ADAPTIVE PLANNING OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION

• US 20150199633A1
• Filed: 01/13/2014
• Published: 07/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Convertino, Gregorio, Willamowski, Jutta K., Castellani, Stefania, Grasso, Maria Antonietta
• Granted Patent: US 9,747,567 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment

Abstract

A method for planning a transportation service includes sending transportation proposal to a plurality of organizations. The proposal includes one or more initial options, each including a set of variable parameters. Each organization can generate a modified option and make a commitment conditional on selected ones of the parameters. Each organization sends respective modified options to commuters of that organization who may specify their own pledges for at least one of the modified options, conditional on the organization-selected values for the variable parameters and optionally on commuter-selected values for the variable parameters. A cost-benefit function is computed for each of a set of revised options for the transportation service, each of the revised options being based on a combination of the variable parameters for which pledges which cover the combination have been received and one or more of the revised options is identified, based on the computed cost-benefit function.

Claims

1. A method for adaptive planning of a transportation service comprising:

sending a transportation proposal to a set of organizations, the proposal including a set of initial options, each initial option including a set of variable parameters for specifying a transportation service;

providing for each organization to select values for one or more of the variable parameters to generate at least one modified option, and for making a commitment for at least one of the modified options, conditional on the organization-selected values for the variable parameters;

providing for each organization to send respective modified options to commuters of that organization;

receiving responses to the modified transportation proposal, at least some of the responses including pledges by the commuters for at least one of the modified options based on the organization-selected values for the variable parameters and optionally on commuter-selected values for the variable parameters;

computing a cost-benefit function for each of a set of revised options for the transportation service, each of the revised options being based on a combination of the variable parameters for which pledges which cover the combination have been received; and

outputting at least one of the revised options based on the cost-benefit function.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing of the cost-benefit function is performed with a computer processor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cost-benefit function takes into account a cost of providing a respective one of the revised options and the pledges which cover the combination of the variable parameters for that revised option.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing for each organization to modify the transportation proposal comprises generating a user interface through which an organization pledges a subsidy for an initial option or a revised option.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing for each organization to select values for one or more of the variable parameters to generate a modified option comprises providing for the organization to make a commitment for a modified option if at least one condition is satisfied, each of the at least one conditions being based on a value of at least one of the variable parameters.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the commitment includes at least one of:

a pledge for purchase of a number of tickets by at least one of the organization and its commuters; and

a subsidy to the commuters of the organization who pledge for the modified option.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation proposal is for a new bus line.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the variable parameters include variable parameters selected from the group consisting of:

a route;

a number of stops;

a location of one of the stops;

a distance to one of the stops;

a frequency of the transportation service; and

a cost of tickets.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing for at least one of the organizations and the commuters to provide comments on missing parameters that would enable the organization or commuter to express a condition on its commitment better.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a user interface for the organization which identifies revised options for which the cost-benefit function indicates the revised option is closer to being cost effective.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying members of a sustainable commuting club comprising organizations that have pledged for prior transportation proposals and wherein the transportation proposal provides for lower ticket price for commuters of members of the sustainable commuting club than for commuters of other organizations.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing the cost benefit function comprises computing for each of the set of revised options for a predetermined time period, a function of:

a total value of the pledges for that revised option, where each revised option has a different combination of parameter values or ranges of the parameter values;

a cost of the revised option to the transport provider, which is a function of the parameter values or ranges for that revised option, and optionally,

a benefit to the transport provider.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the revised options based on the computed cost-benefit function and the outputting includes outputting at least one of the more highly ranked revised options.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the computing a cost-benefit function includes determining whether at least a predefined proportion of the cost for the predetermined time period is offset by the total value of the pledges for that revised option, and if so, basing the ranking on a number of the pledges for each revised option.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform the method of claim 1.

16. A system comprising memory which stores instructions for performing the method of claim 1 and a processor in communication with the memory for executing the instructions.

17. A system for adaptive planning of a transportation service comprising:

a cost estimator for estimating a cost for each of an initial set of options, each initial option including a set of variable parameters for specifying a transportation service;

a parameter component which stores selectable parameters associated with each initial option, and values of the selectable parameters selected by organizations in generating modified options;

a user interface generator which generates at least one of;

a first user interface for organizations to make a commitment for at least one of the modified options, based on the organization-selected values for the variable parameters, and

a second user interface for commuters of the organizations to make a commitment for at least one of the modified options, based on the organization-selected values and optionally on one or more user-specified values for the variable parameters;

a pledge processing component which aggregates responses to the modified transportation proposal received from the organizations, at least some of the responses including pledges by the commuters for at least one of the modified options based on the organization-selected values for the variable parameters and optionally on commuter-selected values for the variable parameters;

a cost-benefit computation component which computes a cost-benefit function for each of a set of revised options for the transportation service, each of the revised options being based on a combination of the variable parameters;

an option update component which identifies at least one of the revised options based on the computed cost-benefit function; and

a processor which implements the cost estimator, parameter component, user interface generator, pledge processing component, cost-benefit computation component, and option update component.

18. A method for adaptive planning of a transportation service comprising:

sending a transportation proposal to a plurality of organizations, the proposal including a set of variable parameters for specifying an option for a transportation service;

providing a first graphical user interface for each of the organizations to pledge a number of tickets for the transportation service and to select conditions for the organization'"'"'s pledge, based on selected values for one or more of the variable parameters;

providing a second graphical user interface for commuters of each organization to pledge to purchase a ticket for the transportation service and to select conditions for the commuter'"'"'s pledge, based on selected values for one or more of the variable parameters, the conditions for the commuter'"'"'s pledge being constrained by the conditions for the organization'"'"'s pledge;

receiving the pledges made by the organizations and the commuters; and

computing a cost-benefit function for each of a set of combinations of the selectable parameters for the transportation service, the cost-benefit function taking into account those of the organization pledges and commuter pledges which cover the respective combination; and

providing for identifying a revised option for the transportation service based on the computed cost-benefit function for one of the combinations.

19. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform the method of claim 18.

20. A system comprising memory which stores instructions for performing the method of claim 18 and a processor in communication with the memory for executing the instructions.