Feasibility Study: Al-based Passenger Counting System for Public Transit

Abstract

Over 350 000 passengers are transported daily by the Basler Verkehrs-Betriebe. Many of these passengers hold a season ticket, which is offered by the Tarifverbund Nordwerstschweiz (TNW). The TNW compensates all public transport providers based on the number of passengers transported. Therefore, all operators must provide verifiable passenger counts. Recent breakthroughs in AI based object recognition enable reliable real-time object detection. Combined with a tracking, the aim is to determine whether this technology can be used to count passengers in public transport.