Real-time Bus Information on Mobile Devices Stuart D. Maclean, Daniel J. Dailey ITS Research Program University of Washington, Seattle, WA

Background ITS/UW research efforts use computer and communication technologies to solve transportation problems Regional resource for sharing of real- time and archived transport data Web-hosted information systems

To tell people when their bus will really arrive To deliver the information using wireless technology Goals

Transit Information Systems Static schedules Real-time vehicle locations Departure time predictors

MyBus Predictor System Real-time information, not schedules AVL reports from transit operator Kalman filter tracking technology Predictor uses: current bus location scheduled speeds trip history environment conditions

Web Delivery

Need for Mobile Information Like MyBus, most public transport information systems are web-based But people need transit information most when they aren’t online

Wireless Internet Wireless Technologies Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) Wireless Markup Language (WML) Enabled Devices Cell Phones Personal Digital Assistants

Cell Phone Web Browsing Web Server WAP Gateway HTML Filter HTTP WML HTTP HTML HTTP WML Wireless Network WAP WML

Transit Info On Cell Phones? Large-scale Transit Operation Many vehicles Wide coverage Small Cell Phones Display is ~12 characters wide, 4 rows Non-numeric input difficult

Bus Trip Parameters Boarding location Destination Route number Geographic landmark, GPS Time of day

Scheduling Timepoint A location at which buses are scheduled to arrive or depart at specified times Typically street intersections Named and numbered by transit operator Not every bus stop is a timepoint

MyBus Phone Interface User enters timepoint number and route Browser gets prediction data from server Real-time predictions displayed on screen

Departures Display 72 express to downtown will depart from University Way and NE 45th St at ten past eleven 72 express to Lake City will depart at four minutes to eleven 11:00 = bus will depart at 11:00 10d44 = bus departed at 10:44 10*45 = no info, scheduled at 10:45

Finding Your Timepoint

Example Transit Agency Metro King County, Seattle, Washington 1200 buses in service simultaneously 80,000 scheduled events per day 1700-square-mile transit region AVL reports every 1-3 minutes per bus MyBus predicts actual event time for every scheduled event

MyBus WAP Site Usage Averaging 100 hits per day since Sept 2000 release Peaks at 8 am and 5 pm weekdays suggests usage for work commute UP.Browser software accounts for 75% of all hits

Conclusions Cell phones are suitable devices for accessing real-time transit information Usage and feedback imply real value in this form of information MyBus Web: mybus.org MyBus Wap: mybus.org/wml/