Advanced Public Transit Systems (APTS) Transit ITS CEE582

APTS Products/Services 1. Service (Fleet) Management 2. Customer Information 3. Service Performance Monitoring 4. Vehicle Performance Monitoring 5. Incident Response 6. Wireless Communications CEE582

APTS Products/Services 7. Transit Signal Priority 8. Collision Avoidance 9. Fare Collection 10. Connection Protection 11. Demand-Response Routing and Scheduling Transit ITS Impacts Matrix CEE582

Purpose of APTS Technologies used to provide Products/Services that address Problems related to: – Efficiency – Reliability – Safety – Customer Satisfaction CEE582

What would you change about transit service? CEE582

Transit 101 Fixed-Route Service (bus, rail) – Established routes and stop sequences – Scheduled “time points” – Public timetables – Block – what a vehicle does for the day Block assignments change every day – Run – what a driver does for the day Run assignments change 3 or 4 times per year CEE582

Transit 101 Continued Demand-Response Service (“Dial-a-Ride”, Paratransit) – ADA Requirement – Eligibility criteria – Limited service area – Usually reserve in advance – Daily driver manifest CEE582

More Transit 101 Flex-Route Service – Deviates from fixed route in response to demand – Fixed end points and scheduled times CEE582

Sound Transit & KC Metro “Smart Bus” Video Demonstration Project – Driver Display Unit – Automated Route/Destination Signs – Route/Destination Annunciation – “Next Stop” Display and Annunciation – Automatic Vehicle Monitoring CEE582

“Smart Bus” Components GPS Receiver On-board Computer On-board Network On-board Database Wireless Communication CEE582

APTS Implementation Challenges Lack of standards Inadequate in-house expertise Proprietary legacy systems Change in way of doing things Other priorities for scarce resources Distrust of computer systems Lack of strategic planning for use of technology Poor documentation of demonstrated benefits CEE582

APTS Building Blocks CEE582

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) APTS Product/Service – Fleet Management requires knowledge of: – Where a vehicle is – Where it is supposed to be Requires identification of the vehicle matched with assigned block CHOICE: Where is location processed? – On the bus – Central control CEE582

AVL Technologies GPS Odometer/Signposts Dead reckoning Combinations of the above CEE582

Global Positioning System (GPS) Government-owned satellite constellation in geosynchronous orbit (need at least 3) Allows position determination within several meters (most of the time) Accuracy improved with differentiation Moderately low cost and going down Gives position whenever queried “Urban canyon” errors CEE582

Odometer/Signposts Distance traveled on a planned route confirmed and corrected by beacon Beacon broadcasts ID Actual vehicle position only for signpost encounters Excellent for arrival event information Useless for temporary detours Unreliable in emergency situations CEE582

Dead Reckoning Uses – Compass heading – Distance traveled – Map matching – Gyroscope Accuracy a function of sensors / software Need for periodic error correction CEE582

Combination Systems Common Groupings – Sign post + Dead reckoning – GPS + Dead reckoning – GPS + map matching Increase accuracy CEE582

Uses of Vehicle Location – On-board Schedule adherence for drivers On-board next stop displays and annunciation Fare payment / revenue sharing Location of passenger ons and offs Automatically change destination signs Requires on-board scheduled service database CEE582

Uses of Vehicle Location – Off-board Transit vehicle priority Service management, incident response, headway management Security Performance data for monitoring and planning Requires wireless communications (real-time and/or batch) CEE582

Vehicle Location Communication On-board – Vehicle Area Network (VAN) Way-side (traffic signal) – Digital Short Range Communication (DSRC) Control Center – Proprietary data radio, public wireless network CEE582

AVL Selection Criteria Where is the “intelligence” needed? – On the vehicle? – At the central? Cost of communications needed CEE582

AVL Implementation Issues Big Brother Move to proactive fleet management Not really “plug and play” yet Reliability of communication network CEE582