DATA-DRIVEN TRANSIT NETWORK DESIGN FROM MOBILE PHONE

TRAJECTORIES
Abstract:
This paper presents a data-driven method for transit network design that relies on a large
sample of user location data available from mobile phone telecommunication networks. Such
data provide opportunistic sensing and the means for transit operators to match supply with
mobility demand inferred from mobile phone locations. In contrast to previous methods of transit
network design, the proposed method is entirely data driven, leveraging the large-sample
properties of disaggregate mobile phone network data and mobility pattern mining. The method
works by deriving frequent patterns of movements from anonymized mobile phone location data
and merging them to generate candidate route designs. Additional routines for optimal route
selection and service frequency setting are then employed to select a network configuration made
up of routes that maximizes systemwide traveler utility. Using data from half a million mobile
phone users in Abidjan from the telco operator Orange, we demonstrated to provide resourceneutral system improvement of 27% in terms of end-user journey times.