The Impact of Self-Service Kiosks on Public Transportation Systems

Certain noteworthy public transportation statistics of UAE & Africa

• - Based on Global Competitiveness Index ranking, the United Arab Emirates was ranked No.1 in 2023 for Quality of Air Transport Infrastructure.
• - The Legatum Prosperity Index on Public Transportation Satisfaction, the UAE is ranked 6th, globally.
• - The public transportation market in Africa is predicted to generate US$8.39 billion in revenue by 2024. From 2024 to 2028, revenue is expected to increase at a yearly rate of 3.13%, with a predicted volume of US$9.49 billion by that time.

The role of self-service kiosks in public transportation sector

Self-service kiosks play an integral role in public transportation sector, especially in automating the ticketing process, improving the operational efficiency and enhancing passenger experience. Now, let’s examine those roles in detail.

• 1. Convenient passenger ticketing – Would you appreciate waiting in long lines at the ticket counter to purchase your ticket? Manual ticketing can be time-consuming and it may involve human errors too which affects passenger experience. Self-service kiosk automates the ticketing tasks in a wide range of public transportation hubs like airports, railway stations, etc. with utmost precision and efficiency.
• 2. Perform automated booking/reservation – Gone are those day when passengers where required to show up at the booking office, early in the office hours, and wait in the queue to reserve their travel tickets. Now, self-service kiosks allow passengers handle the process all by themselves. The passengers can easily do the booking, edit the booking information, and even perform cancellation with few taps on the screen!
• 3. Passenger check-in and boarding pass issuance – I wouldn’t hesitate to say that self-service kiosks have revolutionized the passenger check-in formalities in airports. Most of the busy airport terminals across the globe have already realized the benefits of deploying interactive airports kiosks in airport premises.
• Airport check-in kiosks are usually loaded with components like passport scanner, card reader, camera, biometric reader etc. to speed up airport check-in process.
• The customers can easily provide their flight confirmation code/credit card information via the check-in kiosk, as part of passenger identification, and get their boarding pass printed easily in a couple of minutes!
• The airport staff needn’t have to handle the passengers and make them wait in the long queue to issue boarding passes. As a matter of fact, utmost convenience for both the airport authorities and the passengers.
• 4. Baggage dropping and tracking at airports – You might have used the baggage dropping facility in renowned airports. The self-service baggage dropping is yet another worth-mentioning facility that improves the overall operational efficiency of airports. Passengers feel highly empowered to tag and drop their luggage single-handedly without any human intervention. Most importantly, the passengers can accomplish this task at their own pace giving maximum control.
• Another striking aspect that empowers customers is the baggage tracking facility. This can be done by integrating RFID technology with airport baggage systems. To add on, passengers can make use of self-service kiosks to check the current status and location of the checked-in baggage. It’s a rewarding experience for passengers. Isn’t it?
• Upon entering passenger details, flight information, and baggage information, you could easily access the real-time status and location of your luggage. Hence, no worries!
• 5. Information dissemination – Self-service kiosks serve as a reliable and effective information dissemination portal for airports, railway stations, bus terminals, sub way systems, water metro stations, in busy junctions etc.

Transportation has much to do with publishing the most updated and relevant information and “TIME” is an important factor.

Passengers appreciate the service providers when they get to access relevant, accurate information on a time-bound manner.

Information dissemination aspect is mutually beneficial for both the service operators as well as the users. Let’s go through some of those benefits.

• Provide real-time data –Passengers can easily access real-time data via self-service kiosks with a few clicks or taps avoiding human interaction. Kiosks display a plethora of information such as departure, arrival, schedules, service cancellations, etc. The service providers can even issue warnings, emergency messages, updates, reschedules and other events via the self-service kiosks, and keep the passengers informed and updated.
• Wayfinding and navigation – Large transportation hubs require effective navigation systems and maps to guide passengers. Entrusting human employees for these tasks can create havoc in busy airports or railway station settings. Self-service kiosks serve as interactive wayfinding solutions for passengers to navigate large transit hubs. Interactive maps provide a detail-oriented sketch of the premises which includes directions to passenger facilities like food courts, wait rooms, rest rooms, prayer rooms etc.
• Advertisements and promotions – The footfall in transit hubs is generally high. Service providers and their partners can display ads or other promotional materials via self-service kiosks. The interactive touchscreens support high quality creative ads, eye-catchy videos, or animations, special offers etc. Kiosks serve as an excellent platform to easily gain the attention of passengers, and thereby, generate revenue.
• Avoid direct sunlight – Store the kiosk away from direct impact of the sunlight as harmful UV rays can adversely affect kiosk screen functionality.

• 6. Improved accessibility for passengers with disability –Self-service kiosks designed with accessibility embrace inclusiveness. People with disability should be able to access the facilities offered by interactive kiosk machines just like any other human being. What I personally feel is that, all transportation hubs must be equipped with feature-packed disability kiosks to address the needs of the differently-abled.

  Panashi Accessibility kiosks are equipped with disability-friendly features like tactile keypads, screen magnification software, speech-to-text and text-to-speech functionality, adjustable screen brightness functionality and many more.

• 7. Passenger feedback – Self-service kiosks present an excellent opportunity to the gather valuable passenger feedback. Passengers can easily enter their feedbacks via the kiosk interface. Analyzing the passenger feedbacks helps you identify any room for improvement.