TravInfo Evaluation (Technology Element) Traveler Information Center (TIC) Study: Operator Response Time Analysis

Problem

TravInfo is an advanced traveler information system for the San Francisco Bay Area that began operation in September 1996 under a public/private partnership seeking to compile, integrate, and broadly disseminate timely and accurate multi-modal traveler information through commercial products and services. The public sector component centers on the Traveler Information Center (TIC), TravInfo's information gathering, processing, and dissemination hub.

During the Field Operational Test (FOT) of TravInfo, the TIC was evaluated with respect to system reliability, the communications interface, the operator interface, and operator response time.

This report documents the analysis of operator response time. The report focused on incident information generated by the California Highway Patrol's Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. Operator response time is defined as the time elapsed once information is collected from CAD until it is disseminated to the public via he Travelers Advisory Telephone System (TATS).

Findings

Operator response time is a significant part of TravInfo evaluation because the TIC operations are substantially less automated than originally envisioned and thus depend heavily on operator performance.

Operator response times remained stable during the FOT with an overall average operator response time of approximately 11 minutes, though there were significant response time differences among the operators. The findings indicate that improvement is needed in both overall operator work efficiency and operator response time.

Once TravInfo transitions from its FOT phase and enters its more permanent phase, operations will become substantially more automated. This should have a significant impact on reducing operator response times as well as increasing overall operator productivity.