also helping to shape the future of both transit and the transportation sector as a whole. Here's a look at some of these technologies that have had an influence on transit companies this past year.
Except to those in the transit or medical sectors, or those who have had personal or family experience with using paratransit services, the mention of the word paratransit in a conversation is likely met with a blank look. But for those who depend on this complementary transport option to get to medical appointments, to do their weekly shopping, or even to go to school and back, paratransit operations can be a lifeline.
How Transportation Technologies Will Improve Transit Agency Operations
The ever-quickening pace of technological development is bringing rapid changes to a wide variety of experiences, with everything from work to entertainment to healthcare to travel undergoing a transition toward more networked and automated systems. Although mobile and wireless technologies are nothing new, the speeds at which they operate are getting faster, and when coupled with 'smart' sensors and machine learning, better battery technology, and real-time geolocation systems, our phones, our vehicles, and our homes are now fast becoming a part of a hyper-connected future.