Mitzie Hunter, CEO, Greater Toronto CivicAction Alliance

By Mitzie Hunter

Like many city-dwellers worldwide, residents of the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) have reached an impasse. Our congestion problems are getting worse and worse, and we now have some of the longest commuting times in North America. Congestion is not only taking a toll on our economy and our environment, but also on our health and our quality of life.

IBM’s Social Sentiment Index research pulled tens of thousands of tweets about traffic from five major cities across Canada. The exercise homed in on what our residents feel is most important—not surprisingly, Toronto’s commuters were the most active to vent their opinions. Toronto had 10,000 tweets about traffic over an 11-month period, 40 percent of which were explicitly negative. By contrast, only 20 percent of tweets in Halifax were negative.

In the GTHA, through CivicAction’s Your32 campaign, we’ve been reaching out to all commuters—drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, and transit users—to learn what a better transportation system would mean to them. We’ve been driving people to our website, your32.com, and to twitter, and asking a simple question: “What would you do with 32?” Thirty-two represents the number of minutes, on average, commuters in the region will save if the approved transportation plan, The Big Move, is funded and built over the next 25 years. The Big Move is the region’s plan for an improved, fully connected transportation system across the GTHA.

Through their responses, people have been painting a picture of the human cost of congestion—the toll congestion is taking on our lives by sucking away the time we could otherwise be spending on the things that matter. Things like eating healthy meals, going to the gym, or spending time with our families.

But we’re also finding that people are inspired by the idea of what a better system could bring: time to finish that novel they’ve been working on for years, to learn a new language, to take on a new hobby, or to explore more of what our amazing region has to offer.

When it comes to solving our congestion problems, smarter transportation is part of the solution. Employers can play their part by offering staff incentives for carpooling and taking transit, or by being open to flexible hours and telecommuting.  Smart commute networks can also help employers promote smarter commuting choices. New technologies and demand management mechanisms, from computer modeling, to crowd-sourcing, to intelligent traffic lights must also play a role – and we’re sure to see new and exciting innovations in the decades to come to maximize our road capacity and our transit system.

Many cities are exploring these opportunities now. But while these technologies can play a role in solving our congestion woes, what we need more than anything is better physical infrastructure. Transportation infrastructure in Canadian cities—and especially in the GTHA—has been chronically underfunded for decades. We’ve far exceeded the capacity of our current network, and with the estimated nearly three million people—a population the size of greater Montreal—moving into the GTHA over the next 25 years, things will only get worse. Unless we start building now  the upgraded, expanded, multimodal system that we need to make up for lost time and to plan for the future.

Fixing any city’s congestion crisis won’t happen overnight; it will take time, money and commitment to make up for decades of neglect and delay. But the need to act has never been so clear, and the cost of inaction has never been so high.

As we act, we should be guided by an overriding vision of smarter networks that better connect us to the places we want to go, and that provide us with more choice in how we get there. New technologies and attitudinal changes are part of the answer, but unless the public and decision-makers accept that we all have to pay for a better system, to build the new infrastructure that we need, the human cost of congestion will affect us for generations to come. While we continue to innovate and design a better future, it’s time to get moving on building The Big Move.

Join the conversation in the GTHA: visit your32.com, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter.

Technorati Tags: Analytics, Big Data, Crowd Sourcing, IBM Smarter Planet, IBM Smarter Transportation, IBM Social Sentiment Index, innovation, smarter analytics, smarter traffic, social media, social sentiment, Toronto

Graham Mackintosh, Business Executive, Social Analytics, IBM Software Group

By Graham Mackintosh

 Social sentiment analysis is the new darling in the world of digital marketing and Big Data analytics.  But while making sense of opinions posted publicly on Twitter sounds easy, it’s not.  It’s a lot more complex if you’re looking at the meaning and tone of natural language conveyed by Twitter’s fire hose of 200 million active users.

Telemetry is the science of measuring data at a distance over communications networks.  When put in this context, social media can be thought of as “human telemetry” – a virtual town square where we can understand our social interactions and preferences by analyzing everything that is said and shared via blogs and tweets.

Human telemetry applies to more than trending topics on Twitter. Consider healthcare. Within an urban center, regional hospitals already exchange real-time information – such as admission rates and bed-space data — to help with ambulance routing and finding the right type of doctor.

Including “human telemetry” data completes the picture. Making sense of the text in postings requires advances in text analytics and novel techniques to improve accuracy, even when people enter comments with slang, spelling mistakes, ambiguities and sarcasm.

Perhaps dozens of worried parents begin posting concerns via social media about their children’s severe flu symptoms, all within the same metropolitan area. This could be an important leading indicator for hospital capacity planners.

Moreover, if this pattern of social postings expands in volume and geographic scope, analysis will transcend any given neighborhood or city. It could provide deeper insight for pandemic detection for the World Health Organization or the Center for Disease Control, helping to identify and manage healthcare problems at and earlier stage, before they spread.

The very nature of social media means that the lines between systems and human telemetry are increasingly blurred. For example, many of us follow Twitter users who are not actual people. They are computer systems posting Tweets on useful information, from regional traffic updates to flight information.

Conversely, personal devices, such as smart phones, can publish the owner’s geographic location to other people in their social network. The phone owner thinks of that device’s telemetry as a part of his or her social media presence.  Think of it as human telemetry in the palm of your hand.

This convergence and blurring of human and system data opens the way for new analytic applications.  We will see apps that reduce congestion on roads by analyzing data from traffic sensors and insights gleaned from commuter blogs. Or apps that create more personalized retail offers that combine sales data with chatter from Twitter, blogs and comments.

This combined perspective of natural language and hard data will lead to deeper analysis that not only reveals trends and hotspots, but also uncovers the human element of why we do what we do.

We did this recently with the IBM Social Sentiment Index, which looked at traffic in a handful of cities in France, Netherlands, Spain and Germany. We found that in the city of Lyon, France, sentiment around rush hour is positive (40%) with essentially no negative sentiment.  The city has embarked upon an ambitious project to build a more sustainable transportation network, which suggests that citizens are recognizing the efforts of the city of Lyon to improve systems there.

This shows how human telemetry can benefit society. It hinges on using big data together with advances in analytics and natural language processing.  And to prove successful these applications must have reliable and useful information, such as sentiment, that can be extracted from social media content.

The innovation in text analytics will continue.  We’ll see advances such as guided machine learning technologies for sentiment analysis that can be trained and tuned with examples to continually improve its accuracy.  But more importantly, these advances can be used to make the planet smarter, where instrumented systems can gain  insights into data that is truly interconnected – including  “human telemetry” from social media.

Technorati Tags: Analytics, Big Data, IBM, IBM Smarter Planet, Smarter Cities, social business, social sentiment, Social Web, Telemetry, traffic congestion, transportation

Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma, Vice President, Smarter Cities, IBM Europe

By Sylvie Spalmacin-Roma

If you run over a pothole or perhaps a train is delayed on your morning commute, what do you do? It’s unlikely that you would pick up the phone to call the city to report it or attend a meeting on the topic being held by your local government.  The more likely scenario is that you would take to social media to mention the location of the pothole or express your frustration with the delay.

Today’s citizens can be seen as engaged but in a very different manner.  Twitter, Facebook and other social channels serve as a 24/7 town hall meeting for an increasing number of us digitally connected citizens.  Social listening and analysis can be a valuable tool for cities.

People are passionate about their commute. Love it or hate it, we have much to say  about it. The most recent IBM Social Sentiment Index looks at sentiment in traffic around several European cities in France, Netherlands, Spain and Germany.

Click on the image above to launch an infographic with the social sentiment findings.

For example, in the city of Lyon, France, sentiment around rush hour is positive (40%) with essentially no negative sentiment on the same topic.  The city has begun an ambitious project to improve mobility in the region and build a more sustainable transportation network, which I have written about in the past. This suggests that citizens are recognizing the efforts of the city of Lyon L’Optimod project to improve mobility.

Montpellier county, France, has recently announced an investment revisiting urban management to better serve their citizen in an open innovative way. Taking into account high negative sentiment around rush hour, accidents and weather could help the city better deploy resources and funding towards areas that are important to its citizens.

Each citizen has a unique voice and opinion about a critical issue or how to improve city services.

You can imagine how a city could use this data to make cities more attractive and livable.

Technorati Tags: commute, Facebook, IBM, social media, transportation, twitter

Ed Cole, Executive Director, Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee

By Ed Cole

Earlier this year, the New York Times ran an article in which it called Nashville, Tennessee – the “it” city.

The coverage was an exciting and complimentary tribute to Nashville as a culturally-rich, fast growing metropolitan region. The Times highlighted the culture with music and trendy restaurants, and the economic health of the region attributing that in part to our, “mix of employers in fields like health care management, religious publishing, car manufacturing and higher education, led by Vanderbilt University.”

For all the accolades in the Times piece, there was mention of a very real problem in our “it” city – the need for better transportation. 

How are we going to get to enjoy all the city has to offer, the live music venues, the parks, the museums, or the chic social gatherings, if our roadways are choking with congestion?      

We welcome the growth of our region, but we have to be smart about it too.

The need for a better transportation system is not just about reducing the headaches of gridlock on the highways. Improving transportation is about improving our lives and changing culture. If you study the history of transportation from horses to trains, and from street cars to airplanes, then you realize that the changes in modes of transportation changed lives, altered communities and economic growth. 

Our region is dealing with the effects of rapid growth on our sprawling transportation network including some of the longest commute times in the U.S. This is among the reasons that we engaged IBM to help determine what type of investments could most benefit the region.

Five strategic areas emerged – two of which revolve around using Big Data to drive improvements in the transportation system. Using technology to combine and sift through transportation data for actionable insight means that the region can move from reacting to anticipating and avoiding many of the daily transportation issues their commuters face.

The report also provided high impact, short-term and long-term recommendations, which you can read here. At the Transit Alliance, we’re using this to help plan for future transit alternatives that are safer and smarter.  

Specifically, bus rapid transit (BRT) was identified as one of the most important steps for Nashville, which supports our work and the Mayor’s plan for “The East-West Connector.” 

The East-West Connector, a bus rapid transit route from Five Points in East Nashville through downtown to White Bridge Road in West Nashville, is a great example of how we’re working towards a more transportation options.  

Across Middle Tennessee we are seeing an increase in the use of mass transit options already available to us. Ridership on the MTA has grown significantly. The MTA’s free “Music City Circuit” downtown is very popular with those who live and work in the area, as well as tourists.  More and more riders are using the train, “Music City Star” between outer communities and downtown Nashville. 

These are steps in the right direction for transportation in the region, but we know there are many more ways we can improve. The IBM study recommends several plans for reducing commute times, creating better access to public transit, and cost efficient transportation. 

But most importantly, these new options for mass transit are improving our quality of life, making it safer and smarter to enjoy our “it” city.

Technorati Tags: Analytics, Big Data, innovation, Nashville, smarter analytics, Smarter Planet, Smarter Transportation

Naveen Lamba, Global Smarter Transportation leader, IBM Global Business Services

By Naveen Lamba

Circling for a parking spot, worrying about feeding the parking meters, and ultimately wondering if you should just turn around and go home. These are familiar feelings for anyone who has ever had to find a parking spot in a hurry. Not only is it frustrating, but the time spent looking for parking also contributes to traffic congestion – some research suggests 30 percent on average – and air pollution.

Parking is an area of transportation that had seen little innovation until a just a few years ago. With today’s technology – from sensors to smarter meters to advanced analytics – cities can reinvent parking to help reduce congestion and make our cities more livable. 

Enter Streetline, a Silicon Valley start-up that provides Smart Parking solutions to cities, garages, airports, universities and other private parking providers. The company is the creator of Parker™, a free smartphone app that guides drivers to available parking spaces in real time.

The company won the 2010 IBM SmartCamp, a global entrepreneurship program that identifies early stage start-ups in the Smarter Planet industries. Through this program, Streetline had access to a global network of experts and advisors. Since then, Streetline and IBM have continued working together.

(Next week IBM will host the 2013 Global SmartCamp Finals in New York City.)  

Now, IBM and Streetline are joining together on a Smarter Parking pilot project in Birmingham, England, with Amey, an infrastructure company that works with the Birmingham City Counsel to maintain the city’s roads. 

With a population of over one million and 160,000 thousand people commuting to the city daily, Birmingham officials want to relieve the traffic congestion that is impacting the economy, local businesses, and citizens. Analytics software will help Birmingham understand its parking patterns so it can better manage congestion, improve parking efficiency and make it easier to find parking in the city’s Jewelry Quarter.

Ultra low power wireless sensors have been implanted into the road surface of existing parking spaces in an initial 10-block area of the city. These sensors detect the presence of a vehicle and transmit the data, which is collected and analyzed in real-time. This information is then made available to both the city transport authority and drivers.

Drivers who download Streetline’s Parker app can check on parking availability via their computers or mobile devices. Drivers can also see pricing, pay for parking using their mobile phone (where available), and get guidance back to their car when they finish their activity.  A voice-guidance system and hands-free feature encourages safe operation while driving.

Combining information management and advanced analytics from IBM with data gathered from parking sensors and applications from Streetline will give a view into what parking is like in the area by analyzing factors such as hourly occupancy, occupancy by block, parking duration, and trends in a particular neighborhood or business district.

“After a great experience as a SmartCamp winner, we are delighted to be teaming up with IBM and Amey to expand our Smart Parking services into the U.K. and to deliver compelling solutions for cities and consumers,” said Zia Yusuf, CEO of Streetline. “By providing Birmingham drivers with solutions like Parker by Streetline, we’re working together as a team to help solve one of the most pressing concerns facing our cities today – parking.”

With the smarter parking solution in place,Birminghamcould better manage the supply and demand of parking, as well as help the local chamber of commerce determine the best parking and transportation mix for a local shopping district to increase foot traffic. It could be connected with payment systems, to allow drivers to access travel data, plan their journey and then upon arrival at a free space, have the convenience of cashless payment.

IBM UK Smarter Cities leader Nigel Milton, who has worked with the City of Birmingham on this project and others, says “this Smarter Parking trial, which follows close on the heels of an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant, puts Birmingham one step closer to its goal to exploit the latest advances in technology for the benefit of its citizens and to improve city services.”

All of this adds up to easier and less frustrating parking for drivers and it’s one more step to a smarter city.

Technorati Tags: anaytics, IBM Smarter Planet, innovation, mobile applications, mobile computing, smarter parking, smarter traffic, Smarter Transportation

Charles Vincent, Chief Architect, IBM Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities

By Fabienne Guildhary, IBM Communications, Energy & Utilities/Media & Entertainment

Often, history serves as a tool to teach us valuable lessons and help us avoid repeating the same mistakes. As Chief Architect of the IBM Global Center of Competency for Energy and Utilities, Charles Vincent is leveraging his considerable knowledge of Electric Vehicles (EVs) to better shape the future of transportation.

Charles’ passion for EVs was sparked long before his career in electronic transportation took off. Fascinated by the technology at an early age, Charles devoted a lot of time poring over vintage publications on the subject, such as American Electric Vehicle Association newsletters from the early 1900’s. Then in the 1980’s, Charles got the opportunity to put his knowledge and passion to work.  

An early 20th century advertisement for the Baker Motor Vehicle Co.

Today, as an IBMer for 26 years and counting, Charles is a key contributor in the development of smart grid technology. Originally dubbed “intelligent grids,” Charles recognized early on the potential for these systems to adapt and respond to fluctuating energy needs. Even at the beginning stages, Charles and his team had a clear focus: work towards building a “Smarter Energy” infrastructure, one that could support increasing populations, new technologies and other unpredictable circumstances, such as extreme weather. The more the development evolved, Charles began to realize the crucial role the smart grid could play in creating a more EV-friendly environment.

Since then, Charles has seen the general public’s interest in EVs wax and wane, depending largely on fluctuating fuel prices. However, he believes the industry has a strong future.

“I think it’s obvious that plug-in electric vehicles will have a significant presence over the next 10 to 15 years,” he said. “Customers are becoming more aware of the benefits, utility companies are implementing new business strategies that will help support growing EV adoption, and even cities are taking the necessary steps to become “EV friendly.”

To help spur that future on, Charles and his team have developed IBM’s Intelligent Electric Vehicle Enablement Platform, a cloud-based energy solution that streamlines the charging process for utilities and consumers. The platform allows utilities to collect energy data via the EV charge-posts, and as a result, accurately measure energy needs and keep the power grid balanced. While, for consumers, the platform provides flexible payment options in the form of pre-paid billing and pay-per-use accounts – all key aspects in driving EV adoption.  

Charles says the EV Enablement Platform is the most challenging project he has undertaken thus far and he’s pleased to see it being applied to smarter EV infrastructures across many countries around the world – including Ireland and in the U.S.

What’s next? Charles hopes to increase EV momentum by working closely with all sectors such as consumers, utilities, automakers and stakeholders, to ensure the EV transition is as smooth as possible. With continued advancements, Charles and his team are preparing to harness smarter energy and leave their mark on transportation history.

Technorati Tags: electric cars, electric utilities, electric vehicles, EV, IBM, IBM electric vehicles, IBM Intelligent Electric Vehicle Enablement Platform

David Lee, Executive Partner, IBM Global Business Services, Ireland

By David Lee

Internal combustion engines fueled by petroleum continue to power the vast majority of vehicles around the world and continue to produce the largest percentage of CO2 from the transportation sector.

Since transportation is one of the largest sectors in Europe, it’s no wonder the mission of the European Green Cars Initiative is to support research and development on technologies that help advance such things as renewable, non-polluting energy, transportation safety, and traffic flow. In other words, the group’s objective is to help create a smarter, greener, integrated transport system.

As part of this effort is a campaign to increase the number of electric cars on our roads.

The benefits of electric cars go beyond transportation. By adopting more sustainable transport methods such as electric vehicles (EVs), we could save kilotons of C02 each year while achieving annual net cost savings for consumers and governments, alike. EVs offer a viable solution to the problems faced byEurope’s auto sector.

Yet, the introduction of any new technology such as electric cars requires extensive research and pilot projects. In Ireland, ESB Networks is involved in a number of trials and projects to analyze the charging infrastructure and collect data on ongoing consumer behaviors and trends.

ESB Networks is also a member of the Green eMotion research project that aims to develop and deploy interoperable charging solutions for electro-mobility across Europe. This project focuses on achieving mass-market adoption of EVs through the development of standards, policies and interoperable systems so that motorists can easily charge their vehicles anytime and anywhere throughout Europe.

The selection of Ireland as one of the ten demonstration regions within Green eMotion was an obvious one, since it already operates an advanced charge point network that covers 82 percent of the country’s main towns and cities.

To be sure, Ireland has many natural advantages that make it an ideal location for the successful adoption of EVs. There are short distances between urban centres, we have the capacity to generate high levels of renewable energy, we have a single service provider that operates a unified distribution network across the country, and we have high levels of home ownership for overnight charging.

In addition to all of this, there is a growing desire by Irish consumer to maintain a responsible lifestyle and to embrace the EV opportunity. For example, in June 2012, ESB Networks invited citizens and organizations to apply to join a team of EV ambassadors and drive an electric car for one year. The hugely positive response of more than 12,000 applicants highlighted the level of interest the has in this innovative driving technology.

In support of this campaign, ESB Networks, in collaboration with IBM, which has worked extensively on EV technologies including batteries, is implementing a charging infrastructure as well as the IT and communications systems needed to support EVs across Ireland. Beginning this month, the system will have open accessibility for all energy supply companies and all types of electric vehicles.

(Left to Right) Peter O’Neill, IBM Country General Manager, Ireland; ESB Chief Executive, Pat O’Doherty; and Allan Schurr, Vice President, Strategy and Development of IBM’s Global Energy and Utilities Industry, announce joint partnership in which IBM will help ESB ecars implement a fully-integrated smarter charging IT system. The system will manage electric vehicle public charge points, which are being rolled out across Ireland by ESB ecars. The IBM EV platform will enable EV drivers to select convenient payment options and access all charge points using a single ID card.

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Technorati Tags: Battery 500, electric vehicle, electric vehicles, green energy, ireland, sustainability

Business and public sector leaders gathered at the smarter cities forum India to discuss how to tackle the challenges and opportunities that cities in India face today, such as how they can better cope with infrastructure demands as the population continues to grow at an exponential rate.

The town hall meeting where citizens voiced their opinions on city affairs is more often happening online in an unorganized fashion rather than in person.  If cities can understand the wealth of online content and public commentary –positive or negative — on social channels such as Twitter and Facebook, it will give them new opportunities to engage with its citizens in real time and more quickly pinpoint and prioritize areas that are top of mind.

Now, cities will have a way to better measure and understand public opinions on key city issues and services, such as public transportation or education, using advanced analytics. By understanding the public sentiments of those living and working in a city, public sector leaders can create a new virtual town hall that can foster faster, more informed decisions that will in turn lead to improved services for citizens and more judicious uses of valuable resources.

Let’s take India and its three largest cities as an example. A more nuanced understanding of public sentiment could give a city additional insight into key areas to focus its attentions and resources, perhaps increasing public transit options during specific weather events in one city or implementing Bus Rapid Transit to attract certain industries in another.

So, the latest IBM Social Sentiment Index reveals what citizens in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi feel is impacting congestion most in their city. The Index showed some interesting insight, particularly when comparing the cities to each other, for example:

·     The top three factors citizens talked about most in impacting congestion were diverse. Delhites chattered about public transportation, weather and the stress of commuting, while Bangaloreans show more concern for their overall driving experience, construction and parking issues, and Mumbaikars talked about private transportation, accidents and pollution more often.

·     Despite recent infrastructure improvements, less pollution and a solid public transit system, Delhites are experiencing a far higher amount of stress (50%) than in Mumbai (29%) or Bangalore (34%). Most likely, this can be explained by an uptick in rallies and weather events this year, as well as the recent power outage.

·     Surprisingly, sentiment on the topic of construction was relatively positive in Bangalore and Delhi and positive and negative sentiment on infrastructure was relatively even. These may suggest that the transportation infrastructure improvements being made over the last two years in each city are beginning to positively impact citizens.

Once cities gauge the social media sentiment and apply analytics to it, it is easier to understand public opinions, and city officials can gain additional insights in order to draw logical conclusions about where they should focus their attentions and resources such as:

·     Since Dehlite’s indicate that public transportation is the preferred mode of transportation, city officials could use this insight to study which areas have high ridership and less road traffic and then implement similar actions in highly congested areas.

·     In Mumbai, negative sentiment around traffic and weather at the peak of monsoon season (August) generated 5.5 times more chatter than in November. If the city could measure the fluctuation of public sentiment on these potential causes over time combined with specific weather data like rainfall or temperature, it might be able to better prepare to divert traffic during monsoon season or determine areas where a public safety campaign is needed.

You can imagine how cities might then begin to surface best practices that they can apply to other zones of a city or even begin to share across regions. Each citizen has a unique voice and opinion about a critical issue or how to improve city services.

Technorati Tags: IBM, IBM Social Sentiment Index, india, social sentiment, traffic

Parking is a pain. Searching for a spot transforms time and gasoline into stress and CO2. Studies estimate that 30 percent of the traffic in central business districts is produced by drivers cruising for parking while IBM’s 2011 Global Parking Survey noted that drivers spent an average of 20 minutes looking for a parking spot. This is the driving force (sorry) behind a new wave of urban systems that use sensors and analytics to make parking more efficient.

These new systems bring to mind an experience I had while visiting Dubuque, Iowa to attend a meeting. I’d forgotten that I’d parked at a meter, my meeting went an hour longer than expected, and I came back to see a ticket on my windshield. I was annoyed at myself. But then I looked at the ticket: it was a “courtesy ticket” for $0.” How nice, I thought, ‘Dubuque is a great city!’

Click here to view the embedded video.

I don’t know if technology was behind it. Perhaps it was my out-of-state plates or perhaps all first offenders get a courtesy ticket. But not all cities are as forgiving. A week later, in my home city of Minneapolis, I got a $42 ticket for a 3-minute lapse—no reprieve for first offenders here. In neither case was a smart meter involved, but I started thinking about how smart parking meters ought to behave.

On a Smarter Planet, what should a smart parking meter do when time is running out? Should it act as a digital snitch, contacting the meter maid so she can be there the moment the flag goes up? Or should it act as a citizen advocate, warning drivers ahead of time so that they have a chance to feed their meters? For drivers who are late, smart meters will know how late –would it not be fair to reflect that in the size of the fine? Make it $1 a minute for overtime, rather than a flat $42, and drivers may be less inclined to curse their luck (and their city) when they’re three minutes late. If a car leaves before its time is up, should the meter leave the extra time as a small gift for the next driver, or should it zero itself out so it can get paid for the same time twice? These are little things, but they make a difference in how people experience their city. As a specialist in social computing, I focus on analyzing the social consequences of systems and the policies they support.

My point is a general one: As cities become smarter, there is a choice about how to apply that smartness. Currently urban systems are run, at least in part, by humans, and as a consequence, are not optimally efficient. But efficiency isn’t everything. Sometimes inefficiency is experienced as flexibility or as luck. It’s nice that if I don’t get back precisely on time, I can sometimes get lucky. This is the balm to the pain of paying $42 for a three-minute overage. But as we use smartness to squeeze inefficiency out of our systems, I worry that we will squeeze out flexibility and luck as well, making cities less forgiving and less comfortable places to live. This need not be so. Smartness can enable efficient systems, but it can also support new types of policies that give systems what feels like empathy, generosity and forgiveness. Efficiency is important—in its place. But let’s also think about how to use smartness to design systems that are empathic, that recognize that we all lead busy lives, and that give people a break when they’re running a bit late.

Technorati Tags: Analytics, business analytics, parking, social computing, traffic, transportation

A recent report by the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Institute, called Transit Access and Zero Vehicle Households, revealed several striking statistics about Detroit transit. Of the 136,000 households without cars in the Detroit metro area, 85% have access to transit, but only 26% of jobs are accessible to these households within 90 minutes via that same transit.

It seems impossible to think that there is no connection between the challenges the city faces and the poor mobility of its population. This personally interests me because I am attending graduate school in Southeast Michigan. It is also important to me because I care about creating a sustainable future. And sustainability means more than protecting the environment; it also means protecting and enhancing people’s lives. Imagine the potential to create economic value by simply connecting labor with jobs through smarter public transportation.

Sustainable economic value is created when people can easily access their jobs, schools, shops, and entertainment. Committing resources to drive technological innovation that improve regional public transportation will broaden access and give struggling American cities a jumpstart. Local governments can then capture that value, reinvest it in more transit improvements and further improve accessibility — creating a virtuous cycle. Other sustainable benefits will include less air pollution and higher safety.

Detroit is a long way from realizing the dream of public transit held by so many and is trapped in a vicious downward cycle. The city suffers from generations of deficient supply chain management that has led to poor relationships with bus parts vendors, leaving mechanics without the parts necessary to repair busses quickly when they need them.

This leads to more breakdowns, longer delays and stranded riders who are the last to know of route and schedule changes. This exacerbates disagreement amongst the regional transit planners, which has prevented the formation of a regional transit authority, a necessary step to receive federal funding for intercity transit infrastructure projects.

One way for Detroit, and cities like it, to break the cycle is to become an incubator for new technologies that facilitate successful public transportation. Advanced sensors could connect bus fleet managers and part suppliers with data to proactively anticipate maintenance as opposed to scrambling after breakdowns. Software packages incorporating supply chain analytics could be used to evaluate and optimize route planning and asset allocation in near real time. Social media could be used to gather ridership data while delivering updates on new routes and services to transit patrons. Advanced revenue management systems, like those used by the airline industry to maximize per-seat-sales, could be developed to ensure that no regional participant in a transportation network is short-changed.

I represent a generation of socially and environmentally minded business students who see these opportunities and are taking steps to bring them to fruition. Recently, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Detroit based non-profit Transportation Riders United (TRU) along with Ross School of Business classmates from the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. TRU’s mission is to “improve and promote transit in Greater Detroit.” I helped create an electronic dashboard for the leadership of the organization. This management tool consolidates numerous progress reports into high level metrics that will enable TRU’s leaders to prioritize goals, maximize resource efficiency, and quickly respond to new transit priorities.

This is one step on the long road to a sustainable public transportation system in Detroit. But every journey begins with that one step, and I’m here to tell you that there are many of us that are willing to take it. To my generation, creating a sustainable future is a land of fantastic opportunity.

John Seaver is a dual-degree student (MBA/MS ‘12) at the University of Michigan in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources and Environment. He is also a member of the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and the Tauber Institute for Global Operations. Follow him on Twitter @jseaver1.

Technorati Tags: Detroit, ERB, IBM, Smarter Transportation, Tabuer, technology, Universtiy of Michigan