May 21, 2010
Contact:
Emily Fishkin, ITS America
(202) 721-4204
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ITS America Smart Solution Spotlight
A National Public Transportation Problem . .
.
How can public transportation agencies on limited
budgets provide real-time transportation information and assistance
to travelers?
A Smart Solution . . .
The MassDOT Developers
Initiative:
This unique project involves the sharing of real-time
transportation data with private developers for FREE, which has
resulted in the creation of multiple website and mobile
applications providing information channels for travelers - at
little or no cost to the public agencies.
"The National Weather Service shares its
information at no cost and virtually every TV and radio station and
newspaper shares the information with the public. It just makes
sense to do a similar process with travel information in a manner
that is essentially free to the cash-strapped public agencies. The
MassDOT Developers Initiative is a perfect example of how using
intelligent transportation applications in a public-private
partnership can benefit the public."
- Scott Belcher, President and CEO of ITS
America
Washington, D.C. -
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation's (MassDOT)
Developers Initiative was presented an ITS America
Smart Solution Spotlight award today
for its public-private collaboration that has significantly
expanded the distribution of transportation information to the
general public - at minimal cost to state and local transportation
agencies.
In just nine months, the MassDOT
Developers Initiative has led to the development of tens of
thousands of dollars worth of website and mobile customer
information applications.
Because of its low cost, the MassDOT
Developers model can be replicated by transportation agencies or
other government bureaucracies around the nation. By acting as
wholesalers rather than retailers of transportation information,
these agencies can more effectively and efficiently deliver
information to customers, encourage private investment and economic
growth and spur new innovations.
As the leading voice for the use of smart
technology to address our nation's transportation challenges, the
ITS
America Smart Solution Spotlight
award highlights the best and most innovative use of
intelligent transportation systems to address national and regional
transportation challenges.
What is the purpose of the MassDOT Developers
Initiative?
Delivering timely and accurate information (real-time
traffic reports, bus schedules, road or system maps, and wait
times) to users of transportation systems has not traditionally
been a core mission of transportation agencies. However,
transportation information has proven to be extremely valuable to
travelers and increases the efficiency of systems and increases
transit use.
Realizing that MassDOT and MBTA did not have the
financial resources or expertise to effectively deploy information
systems, the Developers Initiative was created.
How Does It Address The
Problem?
Like most state and local transportation agencies,
MassDOT and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
have been facing budget constraints that make it extremely
challenging to meet the financial demands of deteriorating
transportation infrastructure. However, MassDOT and MBTA are
applying new concepts to meet these challenges by providing the
private sector with free transportation information to relay to
travelers instead of creating new government programs to provide
the same service.
To develop private sector involvement in disseminating
transportation information, in July 2009 MassDOT launched the
Developers Page where all parties could access transportation
information to develop websites, mobile applications and other
applications to deliver customer information. MassDOT conducted
meetings and events with local software developers and other third
parties to encourage participation in the project.
MassDOT even encouraged private sector
developers to profit from the redistribution of the transportation
information, either by selling it to users or by typing the content
to advertisements. This increased the amount of private investment
in the project which increased the options to
customers.
In November 2009, MassDOT hosted a
Developers Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and announced the winners of their contest which spurred developers
to create both mobile phone applications and data visualizations
that would have cost tens of thousands of dollars for MassDOT to
produce on its own.
By sharing the information at no cost with
software developers, web entrepreneurs and "at-home tinkerers",
MTBA has expanded the innovative ways the private sector is sharing
the information with travelers. In one instance, a Boston software
engineer spent $350 and created a real-time arrival LED sign at a
bustling café and ice cream shop by his house. He and other
commuters can now drink coffee in the shop and know precisely when
their bus will arrive near the café.
MTBA officials say they expect travelers
will have soon have access to trains, subway and bus information
through the project.
This is in contrast to many other agencies
that expend significant resources to make information available to
the public. MassDOT officials say that so far, the single largest
expenditure on the Developers Initiative was $1,000 to provide
pizza for the 200+ participants at the Developers
Conference.
What are some of the future
benefits?
Today, there are more than 10 applications and
websites that use MassDOT data to serve customers to plan their
trips, receive wait times, or find the location of their
buses. None of these applications would have existed without the
Developers Initiative.
Sendza, Inc. is now partnering with MassDOT to improve
and expand the state's 511 traffic information line to provide
commuters with real-time traffic updates for major highways on
their cell phones. The traffic information will be updated every 60
seconds using GPS, road sensor and cell phone data from Inrix,
Inc. The updates will include the estimated travel speed and
incident information.
By this fall, MBTA expects that its bus riders will be
able to know exactly where their bus is at any moment and be able
to access that information on a computer, in a sign in a local
store, or by accessing the information through a cell phone. Once
all this is available for buses, MBTA plans to investigate opening
up feeds for all of its other modes of transportation.
In addition, as the result of the success of the MassDOT
Developers Initiative, the Massachusetts Information Technology
Department has begun exploring other opportunities for Developers
Initiatives across the state government.
For additional information about this project
contact:
Colin Durrant, Director of Communications: (617)
973-7870,
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Christopher Dempsey, Director of Innovation:
(617) 263-7902
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Joshua Robin, Manager of Performance Reporting:
(617)973-8876
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The Intelligent Transportation Society of
America represents more than 400 member organizations including
public agencies, private corporations, and academic institutions
involved in the research, development, and deployment of
technologies that improve safety, increase mobility, strengthen the
economy, and sustain the environment. http://www.itsa.org
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