Transport for London (TfL) has begun a short trial that will see de-personalised WiFi connection data collected at 54 London Underground stations within Zones 1-4 to help improve the services it offers customers.
The trial, which will last four weeks from 21 November, will help give TfL a more accurate understanding of how people move through stations, interchange between services and how crowding develops. This may enable TfL to improve its services, provide better travel information and help prioritise investment.
The trial will work by collecting WiFi connection requests from mobile devices as customers pass through stations. When a device has WiFi enabled, it will continually search for a WiFi network by sending out a unique identifier – known as a Media Access Control address – to nearby routers.
“This short trial will help us understand whether WiFi connection data could help us plan and operate our transport network more effectively for customers. Historically, if we wanted to know how people travelled we would have to rely on paper surveys and manual counting, which is expensive, time consuming and limited in detail and reliability. We hope the results of this trial will enable us to provide customers with even better information for journey planning and avoiding congestion,” Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at Transport for London, said.
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