KITs proposes an information system called the Kaohsiung Info-Transportation System to promote more sustainable transportation choices in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The system would integrate existing transportation data, provide personalized travel recommendations, and encourage social incentives to influence travel behavior. It would gather travel information from individuals, social groups, infrastructure, and vehicles to present customized options for commuters, urban planners, and other users. The goal is to increase public transit ridership and reduce environmental impacts through building social interdependence between transportation choices.

1. KITs Kaohsiung Info-Transportation System
Idea for Action Kaohsiung International Competition
Bao-Wen Chen, Master of Engineering ‘11, University of Tokyo
Tien Ling, Master of Architecture ‘09, Cornell University
Yin-Hsuan Sung, Master of Engineering in Building and Planning ‘10, National Taiwan University

2. A
ir quality is
worse than
ever.
INTRODUCTION
I
f more people use buses, the
environment would be better
R
iding a bike in this sea of
and safer. But who is going to
scooters, cars and buses is
take the first step to make the
an act of suicide.
change? How can we ever reach
an agreement?
As the transit network is expected As the environmental crisis has As the world is becoming more Those are the questions that the
to be completed in near future, begun connecting everyone’s interconnected and intelligent, how 21st century Kaohsiung City, on
how do we help people change welfare and misery, how do we does Kaohsiung grasp the the way to be advanced,
their transportation habits to make make people more aware that the opportunity to set a brand-new creative and international, has
the city sustainable? citizens as a whole are on the trend? to answer before proceed to the
same boat? future.

3. 19.6 : Light rail transit, expected in 2017
kilometers
1500 + 50 : public city bikes in operation
C-Bikes in locations
43 2 : KMRT rapid transit, operating since 2008
kilometers in lines
: commuters via public transportation everyday,
4.3%
OBSERVATION
comparing to 41.6% in Taipei City
782 motorcycles / 1000 people : highest motorcycle ownership in Taiwan
135,194 CO
23,138 NMHC
14,626 NO x
1,181 SO xannual environmental liability produced, in tons
With the rapid expansion of public transportation (supply-side approach
to tackling transportation issues), we usher for a new and complement
paradigm in the city’s transport planning methodology, that is, demand-
side approach, which has a higher benefit-cost ratio and is much more
politically viable.

4. Too much information; lack of
clear and legible interface
Lack of website maintainance
OBSERVATION
Real-time Traffic Information:
lack of user / tourist friendly
interface; no integration with
Unnecessary plug-in requirement
traffic service providers
hindering novice users
Real-time Bus Information:
Malfunctioning.
Problems of Existing Transportation Information Systems in Kaohsiung
Lack of Portal Integration: Several independence Lack of User Differentiation: No context-awareness
transportation websites, each with its own focus, information; user-friendliness is often low.
function, and user interface. No general web portal.
Lack of Social and Environmental Interaction
Lack of Intermodal and Transfer Information: No
integration of transfer information is provided; users Lack of Stability and Usability: Requiring plugins that are
need to go through all websites to gather information. inaccessible or unnecessary; broken website contents

5. I ncorporate Information From:
P resenting Information For:
DIAGNOSIS
Commuters
Urban Planners
Transport Planners
Environmentalists
G athering Information From: Tourists
One Single Portal for Integrated Traffic Information
ACCESSIBILITY: use intuitive CONTEXT-AWARENESS: ORIGIN AND DESTINATION: MAP-BASED: use visual
online interaction to minimize personalized information for provide travel information interface on PC, mobile phone
difficulties for public access every user, create user group based on user’s point of view or LED signboard to convey
connection information effectively

6. Google PowerMeter, 2009 IBM Smarter Planet, 2008 MIT Trash Track, 2009
CASE STUDY
The technology is here.The people are ready. Trash Track aims to get people thinking about what
The time is now. they throw away. The project will monitor the
patterns and costs of
IBM proposes more urban disposal and
integrated, information create awareness of the
oriented systems. By impact of trash on our
making existing systems environment - revealing
smarter, IBM believes that the last journey of our
roads can be less everyday objects. It aims
congested; food can be to raise awareness of
"If you cannot measure it, safer and traceable; water how garbage impacts
you cannot improve it." — Lord Kelvin can be cleaner and more the environments. The
available; and healthcare project hopes to
Google believes that letting people know energy can be more effective, less promote behavioral
consume information will help them make smarter expensive. change and encourage
choices, save energy and money. people to make more
A 5 to 15 percent of savings on energy use is sustainable decisions.
anticipated.
Academic, commercial, and government
institutions all around the world are investing in
the idea of a more sensible , intelligent , and
efficient city to help reach a sustainable future . PowerMeter:
http://www.google.org/powermeter
Smart Planet:
IBM.com/SmarterPlanet
Trash Track:
http://senseable.mit.edu/trashtrack/

7. The Copenhagen Wheel, 2009 Self-Diagnostic Travel Diary
CASE STUDY
More than a way to get from A to B. System,University of Tokyo,
The Copenhagen Wheel aims to transform bicycle
2008
use in Denmark’s largest city through promoting A GPS mobile-phone-based travel diary survey
urban sustainability and building new connections system and a Web GIS-based activity-travel
between the city’s cyclists. In this work, bicycles simulator were developed as a communication tool
become smart mobile sensing devices that map the aiming to encourage behavioral change in people’s
real-time flo w of people and environmental transportation choice.
conditions in Copenhagen. This is achieved through
strategically placing small sensors on bicycles to
gather information as people ride through the city.
This data then powers
applications of benefit
KITs
to citizens, city
municipalities and
researchers interested
in understanding more
about city dynamics.
Information technology, put together with spatial information
and socio-economic characteristics, can disclose what might
otherwise be invisible to the people in the way that builds
awareness and drives green change.
The Copenhagen Wheel
http://senseable.mit.edu/copenhagenwheel/
Self-Diagnostic Travel Diary System
http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jscejd/64/1/55/_pdf/-char/ja/

8. Disinvestment of Road Infrastructure
Improved Public Transport / Accessibility
Free Bus Ticket (intervention)
Toll Road /Congestion Pricing
Taxation of Cars and Fuel
Transit Fare Subsidy Traffic Feedback Program
Traffic Restriction Educational Workshop
Telecommuting Marketing Campaign
Park and Ride School Education
ECONOMIC MORAL Incentive
Parking Control
KEY CONCEPT
Speed Limit
Carpooling
Incentive
monetary penalty or reward educational effect : people don’t do
toward certain behaviors what THEY consider wrong
SOCIAL Incentive
TRANSPORTATION DEMAND influence effect : people do what
Fellow Influence
Personal Conversation
OTHERS consider to be right
MANAGEMENT MEASURES Cultural / Social Preference
by incentive types Ignored by most programs
but emphasized by
KITs
The problem of choosing between public transportation and
private vehicle is known as a social dilemma, which highlights the
nature of the environmental crisis. KITs differentiates itself by
focusing and innovating primarily on social incentive, as well as
moral incentive , which addresses the transportation issue at its
core in a more efficient , practical , and politically viable way .

9. Number of
Motorists
Current Situation:
y
KEY CONCEPT
Number of Motorists exceeds Transit Users
x+y=c
KITs
total number
of commuters KITs Perspective:
Encouraging the use of Public Transit
x Number of
Transit Users
Sustainable Balance of Transportation Choices by Commuters

10. The Goal of Traveling in the City:
In a sustainable transport system, we define people’s goal of traveling
as: to move from the origin to the destination to access their socio-
economic activities (personal goal) while maintain the environmental
quality to pass this right onto future generations (joint goal).
The Increment of The Diminution of
KEY CONCEPT
Social Interdependence Social Interdependence
With this two-goal structure, each individual shares a There could be no interdependence when individuals perceive
common goal. The outcome (utility and disutility) of that the achievement of their own goals is unrelated to the goal
each individual’s choice is affected by each other’s achievement of others. As a result, in thinking of changing to
action, and this means social interdependence exists public transportation for the environment, people tend to adopt
in transportation choice. wait-and-see strategy, which corresponds to the low transit use
rate in Kaohsiung even after lots of improvement has been done.
Social Interdependence and
Cooperative Behavior :
Positive social interdependence exists when there is a positive
correlation among individuals’ goal attainments, also called
cooperative social interdependence. Negative social
interdependence shows significance when there is a negative
correlation among individuals’ goal attainments, also known as
competitive social interdependence.
KITs’ 5 Principles to Build Social Interdependence:
1. A Smarter Way of Using Existing Information
2. Extending the Influence of Pro-environmental Travelers
3. Allowing Comparison of Individual Environmental Performance
4. Actionable Data & Information Transparency
5. Ubiquitous Display

11. INDIVIDUAL Individual - Social
1 interpersonal comparison of transportation
choice and environmental contribution SOCIAL
Individual - Vehicle
2 (non-transit modes: by bicycle, scooter, car or on 4
foot) self-diagnosis of travel behaviors, including Social - Vehicle
personal calorie consumption, accumulated (transit modes: buses, trains) increasing
kilometers traveled, environmental contribution, sociability on transportation, in-car social
time wasted stuck in traffic learning channels, GPS smart phones
3 Social -
connecting other commuters,
comparison and display of environmental
5 contribution by transit commuters v.s.
STRATEGY
Individual - Infrastructure Infrastructure personal vehicle commuters, real-time
tourist information port where does everyone go in the city now? display of common destination of
personal memory express service where is the vigor of the city at this commuters and nearby attractions
moment? is there any activity about to cause
danger? how should the authority respond to
people’s collective behavior?
Infrastructure - Vehicle VEHICLE
6
INFRASTRUCTURE parking spaces management,
bicycle counters and air pump facility,
charging station for electric vehicles
Individual, Social, Infrastructure KITs proposes the information
and Vehicle: these four conceptual interaction between the components
components define the basic and service packages that can be
objects of traffic and commute in a used from end users to
city . administrators.

12. APPLICATION
KITs
KITs Scenarios:
KITs Suggestion TM KITs Community TM
KITs Simple TM KITs Action TM
KITs Health TM KITs Cityscope TM
KITs Planning TM I Kaohsiung TM

13. A
shley wakes up at 8am in the morning. On
Google Calendar, she finds out she has a
meeting with classmates at 10 am at National By Car
NUK@ Nanzih District
University of Kaohsiung. 14.0 km, 40 mins
21.3 km, 46 mins
She enters NUK as the destination and Google Maps 15.6 km, 51 mins
provides transportation options, includes modes,
time, and routes. By Public Transit
Metro Red Line, 35 mins
Bus Red 56, 15 mins
However, Ashley is not satisfied. KITs combines
APPLICATION
KITs existing information and provides other useful Walking
suggestions to help her with the choice. 14.0 km, 2 hrs 10 mins
(out of time)
You save 500 grams of GHG emission*, and consume 400 Kcal home @ Sanmin District
Travel Information Provided by Google Maps
You save 500 grams of GHG emission, and consume 300 Kcal**
KITs
Choice You save 300 grams of GHG emission, equals to 1/20 tree-year
You produce 1 kilograms of GHG emission
You produce 1.5 kilograms of GHG emission
Modal Comparison of Environmental Liability Provided by KITs
Scenario 1.0 Ashley is a 19-year-old college student who
TM lives in Sanmin District, downtown Kaohsiung. INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL
KITs Suggestion Like most her peers, Ashley relies on her
Mashing up with Google Maps’ functions scooter for transportation, while she bikes and
Modal Comparison of Environmental uses transit occasionally. To communicate with *emission is compared to user’s most common
Liability friends, she uses free web applications online, used mode, in this case, scooter
Smart Suggestion (considering weather and a smart phone to receive messages **context-aware calculation, based on
wherever she goes. personal physiological information
and personal health)

14. A
from
s Ashley is
about to go
out, she
gets a message
....
DID YOU KNOW?
- Kaohsiung has the
highest ownership of
scooters in Taiwan
WE ARE FALLING BEHIND!
- BoAi Neighborhood (in yellow)
has made the most green
contribution in the past 7 days
KITs - Scooters and motorcycles have and currently holds the 1st place in our
the biggest contribution to air green community race. Your
pollution in our city neighborhood is currently 3rd.
- In Ecology, “Sustainability” - YOU CAN HELP! It is easy and healthy,
means to preserve our just follow the transportation
environment for the future mode!
KITs
generation Choice
- DID YOU KNOW how the city Click to start accumulate
provides sustainable your contribution to the
transportation? Click to find out community and your own
health!
APPLICATION
Your current process: 10% (willingness counts!)
Please connect to a C-Bike or City Bus
to complete your contribution!
KITs Community Collective Goal* and Comparison
Congratulation! This is the 3rd time you
surpassed Emily this week. Click to
compare with other friends!
KITs Interpersonal Comparison
Ashley synchronizes the information with her smart
Scenario 1.2 phone. Following suggestions from KITs, she also INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL
KITs Community TM checks out her community’s environmental
“Did You Know” – Daily Environmental Fact contribution. In one click, she gets to know that not *One barrier to fighting global warming is that
only she helps her neighborhood by riding a bike, but people have no way to know what influence
Smart Suggestion also she surpasses her friends in green contribution. they create. They tend to think the task is that of
Community Building – Collective Goal the government’s. Through KITs Community™,
Interpersonal Comparison Kaohsiung City’s reduction goal can be
assigned to each responsible unit and then to
each person, like Ashley in this scenario.

15. KITs builds secured personal transportation identity This is your transportation footprint this
month. You have generated 62 trips in total.
by assigning encoded random number to a user The Top 3 choices are: Scooter (48.4%),
Bicycle (16.1%), Taxi (9.7%)
every time when he or she uses transportation tools
and connects to KITs.
Click to improve your
environmental contribution by
Once the personal identity is built, users will have setting goals for the next month
access to their personal traveling history, sorted by
Personal Environmental Footprint
transportation modes, time spent and wasted, and
traveling costs, etc.
KITs emphasizes the importance of environmental
APPLICATION
awareness. Users now are able to know their Kaohsiung City Bike
environmental footprint, and are encouraged to make
more responsible transportation choices. Kaohsiung City Bus
Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit
KITs enables transportation service providers to
adopt a SMART PRICE system. Based on KITs’
information and carefully devised formulas, KITs can Kaohsiung Water Taxi
decide when to give a coupon to a specific transit
user who is about to change to private vehicles, or
a specific motorist who is considering making
transition to public transit, thus to encourage the use Chinese Petroleum Corp.
of transit systems.
Taiwan High Speed Rail KITs Simple TM
Scenario 2.0 Users with a smart phone can enjoy more real-time
information feedback. Furthermore, people can also easily INDIVIDUAL VEHICLE
KITs Simple TM access KITs through the Internet and other display
Payment Systems Integration - facilities without a smart phone at hand, such as c-bike
Taxi, C-Bike, KRT, Bus, and Gasoline stations, and KMRT ticket selling machines. The main
Secured Unique Identity -Traveling Record, purpose of KITs Simple™ is to build personal
Environmental Footprint -Individual transportation profile, provide transit coupons and let
Due Diligence users know their environmental footprint on Kaohsiung.
Fare Coupon Calculator

16. H
i, this is Love River No. 3, currently
ranking at the14th in green Congratulation! You have
just achieved this week’s
contribution *. I has saved Kaohsiung exercise goal.
1028 kilograms of Green House Gases,
equals to 10 tree-years. Can you help me
contribute more? I am only 16 km Click to add to facebook
away from the Top 10! and let your friends know
how healthy you are
KITs Health TM
APPLICATION
Currently, there are 152 C-Bikes
(+5 this hour) running in the city
Process: 99% (0.1 km left, total time 29 mins)
Status: Calculating today’s contribution... This is an Air-Pump Station. The
next one is 2 km away.
Process: 30% (7.3 km left, total time 11 mins) Real-time vehicle counters
Status: Searching for nearby KITs ports... and censors
KITs Action TM Extra Functions of C-Bike Stations
provided by
KITs
Scenario 3.0 Scenario 3.2 Ashley accesses the c-bike by KITs Simple™, c-bike
activates KITs Action™ to start accumulating
KITs Action TM KITs Health TM kilometers for community goal achievement. At the same INDIVIDUAL VEHICLE
Personification of C-Bikes time, it also activates KITs Health™ to add calories
Personal Health Management - burned to personal health profile. When Ashley arrives at *Ranking is determined by real-time mileage
Calorie Burned & Goal Achievement NUK, she realizes that, in addition to helping her and emission saving by C-Bikes. We personify
Real-time street side Bike Counter community, she also fulfills her weekly exercise goal. c-bikes by naming it after its original station,
Air Pump marking the distance it has traveled. A
determined C-Bike rider may pick the same
bike and work on its contribution.

17. Real-time vehicle counters
and censors
The number of all modes of
transport in system, creating
how much environmental
L
liability ocal Residents: Wow, now that I
see the simulation, I can see how
Interactive information center this projects proposes to make the
providing KITs Suggestion™
service to passengers neighborhood space better. The cooling
effect brought by the green canopy
KITs Cityscope™ providing 3D
must be great! But I have some
visualization of the future of the suggestions to make, too. Better now
spot, envisioned by planning and submit my opinion to !
developments KITs
Scenario 4.0 Urban planners often face the difficulty to
communicate planning visions with citizens, and INDIVIDUAL VEHICLE
KITs Cityscope TM local residents in the city sometimes lack the
awareness of future planning moves. Using existing
Environmental Footprint roadside mini-travel information stand, KITs Cityscope™
Citywide Tourist Information provides 3-D visualization of the future and progress of every INFRA-
Visualization of Communication affected spots of the plan, easily accessible to the public. STRUCTURE
Transport and travel information thus integrates with future
planning, and the community’s consensus of city
improvement as a whole.

18. KITs Green Policies
Protecting the environment is every citizen’s Total Recycling
responsibility. As KITs advocates for Electronics create gigantic amount of waste.
sustainable development and green practice, KITs takes this into account. Except for
we make no compromise over pursuing the recycling worn out components, KITs will also
most environmental-friendly design and work. require manufacturers to follow the principle:
Therefore, we have 3 basic insistence: using at least 15% of recycled material.
Clean Energy
Energy Efficiency
Energy consumption is KITs’ main concern,
With clean energy source still not able to
Kaohsiung’s weather is extremely suitable for
replace all of our consumption, KITs will work
exploiting solar energy and wind power. In KITs,
hard to improve energy efficiency. Here is the
APPLICATION
every information display and data center will be
goal: Improving energy efficiency 10% every
equipped with either of the two technology. This can
year.
reduce KITs’ carbon footprint for about 30%.
Green Indices*
Click to see why and how
you can help put Kaohsiung
to a higher position!
Rotterdam 69 78 68 58 62 82
Kaohsiung 65 54 70 45 70 47 or Click to see a video
showing what people do to
Hong Kong 76 35 65 67 66 78 protect the environment.
TM
KITs Global
Scenario 5.0 One way to motivate the public is to introduce INFRA-
competition: to show how Kaohsiung compares to top SOCIAL
KITs Global TM global cities in terms of ecology contribution. By
STRUCTURE
International city comparison analyzing the different performance of major cities
Environmental Indicators worldwide, our city could learn to do better one step at a
KITs Green Policies time. KITs Global™ provides the opportunity for the
people to learn from excellent cases all over the world, *Global Standard from EU andJapan would be
and at the same time build up our consensus of adapted as environmental evaluation
environmental awareness.

19. U
rban Planner: according to
the road usage pattern, Click to open transportation
data, road usage and design
some of the bike lanes are regulations
not fully utilized. Is it because
they are too close to major traffic?
How should we integrate C-Bike or Click to see local
and city buses? Should we responses and complains
propose more C-Bike Stations in for current urban space
neighborhood parks since people
love to bike there?
APPLICATION
Long-term transportation system
data, pattern and analysis
Real-time transportation usage
feedback and forecast
Aiming towards a compact city, KITs changes the way urban KITs PlanningTM
planners and government authorities gather information of
transportation and urban activities. Providing real-time feedback of
traffic pattern and user information, KITs has the potential to be an
important tool in urban planning.
Scenario 6.0 Transportation is not merely a tool for people to get around; it also
INFRA-
provides the sense of orientation, identification and connection, VEHICLE
KITs Planning TM paves the stage for communal and social interaction. By analyzing
STRUCTURE
Feedback application traffic information, KITs becomes the best tool for urban planners
Data management to see how the transport system functions in the city. As new
Traffic pattern analysis transit networks join existing infrastructures, KITs Planning TM
monitors the traffic usage and opens up new planning possibilities.
Should the roads be widen up or narrowed down? Should the bike
lanes cover more areas? How to optimized the efficiency of traffic?

20. A Mother-to-be: Somebody is doing careless
driving again! This happens too often in this
neighborhood. Is there anything to do to stop
this? More surveillance camera or a lower
Local Resident: Wow, I didn’t speed limit? I’d like to send some words to
know that Kaohsiung City has Ashley: Kaohsiung is becoming
done so much to improve our KITs and see what others think.
more and more beautiful. Moreover,
living environment!
she is performing better than Taipei,
Hong Kong, and other global cities!
APPLICATION
Information Transparency makes people
aware of what is happening around and the
city’s response, making governance more open
and democratic. Live!
3,864 ( 102) 25,298 (+5)
3,966 25,293
Thump up or thump down?
Click to vote for your
favorite policy Live!
We are the leading
256 (+12) building in waste
244 We love Kaohsiung! management!
What do you say? Click to
leave a response, question
or comment.
2,562 (-30)
2592
Scenario 7.0 Kaohsiung is a young and vigorous city, requiring a
I Kaohsiung creative approach to address her future. Transportation is
Open Governance - currently one of the most important urban issues, INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL
Effective Communication through Internet nevertheless there are different challenges that the city
Leave Your Thoughts - would face. Being an information infrastructure, KITs sets
About Anything, at Anytime, Anywhere up a platform where smart, fast and interactive solutions
INFRA-
could take place. By arousing social interdependence and VEHICLE
awareness, KITs helps ensure Kaohsiung’s continuing STRUCTURE
success toward the future.

21. R
eplacing one single scooter
trip with bicycle trip can also
make a difference!
W
e all live in Kaohsiung. We
PERSPECTIVE
are on the same boat. I
want to tell all my friends
to join the movement.
T
he less scooters, the more the
bicycles; After all, nobody
ity with social want to breath the polluted air.
When people make the change to
interdependence:
T
his bicycle trip can help public transportation and bicycles,
my community reach air quality much better, and the
The Collective Awareness for the green goal. I feel streets become safer, too!
Sustainable Development much healthier, too!
In a sustainable development, KITs considers the public awareness as the most important factor for
facilitating its policies. Our objective is to shape a sustainable Kaohsiung; our approach is building
awareness, and our tool is information and communication technology, along with high priority on spatial
and social aspects. By building social connections, we build awareness, not the seemingly never-ending
construction of a transport network.By making the city smarter and more intelligent, we allow people to
interact with the city by perceiving the environment, and listening to what needs to be done.
picture source: http://speedbug.pixnet.net/blog/post/21900123