London Underground to Track Passenger Movements Using WiFi

London Underground operator TfL has announced it will use a WiFi tracking system to chart and analyse the movements of passengers, using existing wifi beacons installed in 260 stations.

The move follows a pilot exercise in 2016 which focused on 54 stations and saw data collected from 5.6 million mobile devices, revealing a number of results that could not have been detected from ticketing data or paper-based surveys.

TfL (Transport for London) will fire up the system on 8th July, and all passengers with smartphone WiFi switched on will be included - whether or not they log into the network's own WiFi. The tracker uses the unique identifying number or 'MAC' address which every mobile phone has (not just Apples...) and will study behavioural patterns such as how many people who get on at one station change at another, to improve TfL's understanding of customer journeys (that's real journeys, not the usual marketing speak)

TfL says data will be be made available for app developers, academics and businesses to create new products and services, according to www.bbc.co.uk . Privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch has expressed concern over the scheme, but TfL said clear signage about the process would appear before the start of collection; that customers can opt out by turning off their wifi; and that it has worked with the ICO to ensure it complies with privacy and transparency concerns. CDO Lauren Sager Weinstein says TfL will not store unencrypted MAC addresses and have no means of decrypting them once they are encrypted; notes that collected data will be stored for two years and then destroyed; and that staff are given data protection training every year.

According to the newspaper site www.metro.co.uk the data can reveal some real insights into how people get around the tube network: of the 18 different routes people took between Kings Cross and Waterloo, 32% take the Victoria line to Oxford Circus, and then change to the Bakerloo; while 26.7% change at Green Park and switch to the Jubilee Line. 0.1% travel via the Circle Line to Liverpool Street, then taking the Central one stop to Bank, then going on the Northern Line to London Bridge, before finally taking the Jubilee to Waterloo ('clearly masochists' according to the paper).
Web site: www.tfl.gov.uk .