The buses and trams of the Grand Reims Mobilités network have been equipped with sensors to detect users' phones. Data analysis should make it possible to better understand the use of the network, and in particular to better target control operations.
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Sensors to better fight fraud. This is one of the objectives of a new technological solution deployed on the Greater Reims public transport network. Boxes the size of a large matchbox have been installed in all trams and buses. They detect travelers' mobile phones, in order to better understand their movements on the network.
Transdev, the operator of the Grand Reims Mobilités network, called on a young company based on Reunion Island, Flowly, to do this. “We have developed a patented solution, which is based on the passive detection of mobile phones, to be able to analyze origin-destination flows on public transport networks”, explains the founder of Flowly, Julien Tenenbaum.
Flowly uses the phones WiFi connection. The box retrieves an identifier, the MAC address, which each device has. “It is an address that is issued regularly by the telephone. It is in no way linked to the telephone number or to the identity of the person”specifies Julien Tenenbaum. The analysis of this data makes it possible to know where a user boarded or left a bus or tram. It is also possible to follow a possible correspondence.
The goal is not to follow a particular user, but to analyze the flow of travelers in the network. Flowly anonymizes collected MAC addresses within six hours of collection. A display has been installed in the vehicles to explain this system. It links to an information site, on which it is possible to object to the collection.
The data we integrate is all completely anonymous.
Counting cells have also been installed on the doors of certain vehicles, in order to complete network usage statistics. By crossing this data with other information such as ticket validations, passage times or vehicle positions, Flowly can make a diagnosis of the public transport network.
Within Grand Reims Mobilités, the tool has started to be used to analyze attendance on the new bus lines set up at the start of the school year. “The idea is to use this tool to be able to make proposals to Grand Reims to adapt the offer“, indicates Marie-Agnès Calvet, marketing director of Transdev Reims, which operates the public transport network.
To the general public, the operator communicates what the tool allows to better target the fight against fraud. A poster campaign has been set up in recent weeks with the main message: “You wanted to defraud, it's worn out”, recalling the fine incurred of 70 euros.
It must be said that in 2023, 13.5% of travelers were not in compliance, according to a fraud survey carried out on the network in November. This is an increase compared to the previous year (12.3%), but far from the peak observed in 2019 with 23.2% of travelers in an irregular situation.
The tool developed by Flowly does not allow you to know in real time the buses or trams where the fraudsters concentrate. But by comparing ticket and subscription validation data, and the number of people counted in vehicles, it can establish averages for times and areas most affected. Enough to allow controllers to better target their actions.
“We have to see our controllers everywhere, because otherwise it’s not a deterrent. But they also have to go to places where we know that their action will be effective.” explains Marie-Agnès Calvet, from Transdev Reims.
In the Grand Est, Flowly has also deployed its solution in Mulhouse, in Haut-Rhin. She equips around fifty public transport networks in France and internationally.
