Planned Future ITS Use

The transit systems responding to questionnaires were asked to specify if they planned to implement additional ITS technologies in the future, and if so, to specify which technologies. Fifty-seven systems (77 percent) reported plans to implement multiple technologies in the future (Table 7). Many systems planned to implement Transit Management Technologies. These technologies include S&D, GIS, AVL, APC, and SP. The table also reveals that large urban systems reported the most plans for implementing additional ITS technologies. Although only six of the large urban systems mentioned plans to implement EFC, 14 of the large urban systems already use this technology. Therefore, all of the systems responding to this questionnaire does use or plans to use EFC in the near future.

Table 7. Number of Future Technologies to be Implemented, by Population Category

Summary

The main focus of this study was to examine ITS technologies applicable to public transportation systems. A mail questionnaire was developed and mailed to 2,459 rural, small urban, and suburban transit systems to identify systems that use ITS technologies. Of the 501 systems responding, 122 used one or more of the ITS technologies. A follow-up Web-based survey was developed. One hundred sixteen of these systems were contacted and asked to complete the Web based survey. Seventy-four systems responded.

Much of the analysis for this study was based on the information gathered from the Web-based survey. The responding transit systems were classified by population size as follows:

• nine systems were classified as rural, serving populations less than 50,000;
• 45 systems were classified as small and medium urban systems serving populations between 50,000 and 400,000; and
• 20 systems were classified as large urban systems serving populations greater than 400,000 people.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Scheduling and Dispatching (S&D) were the most widely used technologies by the rural transit systems responding to the questionnaire. Several systems reported these technologies aided in increasing the passengers. There were mixed responses in that some systems needed to hire additional labor as a result of implementing the technology whereas other systems required less labor. In general, the additional labor was needed because routes increased and more drivers were needed. Also, some systems needed trained employees to work with the technology. The report on capital costs, operational costs, and revenues were all mixed.

Nine different technologies are used by the small and medium urban systems responding to the second survey. The most commonly reported technologies were GIS, EFC, and S&D. Each of the technologies have been used by several transit systems for various numbers of years. Many of the systems responding experienced many positive affects from using the technologies. The impacts upon operating and capital costs were mixed.

Twenty transit systems responding were classified as large urban systems. These systems used several of the technologies, but the technologies used most frequently include S&D, EFC, and GIS. The systems reported several benefits including increased passengers, better service, increased revenues, and reduced costs.

Six of the technologies, AVL, S&D, EFC, GIS, ATI, and the Web were found to have increased some of the transit systems ability to better serve welfare-to-work clientele. S&D and GIS received the highest number of systems indicating the technology helped increase service to welfare to work recipients. Several of the transit systems are planning to implement these technologies in the future. The technologies with the highest planned implementation are APC, EFC, and GIS. Seventy-six percent of the systems already use S&D and 20 percent more plan to implement the technology in the near future.

Conclusions

Transit systems have experienced positive benefits in the use of ITS technologies. The larger systems have implemented more variety of ITS technologies, and several systems use multiple technologies. The specific findings are in the following paragraphs.

First, it can be concluded that larger systems more frequently use multiple applications of ITS. These systems tend to be more sophisticated and have more staff that may have the expertise or greater access to expertise than smaller more rural systems. Also, larger systems have more community visibility and more demands placed upon their systems which often justifies the additional expenses they may incur to implement ITS.

Second, S&D, GIS, and EFC were the most commonly reported ITS technologies used by the responding transit systems. These technologies were reported to help increase benefits to the transit system, as well as to increase service to residents and welfare-to-work clientele. It is difficult to trace the impact these technologies have had on systems, but the results are based on the transit managers' perceptions.

Third, transit systems are satisfied with their ITS choices and want to incorporate complementary or additional ITS technologies into their system. This is evident by the large number of systems that reported their plans to implement additional technologies in the future.

Finally, since these results are based on perceptions, to provide a more in-depth analysis of the specific benefits of the impacts of ITS on public transportation systems would be beneficial. Considering actual costs and benefits would help justify the future expansion of ITS to more transit systems. Further, the results of this study do not take into consideration the perceptions or idea of social service agencies working with the welfare to work clientele. These agencies may have responses as to the effectiveness of ATI and Web technologies when serving welfare to work clientele.

References

Advanced Public Transportation System Benefits, Federal Transit Administration, January 1996.

Crandall, W., Ph.D., B. Bentzen, Ph.D., L. Myers, M.Ed., and P. Mitchell, Ph.D., Remote Infrared Signage for People Who are Blind or Print Disabled: A Surface Transit Accessibility Study-Project Action, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, April 1996.

Dining, Michael G. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"Intelligent Transportation is Here and Working," Trek Talk, Issue 2, Spring 1997.

ITS Technologies in Public Transit: Deployment and Benefits, ITS America, February 1995.

Jones, W., ITS Technologies in Public Transit: Deployment and Benefits, US Department of transportation ITS Joint Program Office, November 1995.

Kloos, W., "Bus Priority at Traffic Signals in Portland: The Powell Boulevard Pilot Project," Submitted to ITE for the Compendium of Technical Paper, July 1994.

Leete, L. Bania, N. The Impact of Welfare on Labor Markets. Cleveland: Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change. PCase Western Reserve University, 1996.

Lindsay, Oliver. Non-Emergency Health Paratransit Planning and Operations Manual.

Community Transportation Association of America. (www.ctaa.org/ntrc/medical/pubs/hbc/dispatch.shtml)

McKendrick, Neil, City of Calgary Transportation Department, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

"NJ Transit's Customer Information Speeded Up by New System," Passenger Transport, 24 January 1994.

Remer, M., T. Atherton, and W. Gardner, "ITS Benefits, Evaluation and Costs: Results and Lessons from the Minnesota Guidestar Travlink Operational Test, Draft, November, 1995.

Smart Card Prototype Demonstration Project, Final Report, IBI Group, June 1997.

Time to Get Smart, article published in Mass Transit, November/December 1995.

U.S. Department of Transportation. Access to Jobs. Welfare to Work Initiative. Federal Transit Administration, Washington, DC, 1998.

U.S. Department of Transportation. ITS Deployment Guidance for Transit Systems: Technical Edition. Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, 1997.

U.S. Department of Transportation. A Guide to Innovative Practices: Access to Jobs. Federal Transit Administration, Washington, DC, 1998.

U.S. Department of Transportation, Advanced Public Transportation Systems: The State of the Art Update '98, Federal Transit Administration, Washington, DC, 1998.

U.S. Department of Transportation. A Guide to Innovative Practices: Access to Jobs. Federal Transportation Administration. Washington, DC, 1998.