Janny Leung is a Professor at the University of Macau affiliated with the State Key Lab of Internet of Things for Smart City. She holds an S.B. degree in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, an M.A. in Mathematics from Oxford University and a Ph.D. in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her main research interests are combinatorial optimization and transportation logistics. Her research has been well supported by the National Science Foundation of USA and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. She was the Chair of the Scientific Committee at the 19th Triennial IFORS Conference in Melbourne in 2011. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and a Fellow of INFORMS.
Public Transportation for Smart Cities
The idea of a smart city is one that utilizes IoT technologies and data analytics to optimize the efficiency of city operations and services, so as to provide a high quality of life for its citizens. Due to reduced public funding, many public transportation systems are already facing challenges to maintain their services. For a smart city, the goal of public transportation is not simply the movement of people, but to provide mobility for living. This will be particularly challenging due changes in habitation trends and work patterns. For example, the growth of mega-cities have led to extreme traffic congestion in city centres and urban sprawl on their outskirts. In order to provide sufficient coverage/frequency, an integrated co-ordinated multi-modal public transportation system is needed, leading to substantial increase in operational complexity. Environmental concerns and the recent pandemic may also have changed work and commuting patterns in the future, with more people working from home and companies adopting flexible work shifts. For smart cities, public transportation must offer ubiquitous access, real-time response to demand, convenience and quality service, and energy-efficient operations. This talk will discuss the challenges in network design, operations planning, scheduling and management of smart public transportation systems. Some case studies will also be presented.