Companies will start monitoring your tweets to help them improve your travel experience, Samsung has predicted.
As smartphones penetration reaches 75% in the UK, travellers will be monitoring where they are and how quickly they can get to their destinations in real time.
This will be documented through social media conversations that will allow clever transport businesses to track customer satisfaction and react quickly to any problems in their journey, Samsung claimed at its Samsung Business Futurescape event this week.
The tech firm was unveiling the details of the ‘Next Generation Transport Experience’ report, created by Samsung and Ovum Analysts, which revealed that rail companies, in particular, are set to track sentiment from passenger’s social media posts to help combat travel chaos and improve services in real-time.
Satisfaction levels will be pinpointed to specific times and places, enabling transport networks to amend services to reflect people’s moods – creating a more intuitive and effective travel service for the UK.
Graham Long, VP Enterprise Business Team, Samsung UK & Ireland, said: "Smartphone penetration is a driving force behind what consumers expect from transport services, partly due to customers being able to update on service during rush hour. But the technology within those devices can also be the key to success for transport services who use the data available to improve their service."
Samsung’s Next Generation Transport Experience report also describes how mobile devices will become a travel ticket, with a mobile phone’s Near Field Communications (NFC) chip being swiped to get through gates and board trains. Samsung outlines that this should reduce ticket queues and congestion at gates, speeding up the transport system and ultimately improving customer service.
The report goes on to outline that with the UN predicting more than 80% of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050, transport services need to adapt in order to cope. The UK’s success in the global economy as a whole will bare a heavy reliance on travel systems.
It is, therefore, key that transport networks use technology available to tailor services accordingly. Adding to the UN predictions around rapid urbanisation, JD Power studies in the US have shown that teenagers and young adults are increasingly choosing to remain car-free, creating a ‘mass transit generation’ that will depend on technology.
Transport challenges will be faced by the air travel industry as well, with demand set to double by 2032 to 17.2 million passengers per day according to the Air Transport Action Group. With airlines expected to maintain great customer service throughout this growth, Samsung’s report outlines that a key factor to help achieve this will be with innovative technologies such as social sentiment measurement.
Hamish Taylor, founder of Skills Exchange Network, said: "Clever marketing technologies aren’t just for capturing people’s attention and inspiring a call to action, I see many industries including travel embrace technologies to use to their advantage and to improve the customer experience. Looking at things like passenger sentiment will be a great tool when it comes to becoming more agile as a service."
