FourC’s disruptive service for passenger flow and counting matches the accuracy of market leading camera-based passenger counting (APC) systems
Trondheim/Norway, 13 June 2016 --- FourC’s patent pending Passenger Flow Analysis (PFA) system for public transport is tested against a market leading automatic passenger counting (APC) solution. The results are astonishing. The PFA service obtains approximately the same accuracy as the costly camera based system, even before all the analysing features have been taken into account. All this at fraction of the cost and giving additional valuable information like flow analysis, transfer statistics and travel distances information.
The results are part of the OpenSP R&D project run in several Norwegian counties, which is partially funded by the Research Council of Norway. Passenger Flow Analysis is one of the major work packages in which the research institution SINTEF has a major role. More infomation about the project can be found on http://www.opensp.eu .
“We are positively surprised by what we have achieved so far and in so short a time. Being able to match and presumably beat current market leading APC solutions by using modern, low-cost sensor technology shows the huge potential of our PFA. The test is also a valuable confirmation to our already signed pilot customers”, says Tor Rune Skoglund, CEO of FourC.
The Test
FourC installed a PFA sensor system in a bus running the 45 minute long line 5 in Trondheim. The route goes through both rural and city areas and has 39 and 37 stops in each direction. 8 trips (4 trips back and forth) were made over two days, using manual counting at each door to get the 100% accurate data to compare with.
The PFA sensor data was run through FourC’s analyser algorithm to calculate passenger count. In addition, the passenger count numbers from the APC system already installed in the buses were obtained from the transport company. All data was then analysed and the accuracy for each system was calculated.
The Result
The accuracy of the APC system varied from 57% to 94% on the 8 trips made. The overall accuracy of the APC solution was 82%.
The accuracy of FourC’s PFA solution varied from 74% to 89% on the same trips. The overall accuracy of PFA was exactly the same as the costly APC system, i.e. 82% !
These figures are in line with results that have been observed during previous tests.
Below is a sample of passenger numbers on the last trip from the tests. The graph represents the number of passengers estimated by PFA (blue), estimated by the APC (red) and actual number of passenger (orange).
PFA’s algorithms are constantly being improved and FourC expect to reach even higher accuracy in the near future. A large scale test is to take place soon. Additionally, PFA also delivers statistics on travel distances and transfers, something which is not possible with legacy APC systems.
FourC is working with partners to promote and deliver PFA and other Cities in Motion services internationally. Partner requests are welcomed.
For more information, please contact:
Tor Rune Skoglund, CEO FourC AS
+47 72 55 99 00
About FourC AS
The start-up FourC AS (www.fourc.eu) is developing an infrastructure platform for management of distributed systems with focus on the Internet of Things, M2M, transport, healthcare, smart homes and automation. The customised version of this platform built for public transport is named “Cities in Motion Service Platform”, on which bus companies, public transport authorities and operators can deploy a broad range of services. FourC has 11 employees with head offices in Trondheim and a branch office in the UK. The company has received support from Norway’s research council for a €4M R&D project in the area of new solutions for public transport in Norway. More information about this project can be found at www.opensp.eu.
Read this press release in PDF here