Sustainability, a buzz word you hear very often. Followed with, “you have to make an impact”, “I want you to act as if the house is on fire”, and not to forget about RSM’s “Be a Force for Positive Change”. You listen to it, but do you actually do something about it in your day-to-day life? I think we all know the answer. On a daily matter, unnecessary commuting travel is one of the things which cause excessive emission. This is still not prioritized by many people to improve and make the right regarding choices. One of the reasons is top management from companies who do not encourage their employees to travel sustainably or even work online more often. There are developments which can be used easily and should be used more frequently to deal with such problems.

To start with, big data is being integrated into sustainable mobility planning support systems in order to benefit more informed and agile decision making for citizens, and planning processes for city planners (Semanjski et al, 2016). This integration also enables efficiency in terms of spending time to search for travel options or making the optimal plans for sustainable cities. Moreover, models are developed for sustainable transportation options, such as applied gamification for tracking, managing, and encouraging prudent travel behaviour (Wells et al, 2014). This game-based model provides users to set goals, respond to challenges, and finish tasks to score points which subsequently encourages these users to continue with making responsible choices (Wells et al, 2014).

Furthermore, the travel planner ‘Green Tickets’ is a useful tool to reach the greater good. This website/application will help you make the trade-off for sustainable travel options and reduce your footprint. When searching for a certain route, it provides you with all possible combinations of transport, categorized from lowest to highest CO2 emission (Green Tickets, n.d). Travelling from Rotterdam to Moscow is a very good example: https://www.greentickets.app/from/51.9244201_4.4777326_Rotterdam%2C+Netherlands_NL/to/55.755826_37.6172999_Moscow%2C+Russia_RU/on/DEPARTURE_1602406800

So, there are many digital opportunities to help you make the right choices. Although, those must be combined with awareness, the right communication, and encouragement from people who can take the lead and should become role models in this regard. Consequently, every individual will hopefully realise his/her choices and make the Greenest decisions more often.

Do you agree with this? Next to that, would you use Green Tickets for your travels? And lastly, if the app tells you to go by train instead of by airplane because it is the most sustainable option, would you take this advice even if this option will take longer?

Wells et al, 2014 https://rke.abertay.ac.uk/en/publications/towards-an-applied-gamification-model-for-tracking-managing-amp-e

Semanjski et al, 2016 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/11/1142/htm

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/global-sustainability/article/leveraging-digitalization-for-sustainability-in-urban-transport/9322C52E379793B7C4A41682EC99DB6A/core-reader

Green Tickets, n.d. https://www.greentickets.app/about

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214367X1500040X

Almost twenty years ago, the early developments of biometric technology in the aviation industry started. The 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 was one of the reasons for the evolution of passenger screening (LaDier, 2020). During the following decades, several investigations, collaborations, investments, and innovations made possible what was eventually ensured in 2018: the opening of the Smart Tunnel at Dubai International Airport. This tunnel enables passengers to finish passport control procedures within seconds by simply walking through this biometric recognition system (Shouk, 2020). This might contribute to safer conditions in the current COVID-19 situation and will benefit the overcrowded airports in normal circumstances. However, many concerns about privacy have been raised. The future which was talked about in 2001 has arrived, but will this technology be accepted worldwide?

To be able to discuss that question, it is important to evaluate the exact operation of the biometric technology in the Smart Tunnel. Biometrics is a type of self-service technology which is used in the Smart Tunnel for facial recognition, passport control, security screening, baggage check-in, and shipment (Negri et al, 2019). This, therefore, is an efficient model throughout the end-to-end identification process, from check-in to boarding. This model is also facilitated by the use of Big Data, consisting of flight characteristics and passengers’ socio-demographics (Negri et al, 2019). Consequently, a faster and safer environment is created at airports, lowering operational costs (from $3.68 to $0.16 per passenger). However, space reconfiguration will be necessary in order to use all airport space efficiently, as biometric machines, or Smart Tunnels, reduce the number of required security servers and the respective service (Kalakou et al, 2015).

Smart Tunnels form a digital evolution that should be further developed in these COVID-19 times, which could be particularly beneficial as passengers do not have to get in physical contact with airport employees, their luggage does not have to be touched, and so on. If you ask me, the ‘smart passenger journey’ thus seems like a perfect transformation of the total airport experience.

However, several challenges remain with the implementation of this technology with its related models. Obviously, privacy concerns are an important reason as personal data is used. This data might be misused which could lead to hazardous situations. Moreover, technology performance might be an issue. In case of failure of the system, a bottleneck arises which will affect the whole check-in process of passengers at the airport (Ladier, 2020).
In my point of view, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages in the long term. How would you personally experience this Smart Tunnel? And do you think many airports will follow to create a Smart Tunnel by using biometric technology?

Sources:

LaDier, 2020 https://www.internationalairportreview.com/article/118268/biometric-technology-aviation-history-benefits/

Negri et al, 2019 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699719300730

Kalakou et al, 2015   https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/S0969699714001392?token=2902D1829B4EFFD89740EAAC8592E3EA655A7311AE7EE7F067B9F45F3FB95BC9E09B515A538DEA139A5E0AB5AE0A50F8

Shouk, 2020 https://gulfnews.com/uae/transport/video-just-walk-through-a-tunnel-for-dubai-airports-passport-control-1.69728701