Citizens in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province, might discover that in some parts of the city, they can get real-time location of buses they are waiting for by scanning a QR code.

This is one of the attempts Hangzhou’s public transportation system has had in digital reform.

In 2016, Hanghzou was the first city in China to apply mobile payment in public transportation. Passengers no longer need to prepare coins for taking buses. The payment can be done within three seconds and data of passenger flow were gathered by backstage system.

Based on these data, Hangzhou launched the 1.0 version of public transportation data system in 2017 and a 3.0 version two years later.

The system can work out solutions on how to utilize bus lines and adjust timetables according to flow of passengers.

A total of 21,258 bus stations and 1,167 bus lines of the city are all included in the system, showing which stations and lines are occupied and when is the peak hour for each line.

“With this system, efficiency has been much improved,” said Luo Xuqi, a manager with Hangzhou Public Transportation Group. Staff of the group will reschedule timetables for lines that are encountering unusual situations.

Luo said that with the use the big data, public transportation in Hangzhou gets smarter.

“For busy lines, we will schedule more buses and for those with fewer passengers, the departure gap will be extended,” said Luo.

The big data system can also provide customized services to passengers.

“Hangzhou citizens will soon meet our new service in which they can book buses via their phones and embark in front of their home, just like appointing a taxi,” said Luo.