Transport hubs
Transport hubs are key elements in the transport/tourism/mobility chain. Bus/Coach counts up to 90 % of public transport trips in Cantabria and it is the essential mode to get to the main tourist attractions.
Santander Bus & Coach Station is the link between different transport modes (air transport, railway, ferryboat), providing transport & tourist information as well as some other public services. It has become the main entrance gate of our region and it should be the digital intermodal transfer hub to both public transport services and tourist destinations.
Our pilot aims at creating an AR & mobile guide to enable citizens & visitors to navigate inside the bus/coach station helping them to easily find the different desks and public offices either to buy tickets, reload smartcards, get tourist information, get public transport timetables or just find their quay to get on-board.
Conclusions
The Cantabria Public Transport application was designed to enable citizens and foreign visitors arriving to the city to navigate inside the bus station, providing them with a tool that could be used to find different information desks and public offices.
Cantabria pilot chose ARway app under Android 12 system on different devices to test the accuracy of the application. A comprehensive mapping of the building was set up. Maps were improved with details using the desk version (Arway kit map studio) and including 3D elements.
The pilot defined 12 hotspots and 8 virtual tours enabling the travelers and visitors to find the main public services (information desks, ticket sale offices, luggage storage, etc) through AR technology and navigate inside the station just scanning the QR codes displayed in different spots of the building.
System usability scale results confirmed that the respondents found the tool helpful and convenient to use. The user experience testing showed a positive evaluation but at the same time suggested that the future for a more intensive/popular application relies on an improvement of the technology enabling a more precise respond to specific user needs, which would increase the usability and therefore improve user experience.
The discussions following the evaluation analysis focused on the potential of such tools. For example, the added value of applications designed for use in (transport) buildings would be to link them to existing databases or applications offering virtual content about travel destinations that can be reached from that station and other touristic attractions.
CTL Cantabria Team
The CTL Cantabria TPL Team includes: Paz López Casar, Marín Sánchez González, María González Pereda, David Hernández Macías , Rubén Alcega Martínez and Orestes Cendrero Aso (stakeholder)
