Gamification on Public Transit System Usage

Gamification is the concept of applying game-design thinking to non-game applications to make them more fun and engaging.Gamification makes technology more engaging,by helping to solve problems and not being a distraction,by encouraging users to engage in desired behaviors, and by taking advantage of humans' psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.Energy and effort that goes into creating such games, and playing them, could be channeled to win a better future for the real world. One thing games can do is take some of the intangible or delayed benefits of more sustainable lifestyle choices, and translate them into instant rewards. Some rewards might be material; others might be purely 'social', or as simple as a personal best. The key is that they're achieved via a game process. My research aims to improve public transit system through gamification. This paper introduces the concept of meaningful gamification through which user will get rewards while playing this game. Game point is the dollar amount which will be given to user in order to draw their attention towards the game.

As human being has very un-predictable nature. We can’t track what’sin their mind. This Gaming concept will help in drawattention of human and can winthem some exiting rewards without putting extra effort.In this research, we have tried to get data for commuter’s movement in a city by rewarding them some game points which corresponds to some dollar amount and then our focus is to reduce the traffic in congested region making them to shift to less congested region.By applying the principles of gaming in new ways, and making imaginative use of the technology available, gamification could be an invaluable tool in the quest forfetching the data related to commuters’ movement for a specific region.One significant problem with this model of gamification is that it can reduce the internal motivation that the user has for the activity, as it replaces internal motivation with external motivation. If, however, the game design elements can be made meaningful to the user through information, then internal motivation can be improved as there is less need to emphasize external rewards.

Our Gaming concept consists of one card which user need to purchase. We have some exciting offer associated with the card. One coupon number will be shared with the user with this card, which helpsthem in getting into onlinegame.User needs to login inside online game with coupon number and provide mobile number and commuting time. User doesn’t have the overhead to give commuting region. We have made users’ involvement as simple as possible.

Keeping track of user is very important part. We can’t rely on user input without valid proof. User may give incorrect data in order to gain reward. So we need to have some mechanism through which we can track user. Now, this is when GPS equipped smartphones came into picture. We make use of GPS equipped smartphones for tracking user because now a day, all mobile phones are having GPS Facility. User needs to give their mobile number and time of commuting. For the given commuting time, user position is recorded and saved.

Reward money amountis directly proportional to number of days user is giving data. Users are selected on first come basis (Whoever gives input first). Each Card costs $ 5 and monthly recharge is $10. 1. For referring to new user, $5 is given as reward. 2. $10is given to 20 users of lowest three congested region on daily basis. 20 users are selected on first come priority. 3. $25is given to 20 users of lowest three congested region on 15 day basis.(15 day basis means user needs to give data consistently for 15 days)

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If prize would be distributed to lowest congested region only, theremay be adverse impact on traffic and the lowest congested region will have maximum traffic then. Our main objective is to minimize the congestion.Selecting lowest three congested regions will help to normalize the traffic over three regions and mitigate possible adverse impact. This is the reason behind selectinglowest three congested regions.

Above graph is drawn based on the dataat a particular region on a specific day when congestion is at peak.We have considered peak hours (8 AM to 11AM)so as to closely observe the change in congestion at a particular region. One region is divided into several paths. As we can see in Graph 1.1, there are more sharp angles between the two paths which show major difference in congestion in two different number of commuters at a particular region at a specific time interval. Threshold value helps us in filtering the paths which are considered as rewarding paths for the next month. Paths having value less than threshold is rewarded for the next month. This in turn helps in diverting traffic to less congested region.

Eventually after 2 month, we find graph1.2 is straighter compared to previousgraph 1.1. There are not much sharp curves which is indication of our success in diverting the traffic to less congested region. When we start observing there is not much congestion difference among the paths which reflects in our graph (It isstraighter compared to previous graph 1.1), we need to increase the span time of prize distribution and the prize money so as to retain the interest of user.

Based on the input (Source and Destination) from user, we can assist them with list of possible shortest paths through algorithm.There are loads of research

to serve user with alternative choices. Each path of a particular region is given some weight which corresponds to Length of the path.

Wehave presented a new concept for gamification on public transit system Usage. Our New concept is interesting mixture of traditional game and optimistic engineering design. Though for some cases this concept is not much effective. Nevertheless it shows that it can be really instrumental in fetching data of commuters’ movement.We have gone extra mile to show how to minimize the congestion with the help of graphs.

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