Evaluating the Impact of ITS on Personalized Public Transit

Problem

The passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has created renewed interest in Demand Responsive Transit (DRT) Services. At the same time, the introduction of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) such as dispatching and scheduling software, automatic vehicle location (AVL) devices, mobile data terminal (MDT), etc., has made such systems less complex to operate.

These advancements in technology have provided the impetus for many vendors to develop specialized software and other equipment to support management of paratransit and DRT services.

The objective of this research is to investigate the use of ITS technologies to improve the service efficiency of DRT providers and to evaluate the different opportunities it creates to improve the overall performance of DRT systems.

As part of the research efforts, the following tasks have been completed:

• Technologies that are currently being implemented and emerging technologies that have the potential to improve system performance were reviewed and identified.
• Commercial scheduling and dispatching software packages were surveyed in order to assess their functionality.
• In-depth phone interviews and site visits of transit agencies were conducted to document how public agencies are adopting such software.
• Travel pattern data from the Antelope Valley Transit Authority of Los Angeles County, a representative paratransit provider, was statistically analyzed.

Findings

The technologies identified as being implemented or considered for implementation by transit providers included AVL, advanced wireless communication, MDT, computerized vehicle navigation, and geographic database. Some emerging technologies such as Wireless Internet Dispatching (WID), superphones, and Personal Data Assistant (PDA) were also recognized as having potential application within ITS.

The review conducted as part of this study shows that the software reviewed by in large has the capabilities to be utilized in DRT service within the paratransit industry. The products reviewed were provided by Strategen Systems, Trapeze Software, Inc., and RouteLogic, Inc. The intent of the research was not to recommend any products, rather just to review their applicability within the paratransit industry.

The results of the in-depth phone interviews and site visits show that utilization of ITS technologies at a paratranist provider in the Santa Clara Valley led to reduced cost, increased efficiency, and no perceived reduction in customer service as indicated by the paratransit users.

Although this study shows the potential benefit of deploying ITS in DRT systems, ITS alone is not a complete solution for meeting the increased demands for these types of services and for satisfying the strict guidelines of the ADA. New innovative services that complement ITS need to be studied.