{"id":193,"date":"2012-03-27T16:27:59","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T16:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/?p=193"},"modified":"2012-03-27T16:29:24","modified_gmt":"2012-03-27T16:29:24","slug":"studey-of-qr-codes-in-southampton-bus-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/2012\/03\/27\/studey-of-qr-codes-in-southampton-bus-stops\/","title":{"rendered":"Study of QR Codes in Southampton Bus Stops"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tweet<\/a><\/div>\n

Last year, an MSc student called Nick Gammer worked with data.southampton to study the value of QR Codes at bus-stops (linking to real-time data). There’s a few surprises in the results,<\/p>\n

The key findings were:<\/p>\n

The QR code trial was successful with increasing use over the life of the project.<\/h3>\n

Unprompted respondent comments were largely positive. The time trend of daily hit counts shows the project gained popularity over the time it was in operation, especially given book-marked hits were not recorded.<\/p>\n

QR Code use was unaffected by the day of the week<\/h3>\n

There was little variation in average daily use and a One-Way ANOVA test confirmed no significant difference in average daily hits.<\/p>\n

The QR code system was likely to have been beneficial to both regular, familiar, commuters and irregular, unfamiliar leisure travellers<\/h3>\n

Use was very consistent between weekdays\/weekends and peak\/inter-peak times.\u00a0 Also, survey results asking respondents whether they would be more likely to use the service on a familiar or unfamiliar route were reasonably evenly split (57% to 43% respectively). Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the change of acceptability of wait time between the two groups.<\/p>\n

Scanning as opposed to entering the URL in a mobile browser was the preferred access method<\/h3>\n

Only 0.6% of hits recorded were through typing a URL<\/p>\n

It is not beneficial to provide instructions on, or promotion of QR code use as there is no effect on uptake<\/h3>\n

Use of basic posters was higher in terms of absolute hits and footfall adjusted hits, however t-tests revealed not significantly greater for either data set.<\/p>\n

It appears QR code posters placed at stops without a shelter receive higher QR code use<\/h3>\n

The average hit rate at stops without a shelter was substantially higher (28% greater usage) however due to insufficient without shelter stop numbers and footfall data this could not be formally tested.<\/p>\n

There is substantial variation in use by area with the urban, university and interchange areas displaying much greater use that suburban areas.<\/h3>\n

This is true for absolute average hits per stop in given areas and even more pronounced when data is adjusted for footfall.<\/p>\n

The presence of a display does not effect QR code use<\/h3>\n

Surprisingly the average footfall adjusted hit rate was not significantly higher for stops without a functioning display giving bus arrival times. This is supported by street survey data as respondents did not find wait time significantly more acceptable due to QR code use when a display was not available.<\/p>\n

Use of the existing SMS arrival time service is low and could be redundant<\/h3>\n

None of the 67 street survey respondents used this service suggesting potential for replacement by essentially free and often real-time QR code provision.<\/p>\n

The QR code system was easy to use<\/h3>\n

Eighty one percent of respondents found the system either very or quite easy to use.
\nEasy of use was not significantly influenced by smartphone ownership, however a significantly higher proportion of respondents aged over 40 found it more challenging.<\/p>\n

Observed behavioural change was limited; the majority was in the form of utilisation of wait time.<\/h3>\n

Due to the methodology and high service frequencies the observed behavioural change was lower than previous studies. The only observed modifications were utilisation of wait time or going to a different stop. Further research is required.<\/p>\n

System accuracy and reliability was adequate<\/h3>\n

Eighty eight percent of respondents believed the difference between their estimated and actual bus arrival times were less than the crucial 5 minutes. There were no system errors during demonstrations or from mobile survey comments and no vandalism occurred.<\/p>\n

Arrival time provision through QR code use substantially improved the acceptability of wait time<\/h3>\n

Sixty five percent of respondents stated receiving wait times make their wait either much or a little more acceptable. There was no significant difference in the change of acceptability of wait time between respondents at stops with and without a display, frequent and infrequent travellers or passengers faced with a short and long wait.<\/p>\n

QR code use lead to a valuable increase in feelings of safety<\/h3>\n

Thirty nine percent of respondents, mostly interviewed during daylight hours, felt safer after receiving wait times. A significantly higher proportion of female respondents exhibited positive changes in feelings of safety.<\/p>\n

Potential patronage increases appear large although should be treated with caution<\/h3>\n

Fifty six percent of respondents stated they would be either a little or a lot more likely to use a bus as a result of QR code use. Previous studies reveal this is likely to substantially over-represent any resulting patronage change.<\/p>\n

Knowledge of the difference between real-time and timetable arrival information is very poor and there could be substantial benefits from improving this knowledge<\/h3>\n

Only 10% of respondents knew the difference between timetable and real-time arrival times. Confidence in the system could potentially be greatly improved by informing passengers which times can be relied upon; confidence is an essential prerequisite for reaping the benefits RTI provision.<\/p>\n

You can view the full report here: “An appraisal of QR code use to deliver bus arrival time information at bus stops in Southampton”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tweet Last year, an MSc student called Nick Gammer worked with data.southampton to study the value of QR Codes at bus-stops (linking to real-time data). There’s a few surprises in the results, The key findings were: The QR code trial was successful with increasing use over the life of the project. Unprompted respondent comments were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14603,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-data-consumers","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":196,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193\/revisions\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.soton.ac.uk\/data\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}