"Out of the box" thinking

As part of our ongoing Research & Innovation programme, we have been holding Hackdays, competition days to enable staff to think out of the box. During the Hackdays, teams work on theoretical exercises not related to day-to-day project work, to stimulate innovative thinking. On the last session, one of the competition ideas aimed to look at innovative ways of transport
pricing.

With London’s population predicted to grow, the pressures already placed on the transport system will increase, bringing on a continued requirement to ensure that it operates at a high standard despite likely funding constraints and operational expenditures. What can be done to future-proof the transport network with such constrains?

Guided by the question of an alternative, a way of accommodating the future passenger pressures on the Underground network without major infrastructure investment, the team developed the idea of “Your Zone”. “Your zone” would be a new pricing zone for the underground network during ‘super-peaks’, the period during which each station experiences the highest demand throughout the day. It puts forward a ‘surge charge’ in addition to the standard fare structure already in place, which is aligned with the periods of highest demand for each station. Passengers could avoid extra charges by travelling at different times, rerouting or choosing other sustainable modes.

As part of the competition, the team had to develop a basic demonstration of what the concept would look like as a real-life application, and a website that indicated which stations are part of the surge charging at what times, and that could integrate information on service disruptions from Open Data to help suspend the scheme in case of major disruptions on the network. A further integration of live-feed data would allow the super-peak time periods to be adjusted dynamically for each hotspot station. 

While only a theoretical idea, and despite its numerous caveats for real life application, the exercise allowed for teamwork and exploration of fresh ways of facing challenges and thinking out of the box. To find out more about this or other similar “out of the box” thinking project, get a copy of our R&I Booklet, produced in commemoration of the 100th meeting of the R&I club this year.