Putting passengers at the centre
As a full lifecycle engineering consultancy, our goal is to provide passengers across the UK’s transport network with the best possible service. To achieve this, we put the utmost thought into the design, build and operation of the thousands of roads, railways, bridges, and stations that connect our country. As an industry, we often focus on the built environment and physical assets – but do we truly understand how it is being used or when - or even why?
To design, operate and maintain the best possible infrastructure, we need to put commuters at the centre of our focus. We need accurate, instant, and actionable data on infrastructure’s core purpose – the movement of people. To access that data, we must tap into the UK’s largest invisible and readily available sensor network – mobile network data.
State of flux
Travel patterns are constantly changing, and the pandemic ripped up much of what we thought we knew about how people move as they go about their daily lives. Home working has disrupted the traditional rush hour periods, and the role of train stations is shifting from solely transport interchanges to a blended community and retail space for locals working from home. This creates challenges for transport planners as they aim to maximise the benefit of their next project, and transport operators who want to understand customer needs and optimise the service they offer them.
On our highways, there is a huge demand to decarbonise our network. While sales of EVs in the UK, for example, are booming, the national charging network is struggling to expand rapidly enough, with question marks over the optimal locations for installation. Across both networks, extreme weather has seen increased pressure on maintenance, with infrastructure owners desperate to understand where best to target their response while passengers sit and wait.
It’s clear to get the best return on new projects or enhance our existing network, we need to understand how people move around the transport network and why. Unlike assets, people have hearts and minds, and while we are creatures of habit, understanding our patterns can at times be crystal ball gazing – or can it?