Statistics show that local public transport, at least in Europe, is quite a safe place. Nevertheless, many citizens, particularly women or the elderly, avoid public transportation particularly at night because they are afraid of potentially unpleasant or threatening situations. This is referred to as “subjective” insecurity, which is greater than “objective insecurity” in public transport.
This is where the project comes in: The aim of DoNotFear is to develop a mobile application (app) that brings passengers together in an ad hoc user community. The users can support each other in different ways and thus improve the perceived safety in public transportation.
In details, the app should have the following functions (among others):
- check whether other helpful users are in the immediate vicinity
- ask passengers if you can sit with them for the ride
- call users to a common (online or offline) action
- call for direct external assistance, in case of emergency
- report as a witness in critical situations
- check where the closest place with the most users is to avoid loneliness
Using participative methods, nexus is ensuring that users are incorporated into the development of a mobile application for public transport.
The project is funded by EIT Digital.
Duration: 01/2019 – 12/2019
Client: European Institut of Innovation and Technologie (EIT Digital)
Team: Kerstin Franzl (project management), Dr. Thomas Blanchet
Project partners: TU Berlin (project coordination), Team-Dev, Crowdee, BVG
Picture: Naeimasgary / Pixabay