Spotlight

Detailed look at a specific topic or area of interest

• Open-payment Systems in Transit: Innovations in Asia Pacific

  September 1, 2019
  Bank cards (either physical or through mobile applications) have been used to pay for transit in several cities in Australia, South Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. Several other cities in India, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, and Taiwan have plans to deploy open-payment systems in transit.

• Spain’s HSR network: Necessity versus substantial cost

  August 1, 2019
  Developed over a period of 27 years at an investment of more than EUR52 billion, the high-speed rail (HSR) network in Spain spans more than 3,400 km. It is the largest network in Europe and the second largest in the world, following China.

• Back on Track: New Zealand allocates NZD1.5 billion to speed up rail development

  July 1, 2019
  In May 2019, the Auckland City Rail Link (CRL) project, New Zealand’s largest transport infrastructure project and the city’s first underground rail line, received a funding boost of NZD534 million to cover rising costs and to meet the 2024 completion deadline.

• Upcoming LRT projects: Network expansion, planned investment

  June 1, 2019
  The current global light rail transit (LRT)/tram/streetcar network spans over 2,700 km.

• Rail Expansion in Colombia: Adoption of PPP model to build metro and light rail projects

  May 1, 2019
  Colombia is planning to develop nearly 100 km of urban rail network at an investment of over USD8.5 billion through the public–private partnerships (PPP) model.

• Transit State of Good Repair Conference: Washington D.C., March 2019 [free access]

  April 1, 2019
  Global Mass Transit organised its seventh conference on Transit State of Good Repair on March 6–7, 2019 at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C. The conference focused on the progress of and the opportunities in the implementation of transit asset management (TAM) and the achievement of the state of good repair (SGR).

• Innovations in Public Transit: Big impact by small start-ups

  March 1, 2019
  Innovations in the transit space are allowing transport authorities to make their systems more efficient and reliable, thereby attracting greater ridership.

• Public transport in Nigeria: Plans to quadruple the rail network by 2022

  February 1, 2019
  The growth of public transport systems in Nigeria has been quite slow, with only 83 km of the rail and bus network operationalised in the last 18 years.

• Urban mass transit funding in Africa: Increasing investments by China

  January 1, 2019
  The public transit sector in Africa is mostly dominated by privately operated taxis and buses, which are usually overcrowded, uncomfortable, and unsafe.

• Clean Buses in Asia Pacific: Highlights from our Singapore conference in October 2018 [free access]

  December 1, 2018
  On October 22-23, 2018, Global Mass Transit (GMT) organised the conference on ‘Clean Buses in Asia Pacific 2018’.

• Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection in APAC: Key takeaways from our Singapore conference in October 2018 [free access]

  November 1, 2018
  Global Mass Transit Research organised its third annual conference on ‘Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection APAC 2018’ on October 24-25, 2018, in Singapore.

• Fare system modernisation in the US: Focus on ABT and contactless payments

  October 1, 2018
  Currently, over 90 per cent of the transit systems in the United States (US) are using closed loop ticketing systems and issue transit agency specific smartcards.

• Railway predictive maintenance: Fruit of rail digitalisation

  September 1, 2018
  The Internet of Things (IoT) has created new opportunities in railway asset management. With sensors on critical railway components, vast quantities of data can be collected.

• Mergers and acquisitions in railway sector: Developments in 2017-2018

  August 1, 2018
  During 2017-2018, there was consolidation in the global rail industry with various players merging their businesses and big players taking over smaller players to expand markets and strengthen their product portfolio.

• Bank cards for transit ticketing: Limited deployment in Southeast Asia

  July 1, 2018
  Deployment of bank cards for transit ticketing is a recent phenomenon in Southeast Asia (SEA). It is currently limited to transit agencies in countries with well developed public transport systems.

• Big Plans: Transit agencies in the US to modernise metrorail systems

  June 1, 2018
  Transit agencies in the United States (US) have unveiled major plans to upgrade and modernise their metrorail systems with a focus on purchase of new rolling stock, installation of advanced signalling systems and deployment of new fare payment systems. Significant emphasis is being laid on modernisation due to aging infrastructure.

• Clean Buses in Europe: Insights from Amsterdam conference in April 2018 [free access]

  May 1, 2018
  Global Mass Transit organised a conference on ‘Clean Buses in Europe 2018’ on April 18-19, 2018 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The conference brought together many experts from the government and industry, who are directly involved in the deployment of clean buses in European cities.

• Electric buses in Latin America: Current scenario and future outlook

  April 1, 2018
  The transport sector of Latin America is one of the fastest growing market globally and the fleet of vehicles is estimated to increase by 200 per cent in the next 25 years.

• Singapore LTA’s asset management strategies: Predictive maintenance by 2020 [free access]

  March 1, 2018
  Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) is undertaking pioneering initiatives in the area of asset management for the rapid transit systems (RTS) in Asia.

• CTA Capital Improvement Plan: USD2.7 billion up to 2022

  February 1, 2018
  Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has approved a USD2.7-billion capital improvement plan (CIP) to be implemented between 2018 and 2022.