Chapter 39: Workshop Synthesis: Exploiting and Merging Passive Public Transportation Data Streams

This paper summarizes the discussions held during the workshop on Exploiting and Merging Passive Public Transportation Data Streams (PPTDS). They have principally focused on data from smart card systems (SCS), but elements of the synthesis can be generalized to various types of PPTDS. Thanks to the collaborative participants,¹ it was possible to agree on the state of knowledge with respect to such data but also to identify relevant research challenges and perspectives.

This paper is organized as follows: first, a clarification of the scope of the workshop discussion is proposed along with basic background elements. The second part focuses on the presentation of current and known applications of passive data streams for transport planning (tactical, strategic and operational). The following section identifies the main challenges and issues related to the processing and use of passive data streams. Then, the paper proposes a wish list of the features a passive data stream system should possess in order to maximize its potential applications. The paper hence proposes some thoughts on the impact of increasing availability of passive data stream on the travel survey domain and how we should prepare for it.