Advanced Public Transportation Systems Research Articles

GREY STATISTICS METHOD OF TECHNOLOGY SELECTION FOR ADVANCED PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS: The Experience of Taiwan

Taiwan is involved in intelligent transportation systems planning, and is now selecting its prior focus areas for investment and development. The high social and economic impact associated with which intelligent transportation systems technology are chosen explains the efforts of various electronics and transportation corporations for developing intelligent transportation systems technology to expand their business opportunities. However, there has been no detailed research conducted with regard to selecting technology for advanced public transportation systems in Taiwan. Thus, the present paper demonstrates a grey statistics method integrated with a scenario method for solving the problem of selecting advanced public transportation systems technology for Taiwan. A comprehensive questionnaire survey was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the grey statistics method. The proposed approach indicated that contactless smart card technology is the appropriate technology for Taiwan to develop in the near future. The significance of our research results implies that the grey statistics method is an effective method for selecting advanced public transportation systems technologies. We feel our information will be beneficial to the private sector for developing an appropriate intelligent transportation systems technology strategy.

Deploying the advanced public transportation systems (APTS) technologies in Los Angeles: A summary and analysis

AbstractThis paper first introduces the key players involved in the deployment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technologies in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The paper then reports the local deployment status of major Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) projects, with a particular emphasis placed on the burgeoning Los Angeles Smart Shuttle Demonstration Project. In addition, the paper analyzes some technical, political, financial and other issues centering around the deployment of APTS technologies in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Demand responsive services in hierarchical public transportation system

An advanced public transportation system called the local initiative for neighborhood circulation (LINC) is proposed and the realization of its usage is investigated. LINC effectiveness and efficiency comes from its utilization of a transit-station-oriented system with elimination of present bus stops. LINC has three levels of services. Level 1 is the regional trunk line service with high-speed and high-capacity service provided by the regional transit authority. Level 2 is the intercommunity express bus service with frequent and reliable service provided by the metro transit system. Level 3 could have many forms to serve within the community and to/from level 1 or level 2 transit stations. Our study is limited to the dial-a-ride service, which operates door-to-door service as a public taxi, provided by small buses and/or vans. This paper will address the optimization problem of the dial-a-ride service. A genetic algorithm scheme is applied to its optimization and proper solutions are obtained as a result.

Improving Transit Service Quality and Headway Regularity with Real-Time Control

Disrupted transit operations are often caused by stochastic variations of passenger demand at stations and traffic conditions on service routes, which increase passenger wait times and thus discourage passengers from using the transit system. Efficient, real-time operational control is desirable to maintain headway regularity and reduce the negative effects of service disturbance. A real-time headway control model is proposed to maintain desired headways for pairs of successive vehicles by minimizing total headway variance for all stations in an advanced public transportation system environment, such as an automatic train control system and an automatic vehicle location system. A vehicle’s departure time can be adjusted on the basis of its optimal arrival time at the next station, while considering the maximum attainable operating speeds and the headways to its leading and following vehicles. The proposed real-time control model is tested by simulating a high-frequency light rail transit route in Newark, New Jersey. The simulation results demonstrate that the average passenger wait time is significantly reduced after applying the control model.

Winston-Salem Mobility Manager: Data Collection, Validation, and Performance Evaluation

The Winston-Salem Mobility Manager project has served as a test bed for advanced public transportation systems technology since 1995. The aspects of remote data collection, validation, and performance evaluation are discussed. The computerized scheduling software for Trans-AID, the local paratransit system, was accessed and passenger RIDE files were downloaded. Java-based utilities and conventional spreadsheets removed invalid data, sorted urban and rural passenger trips, and compared transit productivity measures. Validated Trans-AID data show relatively few data entry errors, some logical errors, and high time-window violations. Ridership, productivity, and service gains determined by intuitive assessment of traditional measures are not supported by statistical analysis. Rather, the results of t-tests suggest counterintuitive management actions to improve service and productivity. Internet-based methods of data collection, validation, and evaluation demonstrate promise for real-time transit management and agency monitoring.

Dynamic Vehicle Dispatching at the Intermodal Transfer Station

Transfer time is one of the most important service quality indicators for evaluating intermodal transit systems. In the advent of advanced public transportation systems, vehicle arrival times and transfer demand can be obtained in real time. Thus, the decision of dispatching vehicles at transfer stations can be optimized to reduce the transfer cost. A time-varying total-cost function, including connection delay and missed-connection costs incurred by transfer passengers and vehicle holding cost, is formulated as a function of holding times for vehicles that are ready to be dispatched at transfer stations. A procedure is developed to dynamically optimize the dispatching time for each ready vehicle by minimizing the time-varying objective function. A transit network consisting of four routes connecting at a transfer terminal is designed in this study to demonstrate the application of the dispatching model. The proposed method can be used to advance transit vehicle dispatching strategies and reduce the transfer time.

Impacts of an Advanced Public Transportation System Demonstration Project

In 1997 the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Transportation Authority began deploying a set of integrated, advanced public transportation system technologies in its vehicles, stations, and control center. Selected findings are summarized of a multidimensional evaluation of the effects of the system on schedule adherence and transfer time, passenger perception, and drivers. Some improvement in on-time performance was observed in vehicle departures from major transfer points, though not in arrivals. Modest improvements were observed in transfer coordination for routes planned for timed transfers. Deployment of the system did not raise passengers’ rating of relevant aspects of their transit experience, but impacts of individual system elements were rated favorably. Focus groups and a driver survey revealed a fundamentally favorable attitude toward the deployment of technology coupled with some concern about limitations that it might impose on driver communications and on-the-job creativity. Benefits of the system that were not apparent during the period of the evaluation but may materialize over the longer term include prevention of and response to safety- and security-related incidents and enhanced information for transit planning.

Internet-Based Decision Support for Advanced Public Transportation Systems Technology

Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have the potential to improve public transportation service and productivity in small urban and rural areas. Advanced technologies include computer-aided dispatch and scheduling software, automatic vehicle location via satellite, mobile data terminals, smart cards, and Internet technologies. Transit operators, especially those with smaller systems, may feel, however, that they lack the experience and technical background to implement ITS technologies. An extensive website is discussed that will help transit managers define their transit needs and choose potential technology solutions. The website is based on contemporary decision-support questionnaires and the experience of transit managers and researchers. Decision-making factors such as transit service area, service type, daily ridership, and fleet size provide a framework for matching appropriate technologies to transit-manager needs. Further, the website provides extensive tutorial information, technology specifications and costs, and vendor contacts. Perhaps most important, the website identifies small urban and rural transit managers who have been pioneers in ITS applications, summarizing their successes and failures. The website address is http://www2.ncsu.edu/eos/service/ce/research/stone_res/tahmed_res/www/index.html.

Simulating Bus Operations with Enhanced Corridor Simulator: Case Study of New Jersey Transit Bus Route 39

The corridor simulator (CORSIM)-based microscopic program, which can simulate realistic bus operations, has been enhanced with some newly developed features; these are validated. Transit operations-related data for New Jersey Transit Bus Route 39 were collected to assess the reliability of the enhanced CORSIM program. On the basis of the mean average percentage error and the root mean square error, this study demonstrated that simulation output can represent realistic bus operations, such as the disruptions of transit headways caused by ridership fluctuations at bus stops and delays at intersections. The proposed program provides a potential basis for evaluating advanced transit management and control strategies and real-time transit traveler information systems in the advent of advanced public transportation systems.

Assessing Means of Transit Information Delivery for Advanced Public Transportation Systems

One of the important functions of advanced public transportation systems (APTS) is to provide timely information to transit users. Information delivery systems thus become an essential part of APTS. Described and categorized are means of information dissemination systems and their roles in advanced traveler information systems. An evaluation framework is developed to assess different media on the basis of seven criteria: accessibility, versatility and interactivity, information carrying capacity, user friendliness, costs to install, costs to use, and ease of implementation. The evaluation shows that the Internet and kiosks have the highest overall ranking. These are capable of delivering a variety of information, can provide interactivity to users, and if designed properly can have a user-friendly interface. Variable message signs and closed-circuit televisions are ranked as good for their modest costs and the variety of information they can deliver. They are appropriate to both wayside and in-terminal information displays. Other emerging technologies, such as automated voice annunciators and personal communication devices, are promising for the future but are not ready for implementation.

Evaluation of advanced transit alternatives using consumer welfare

Various combinations of advanced public transportation systems (APTS), including advanced transit information, demand responsive transit, and personal rapid transit, are evaluated by applying traditional travel and emissions criteria as well as consumer welfare and equity criteria. A state-of-the-practice regional travel demand model is used to simulate the travel effects of the APTS technologies in the Sacramento region for the year 2015. A method of obtaining consumer welfare is applied to the mode choice models in the travel model. It was found that APTS technologies, which were simulated in this study to act as feeder service for light rail and bus transit, did not significantly reduce congestion and emissions in the region. This was primarily because the Sacramento region lacks extensive penetration by light rail and bus service. The consumer welfare evaluation, however, showed that all the APTS technology scenarios yielded an economic benefit and were generally equitable even when capital, operation, and maintenance costs were included in the analysis. Further, the analysis showed that advanced transit information service alone produced the greatest increase in consumer welfare. The total yearly difference in benefits among the scenarios would be significant. Thus, it is concluded that the method of obtaining consumer welfare used in this study is a useful analytical tool for identifying optimal bundles of APTS technologies.

System Selection, Benefits, and Financial Feasibility of Implementing an Advanced Public Transportation System

A procedure for selecting a suitable backbone radio communications system necessary for the implementation of advanced public transportation system technologies is presented. This procedure was used by the Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County, Nevada, in preparation of a radio communications master plan for the Las Vegas Citizens Area Transit system. The procedure recognizes the importance of taking into account not only the relative costs of the alternative candidate systems, but also other important factors such as the degree of system control by the transit agency, confidence in system development and technical practicality, potential for future expansion, and technical simplicity. Several alternative technologies for radio communications are reviewed and evaluated. Selection of the recommended system is based on the procedure that assigns relative weights to the important factors and gives each candidate system a score for each factor. The system with the highest total score is recommended for implementation. Potential system benefits are discussed and financial feasibility of the recommended system is evaluated by computing the annual rate of return on invested capital. Analysis shows that the system can pay for itself and also produce significant net savings in operation and capital costs. Although the analysis considered only potential savings in fleet size, an annual rate of return of over 21 percent on the invested capital has been shown to be achievable. Such savings can enable transit agencies to provide the same level of service at significantly reduced cost or expand the service without increasing operating costs.

Advanced Public Transit System Routing and Scheduling

Advanced public transportation system called LINC (local initiative for neighborhood circulation) is proposed and the realization of its usage is investigated. LINC effectiveness and efficiency come from its utilization of three different, hierarchical and inter-dependent levels of service. In the lowest level, the vans would run on smaller neighborhood streets to pick people up and drop them off at their homes, at the station and at any other desired destination within the service area. Dial-a-ride service is adopted for the level. A genetic algorithm is applied to its optimization technology and proper solutions are obtained as s result.

PART 2: Paratransit: Paratransit Customer: Modeling Elements of Satisfaction with Service

Because of the arrival of advanced public transportation systems (APTS) and other changes in the transit environment, the study of the paratransit customer deserves increased attention. Demographic and other characteristics of paratransit customers in southeastern Michigan are presented, and the development of a causal model of the factors affecting customer satisfaction with paratransit service is begun. Such models, which analyze the covariance structures of variables and factors hypothesized to exhibit causal relations, can help researchers and transit operators gauge the potential of improving customer satisfaction through system changes, such as the addition of APTS. Furthermore, these models can suggest which elements of customer satisfaction are most affected by specific system changes. A key finding from the modeling effort is that characteristics specific to the customers, such as personal mobility, contribute substantially toward explaining customer satisfaction. The causal modeling also revealed that transit system characteristics contribute substantially to customer satisfaction, too, especially to customer satisfaction with the trip reservation process. Thus, system enhancements, such as APTS, have ample potential to increase customer satisfaction. Finally, directions for future research aimed at improving and enhancing the developed causal model are discussed and recommended, including specification of the data needs of such research.

Bus preemption signal (BPS): An application of advanced public transportation system (APTS) : Al-Sahili, Khaled Ahmad, Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1995. 177 pp.

Bus preemption signal (BPS): An application of advanced public transportation system (APTS) : Al-Sahili, Khaled Ahmad, Ph.D. Michigan State University, 1995. 177 pp.

Impact of Advanced Public Transportation Systems on Travel by Dial-a-Ride

The degree to which Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) are expected to increase ridership is studied. The responses from a survey of Dial-a-Ride users to estimate the parameters of statistical models of user behavior were used. The respondents were asked to rank hypothetical scenarios in which level of service was varied. Level-of-service attributes included, among other variables, changes in travel time and ability to reserve the trip in advance. The respondents were asked to state how many trips they would have made during the past week of travel, given the hypothetical service attributes described in the question. The models developed link the average number of trips per week using Dial-a-Ride and the level of service offered by the Dial-a-Ride system. The modeling framework attempts to resolve the bias issues inherent in the use of stated preferences (SP) data, where respondents are asked to answer questions about a hypothetical situation. A basic methodology of combining revealed preferences and SP data is provided to evaluate the effect of different APTS configurations on ridership.

Impact of Advanced Public Transportation Systems on Travel by Dial-a-Ride

The degree to which Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) are expected to increase ridership is studied. The responses from a survey of Dial-a-Ride users to estimate the parameters of statistical models of user behavior were used. The respondents were asked to rank hypothetical scenarios in which level of service was varied. Level-of-service attributes included, among other variables, changes in travel time and ability to reserve the trip in advance. The respondents were asked to state how many trips they would have made during the past week of travel, given the hypothetical service attributes described in the question. The models developed link the average number of trips per week using Dial-a-Ride and the level of service offered by the Dial-a-Ride system. The modeling framework attempts to resolve the bias issues inherent in the use of stated preferences (SP) data, where respondents are asked to answer questions about a hypothetical situation. A basic methodology of combining revealed preferences and SP data is provided to evaluate the effect of different APTS configurations on ridership.

Intelligent Vehicle Highway System: Advanced Public Transportation Systems

A major program of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 [1] is the Intelligent Vehicle-Highway System (IVHS). This program seeks technological methods to increase the capacity of the existing transportation infrastructure. Although private automobiles are the major focus of the IVHS program, it also seeks improvements in the public transportation system. This paper addresses the public transportation component, known as the Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS). A future vision of an Advanced Public Transportation System is presented, providing a unifying framework for the proposed enhancements to user services. A “bus hub” structure is presented that increases the quality and attractiveness of the system for users, operators, and traffic managers. Also, the importance of APTS to the goals of the IVHS program are discussed.

Advanced Accessibility Systems for Elderly and Disabled Travellers in Canada

In Canada, as a result of the aging of the baby boom generation, the number of people 65 and older will nearly double by the year 2000. Since the rate of disability is highly correlated with aging, the number of Canadians with disabilities will likewise grow at a much faster rate than the general population. Of the disabled adult population, 62 percent (or 2 million) have difficulties using transportation services. The rapid developments in Intelligent VehicleHighway Systems (IVHS) in North America, or Advanced Transport Telematics Systems (AITS) in Europe, will be of great help to elderly and disabled travellers, including drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.It is strongly advocated in this paper that the requirements of these groups be integrated into the design of IVHS systems now, to avoid expensive and troublesome retrofits. The paper describes a conceptual framework for an advanced accessibility system developed by Canadian researchers to provide focus to this thrust, by linking it to existing IVHS modules, such as Advanced Traveller Information Systems (ATIS) and Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS), and to newly developed concepts like Advanced Mobile Support Systems (AMSS). An overview of Canadian activities in this area, with an emphasis on ergonomics evaluation, is presented.

Data Representation Using a Standard Data Transfer Specification

In the 1990s, digital maps are being used for a wide variety of applications. In the world of digital road maps, the most notable applications are in the area of theIntelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). In the USA IVHS is involved with five basic interrelated applications:(i) Advanced Traffic Management Systems.(ii) Advanced Vehicle Control Systems.(iii) Commercial Vehicle Operations.(iv) Advanced Public Transportation Systems.(v) Advanced Traveller Information Systems.