The Automatic Passenger Counting System (APCS) provides precise information on ridership, the number of passengers boarding and alighting, where and when, i.e. at which stops and at which time.
Such critical information on the movement of passengers with time and location data allows informed decisions in the making of changes in services and in planning and scheduling bus operations.
The APC system can also be connected to a bus on-board computer unit to maintain a log of the number of passengers boarding and alighting the bus at each stop.
Our research team has been exploring the application of the APC in the Indian bus transport conditions where passengers generally board and alight buses at both doors of a bus and with several passengers entering and leaving the bus at the same time.