Examining the applicability of Location Based Services to determine the movement patterns of commuters between Sandton and Park station in Johannesburg city

Abstract: The movement of people within cities forms patterns and changes the development of transport systems as well as innovations within the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector. The City of Johannesburg has been witnessing massive transformations in urban public transport systems in the past decade and very little is currently known about the movement patterns of commuters between major centres of the city. Investigating and illuminating novel insights on the movement patterns of commuters is very imperative and essential given the multiplicity of modes and centres in increasing decentralized cities such as the Johannesburg Metropolitan City. This work therefore examine the applicability of location based services to determine the movement patterns of Gautrain and Rea Vaya commuters between Sandton and Park station centres, using a case study research design and mixed methods approaches consisting of qualitative, quantitative and spatial data. This research presents novel data analysed into empirical results suggesting that location based services plays a pivotal influence in determining movement of urban public transport commuters in Johannesburg city. The findings also reveal the complexity of spatial and communicative platforms in multiplicity of urban public modes resulting in complex models of movement patterns. These empirical results require further research on the applicability of location based services in determining movement patterns of commuters, with the aim of corroborating the prospects of agglomerating an urban mobility model at a city wide scale