Personal Mobility

The Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (Tri-Met) has entered into an agreement with the City of Portland, Oregon to enable its transit buses to use the low Transit Priority request of the signals within the City’s jurisdiction. The three primary goals for the use of transit priority are: 1) to increase throughput within specified traffic corridors; 2) to reduce transit running times; and 3) to improve transit schedule reliability. This paper will focus on methods Tri-Met will employ to evaluate the effectiveness of its transit signal priority effort on transit operations, and to determine if its goals have been met. The project was scheduled to commence in February 2001, and preliminary evaluation results are expected by June 2001.

Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (Tri-Met)

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

In recent years, a growing number of metropolitan areas around the world have
introduced electronic payment media, particularly smart cards, as a means of linking fare
payments among the various transit agencies – and in some cases with other entities as
well. In addition to transit fare payment, smart cards are being introduced for an
increasingly wide range of applications, including toll and parking payments, financial
services, mobile commerce, security/access/identification and loyalty purchase programs.
The processing and storage capabilities of these cards have made it possible to consider
multiapplication programs, including two or more of these uses on a single card. Such
arrangements offer the potential to increase customer convenience – for all participating
applications – as well as to spread card issuance costs. There is considerable potential to
link transit payment with one or more other types of function in a multiapplication
arrangement.  

The use of smart cards has thus created the opportunity for establishment of new types of
partnerships – while also facilitating the introduction of new (i.e., automated) fare media
distribution methods. This paper discusses smart card developments and impacts on
customers and agencies, also reviews related emerging applications and partnerships.

TranSystems Corp.

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

The Northern Virginia Transportation Commission recently conducted a study to inventory and review transit-related ITS projects in the region, evaluate the performance measurement approaches, research the benefits associated with these projects, and establish an ongoing performance monitoring process.  The project included interviews with transit managers and vendors, and an intercept/mailback survey of Northern Virginia transit riders.   
This paper summarizes the results of the survey conducted in April 2003.  Surveys were distributed to over 14,000 Northern Virginia transit riders at a number of large transit stations over the course of several weekdays.  Approximately 16% of the transit riders who received the questionnaire responded.  Specifically, the survey instrument addressed the following:

•  Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics;
•  Use of computers and the Internet;
•  Attitudes towards the current use of technology on transit;
•  Importance of various uses of technology;
•  Behavior changes as a result of transit ITS;
•  Familiarity with and frequency of use of various ITS applications in Northern Virginia; and
•  Usefulness and ease of use of ITS applications.

Overall, the survey respondents were widely supportive of the current use of technology on transit services in the region and to a large extent of expanded use of technology.  The currently offered transit ITS applications have generally been viewed as useful and there is widespread feeling that they are easy to use. This is an important accomplishment for the region.

TranSystems Corporation

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, April 26 - 28, 2004 San Antonio, Texas

TransGuide, San Antonio's Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), has been in operation since July of 1995. Initially covering 26 miles of freeways, TransGuide has expanded to cover more than 60 miles of freeways throughout San Antonio. The expanded coverage of freeway conditions in San Antonio has been coupled with arterial traffic data to provide traffic information on over 150 miles of the San Antonio area roadway network. The San Antonio Model Deployment Initiative (MDI) expanded TransGuide system capabilities, and brought together traffic information from multiple agencies. Since the conclusion of the Model Deployment Initiative, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has implemented new programs to build upon that program's success. Expansion of the TransGuide system on heavily congested freeway corridors outside of downtown allowed the benefits of the system to be available to drivers who did not encounter the TransGuide system when it was located only in the downtown area of San Antonio. The development of the MDI Data Server combined information from TxDOT, the City of San Antonio and VIA Metropolitan Transit Authority to form a single depository of traffic related information available to all local public agencies and private sector Information Service Providers (ISPs).

Texas DOT - TransGuide

Presented at the 11th ITS Annual Conference and Exposition, June 4-7, 2001 Miami Beach, Florida

Traffic Scotland has been providing real-time information on the Scottish trunk road network
since 1999. The service has been continually developing and improving to meet the demands
and needs of the public, network managers and stakeholders. Traffic Scotland has undergone
a number of significant enhancements. These have ranged from performance upgrades to
provide improved service and to ensure maximum availability and accessibility in times of
high demand; functionality developments to include journey time, traveller emission and
public transport information; expansion of the network coverage allowing access to more
CCTV images; inclusion of greater event specific information; user tailored data available
through a range of media; and the adoption of DATEX2.

IBI Group

Transport Scotland

Presented at the ITS America Annual Conference and Exposition, November 16-20, 2008, New York, New York