Work

Evaluating the Performance of Video-Based Automated Passenger Counting Systems in Real-World Conditions: A Comparative Study

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Automatic passenger counting (APC) systems in public transport are useful in collecting information that can help improve the efficiency of transport networks. Focusing on video-based passenger counting, the aim of this study was to evaluate and compare an existing APC system, claimed by its manufacturer to be highly accurate (98%), with a newly developed low-cost APC system operating under the same real-world conditions. For this comparison, a low-cost APC system using a Raspberry Pi with a camera and a YOLOv5 object detection algorithm was developed, and an in-field experiment was performed in collaboration with the public transport companies operating in the cities of Turin and Asti in Italy. The experiment shows that the low-cost system was able to achieve an accuracy of 72.27% and 74.59%, respectively, for boarding and alighting, while the tested commercial APC system had an accuracy, respectively, of 53.11% and 55.29%. These findings suggest that current APC systems might not meet expectations under real-world conditions, while low-cost systems could potentially perform at the same level of accuracy or even better than very expensive commercial systems.

Source: Sensors

DOI: 10.3390/s23187719

Authors: Cristina Pronello, Ximena Rocio Garzón Ruiz

Institution: Politecnico di Torino

Language: English

Topic: Video Surveillance and Tracking Methods

Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Sustainable cities and communities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,669