GEO Seminar: Bad data? Or 10 ways to understand public transport development in Sweden over time.

We will meet physically, but you can follow the presentation via Zoom, too. See the details below!

Speaker: Ida Andersson, PhD
Topic: Bad data? Or 10 ways to understand public transport development in Sweden over time.
Time: 14 Nov, 12:15-13:00
Place: Room 744 or ZOOM

Good and reliable data is crucial to understand the effects of governmental changes in policy and planning. Especially in times with increased neo liberal governance and use of key performance indicators (KPI) in public government. In public transport, the focus on optimization, efficiency, and economies of scale influence how policy goals are formulated targeting market shares, customer satisfaction scoring, and the reduction of fossil fuel in operations, etc. Through these measures, public transport authorities hope to showcase development striving towards sustainability of the transport system. At the same time, zooming in on a particular measure, risk presenting rather one-dimensional perspectives to public transport, and focus on elements that are easy to measure, but not necessarily relevant nor representational to the complexity of the transport system.

In Sweden, there are several KPI for public transport that are presented annually. They are collected through self-reporting from operators, ridership surveys and register data. Each KPI come with certain strengths and weaknesses, as to data quality and geographical coverage, individually presenting rather narrow perspectives to public transport development. This paper aims to discuss how different sets of “bad data” can be combined to illustrate a more nuanced view of public transport development over time.

See you soon!

Tim and Fridah
Do you want to present your research at the seminar? Feel free to email Tim or Fridah and let us know!