Real-Time Public Transport Capacity — a new feature for Auckland Transport’s AT Mobile
By: Elyse Wyatt
Tags: Agile Methodology, Software Development, Case Study, Software, Transportation

We’ve worked with Auckland Transport to release a major new feature to the AT Mobile app — showing users how many people are on a bus or train at any given time.

Under the Government’s Alert Level 4 restrictions, public transport can now only be used by those working in essential services, for medical reasons, to access essential services, including going to the supermarket, and to move essential goods. Around 15,000 essential trips are currently happening per day on average across Auckland Transports’s network.

This new feature helps these people travelling, allowing them to see if the recommended physical distancing between other passengers of 2 metres will be achievable before they get on board.

AT Mobile users can now look under the Live Departures area of the app to see one of four “live occupancy statuses”: Likely empty, Likely space available, Likely near the limit of safe distancing, and Likely not accepting passengers.

The categories are shown as four icons in the shape of people that will fill in as the number of people on a given bus or train increases.

While public transport journeys are free while we are at Alert Level 4, it’s important for people to still use their AT HOP card, as the real-time information is based on live data from AT HOP’s on and off tags.

Once a bus or train is at its safe-distance capacity, the app shows passengers are no longer being accepted. The driver will only do drop-offs until it is safe to accept passengers again.

Auckland Mayor Phil Goff welcomes the updated app features. “With public transport now only in use by essential workers and those travelling to access essential services, there is enough room on most buses and trains for important physical distancing,” he says.

“In addition, AT has developed an innovative and world-leading feature for its app that will help those who do use public transport feel safer and ensure they can maintain physical distance to help break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.”

“All of our customers are really important to us and right now, our customers are essential workers. Our priority is keeping them safe while they travel and getting them to where they need to be to look after Aucklanders,” says AT Chief Executive Shane Ellison.

“This update to the AT Mobile app, to show people how many others are travelling on our buses, will give essential workers and those going to get groceries the information they need to make decisions about their health and safety.

“I’m extremely proud of my team who have rolled this new function out in less than a week.”

This update has also added an alert banner on the top of both the Journey Planner and Live Departure pages, giving customers the latest transport-related information during COVID-19 as well as a link to Auckland Transport’s dedicated COVID-19 web page.

In addition, Journey Planning has been redesigned today to more clearly show the steps for each journey, including notifying the user if the first stop is closed or moved so they can plan accordingly.