Gas is sky high, and with the public interest in promoting clean air, now is the time for a renaissance in public transportation. IT is finding ways to improve public transportation. One obviously relevant technology would be “smart” cards or electronic ticketing that could be a personalized, convenient (reloaded using automated process that would save on the need for ticketing agents), and would offer security – it could be canceled if stolen.

There are many other areas where technology and innovation is quietly involved in improving the quality of mass transit. Technology is involved in priority based traffic control that favors public buses and trains, GPS systems that keep track of the various transport modes, lowering communication costs and aiding collaboration, and data storage and retrieval needs.

Technology is also important in how it interacts with customers. Examples might include offering travel itinerary information or status reports on arrivals/departures via an Internet portal, social media or electronic signage. Electronic signage also provides revenue generation through advertising, infotainment, and can be used for public service contact.

Please tune into CIO Talk Network for Intelligent Public Transit through IT, with Professor Steve Schlickman, Executive Director at Urban Transportation Center, UIC, and our public transit CIOs from the new Consortium for Public Transit CIOs. We also invite you to checkout an upcoming show on Social media for Can a CIO use Social Media to deliver better IT? and a past show: Rewiring your enterprise architecture with social media.

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