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Redesign Assistance for Public Transportation
Technology to support the introduction and operation of sustainable public transportation by simulating various conditions to ensure optimal mobility for local residents.

Challenge in Local Communities

Challenge in Local Communities
Ensuring mobility for residents is becoming a serious issue in various parts of Japan. While maintaining existing public transportation is becoming difficult, there are few precedents for considering new transportation systems such as on-demand transportation, and predicting costs and introduction effects is extremely challenging.

Fujitsu's Solution

Fujitsu's Solution
Our digital rehearsal technology enables repeated simulations while changing various conditions such as scenarios, traffic conditions, and provided service levels. It is possible to comprehensively evaluate resident convenience, revenue, and costs, enabling the design and operation of sustainable public transportation tailored to the characteristics of the region.

The benefits of Redesign Assistance for Public Transportation

  1. Selection of Optimal Measures
    • Simulate vehicle numbers, routes, and hours to let local governments choose solutions best suited to their region.
  2. Improved Resident Convenience
    • Consider measures to improve resident convenience, such as minimizing waiting times, travel times, and the number of transfers.
  3. Prior Evaluation of Revenue and Costs
    • Plan effective revenue and reduce costs through simulations, supporting sustainable transport design.
  4. Consensus Building Among Stakeholders
    • Visualize simulation results to facilitate agreement between governments, operators, and residents.

Technical overview

Target Industry/Users

This technology is suitable for the following:

  • Local government officials considering the introduction of on-demand transportation to the region
  • Transportation operators providing public transportation to the region

Challenges in Target Industry and Operations

  • The increasing number of discontinued bus routes essential for daily life indicates that public transportation, a lifeline for local residents, is in crisis. The shortage of drivers due to a declining working population is severe, making the "redesign" of public transportation an urgent issue.
  • New transportation systems like on-demand transportation are gaining attention as a solution of the problem. However, the lack of precedents makes it difficult to assess cost and effectiveness in advance, which is a challenge for local governments considering implementation of them.

Technical Challenges

When introducing a new on-demand transportation system in a region, estimating the mobility convenience it will provide to residents in advance has been difficult for the following reasons:

  • Lack of/Few precedents for introducing on-demand transportation
  • Public transportation needs vary greatly by region (examples from other regions are not helpful)
  • The efficiency of on-demand transportation varies greatly depending on geographical conditions (service area size and road network structure) and usage patterns

Solutions

Fujitsu offers a solution to this problem through Social Digital Twin (SDT) technology, which reproduces the behavior of people and society in a digital urban space.

  • SDT technology reproduces the road network and residents' mobility behavior of a region, along with the virtual measure of on-demand transportation, as digital twins in the digital space. By digitally rehearsing the movements and interactions of vehicles and users in this virtual and real-world fusion, it becomes possible to measure the cost and service quality of on-demand transportation operation that does not yet exist.
  • By repeating digital rehearsals while changing operating and service conditions, it is possible to discover operations and conditions that meet the region's expected cost and service levels.

Fujitsu's Technological Advantage

  • Fujitsu's unique SDT-based digital rehearsal allows for the evaluation of the impact on the operation and costs of each public transportation system by specifying not only public transportation scenarios and traffic conditions, but also the service conditions provided to users.
  • It is planned to be linked with Fujitsu's On-Demand Transportation Service, contributing to the introduction of On-Demand Transportation Service and the maximization of effects through cross-sector collaboration.

The benefits of Redesign Assistance for Public Transportation

  • SDT's digital rehearsal enables local governments without prior experience to evaluate in advance the service level and cost/service level that would result from the introduction of on-demand transportation, based on service levels and operating conditions. It enables the design of public transportation tailored to regional requirements, such as budget and service conditions.
  • By rehearsing in the digital world in advance, mismatches between the introduced on-demand transportation and the actual regional characteristics and needs after introduction can be suppressed, enabling the realization of sustainable transportation services.

Use Cases

usage image

  • Local Government Transportation Officials:
    • This can be used to estimate the effectiveness and cost of introducing on-demand transportation in a municipality when considering its implementation as part of the municipality's public transportation planning process.
  • On-Demand Transportation Operators:
    • When encouraging local governments to introduce on-demand transportation, it is possible to support the decision-making of local governments by quantitatively demonstrating the introduction effect.

Case Studies

When considering the introduction of on-demand transportation to a region, the following estimates are considered necessary by local government transportation officials:

  • How much will it cost?
  • How many vehicles should be prepared?
  • To what extent can the mobility needs of residents be met?

SDT technology reproduces the movement of people and vehicles on the actual road network in a region as digital twins when on-demand transportation is introduced. It then simulates the daily operation of on-demand transportation vehicles in response to residents' mobility requests in the digital space. This calculates the revenue and necessary costs from operations. For example, the following indicators can be obtained:

  • Necessary costs (costs incorporating the number of vehicles, mileage, etc.)
  • Waiting time from when a resident makes a boarding request until they can actually board
  • The percentage of residents who requested to ride and were able to board as desired

This simulation can be repeated with different conditions. For example, you can first simulate the case where the number of operational vehicles is 3. After that, the simulation is performed again with the number of vehicles changed to 5, and the results of both can be compared.

Of course, the more vehicles available, the better the mobility convenience for residents. However, this comes with a corresponding increase in cost. Therefore, a careful comparison and consideration of both convenience and cost is essential. The goal is to find the optimal balance that best suits the region's needs.

Thus, a detailed consideration of the balance between residents' convenience and the associated costs becomes feasible.

Technical Trial

  • Demo Video

Press Release