Transforming Public Transport with AI-Powered Passenger Information Systems

Digital solutions are always in constant pursuit of next-gen transformative innovations, as seen with the resurgence of artificial intelligence (AI). It is with these advancements that the public transportation sector has now become accessible to all.

Take for instance the more widespread use of digital-powered text-to-speech solutions in Europe. Having shown great interest for these digital capabilities, four German cities – Potsdam, Saarbrücken, Würzburg, and Braunschweig, along with two others in Switzerland – Thun and Bern, have worked closely with Trapeze Group to deploy an advanced neural text-to-speech solution into their respective public transit systems.

Streamlined Processes with Maximum Gains

Beyond ensuring all announcements reach all passengers across the transit system, what are the real advantages of using text-to-speech for passenger information?

In the case of sudden changes to the timetable for a public transport platform due to updated route planning, unforeseen scenarios, or emergencies, preparing and implementing announcements for this change is a must. Critical alerts – either planned or otherwise – must be ready instantly and made available on vehicle passenger information systems in short order.

With neural voices, these updates and alerts can be immediately generated and transmitted to passengers, ensuring they are updated while on-the-go.

Using these next-gen digital solutions and Generative AI (GenAI), spending extra hours and critical resources to produce new announcements in a recording studio is no longer necessary. With the text-to-speech solution from Trapeze, generating voice announcements for stops; routes and destinations; and distance- and time-controlled alerts can now be processed with one mouse click.

Service providers that use control triggers or transmit announcements into monitored vehicles can also use this solution to update passenger information systems instantly and produce new content with the latest information for passengers.

How Does this Help Passenger Information?

Thanks to GenAI, neural text-to-speech voices are now natural sounding and life-like. As such, there is no real need for any phonetic corrections. The operations team in charge of passenger information can also determine the vocal range, speaking style, and emotional intensity to fit the level of severity of the announcement.

Beyond GenAI capabilities, the deep learning and automation components that our AI-powered solution offers will also provide additional intuitiveness and richer interaction to ensure passengers are constantly engaged with the latest updates.

Shared Insights from Customer Use Cases

“With the neural voice solution from Trapeze Group, I can say that, within our test operations, we are very satisfied with the simplicity of the integration and familiarisation that the LIO-Data platform offers and the streamlined workflow used on TTS Designer.

No matter how complex the words and phrases are, which previously required a long time to process phonetically, the new Trapeze solution manages to process and deliver outputs in short order. In addition, the French voice, which is frequently used along the German-French border region, is natural-sounding and easy to comprehend.”

Frank Knewel, Specialist for Data Supply and Communications Technology, Saarbahn Netz GmbH

“From our ongoing tests of the (neural text-to-speech) function, we have already received positive feedback from our drivers.”

Carsten Borchers, Service Planning/Guidance Systems, BSVG Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH

Would you also like to produce text-to-speech announcements instantly and even create ad hoc voice alerts to ensure all passengers would receive updates? Let’s connect so you can find out more about our neural text-to-speech solutions offering.

Please connect with us at https://trapezegroup.com.my/contact-us/.