Article Abstracts
Volume 1, No. 3, Spring 1997
Implementing Organizational Change through Visioning and Strategic Planning The CTTransit Experience
Michael A. Sanders, Connecticut Department of Transportation and
David A. Lee, CTTransitAbstract
A visioning and strategic planning process was undertaken at CTTransit beginning in early 1995 that has resulted in fundamental changes in organizational goals and values. A critical aspect of the visioning process was the involvement of union leaders and officials from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT), as well as the transit system’s management, in articulating a shared vision of the future. The new vision has helped to transform the organization from one that was historically reactive and conservative to one that is proactive both in responding to customers and embracing technology. A variety of projects and interdepartmental teams have been organized to carry out five strategic goals for the organization. Parallel changes in CDOT’s Bureau of Public Transportation have been implemented.
Findings from a Survey on Bus Stop Design
Kay Fitzpatrick, Dennis Perkinson, Kevin Hall, Texas Transportation Institute
Abstract
The bus stop is the first point of contact between the passenger and the bus service. The spacing, location, and design of bus stops significantly influence transit system performance and customer satisfaction. At present, relatively few transit agencies have comprehensive reference material available to assist in bus stop location and design. In recognition of the importance of bus stop location and design, the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) sponsored research to develop guidelines for locating and designing bus stops in various operating environments. These guidelines can assist transit agencies, local governments, and others (e.g., developers) in locating and designing bus stops that consider bus patrons’ convenience, safety, and access to sites, as well as safe and efficient transit operations and traffic flow.Mail-out surveys were conducted as part of the TCRP bus stop location and design guidelines project. The mail-out surveys, which were an initial task of the project, were used to determine current practices and areas of concern regarding bus stop design for transit agencies and states. Less than half of the responding transit agencies currently use guidelines or manuals, which indicates a need for the document being developed. Furthermore, almost every agency has moved a bus stop to improve traffic operations and more than half have redesigned a curbside stop to a bus bay or nub design.
Transit agencies are typically responsible for establishing routes, stop spacing, stop location (near side, far side, or midblock), type of stop (curbside, bus bay, or nub), bus stop signs, and amenities (such as street furniture). Functions jointly shared by transit agencies and cities, counties, and states include selecting the length of the bus stop zone, selecting pavement design at bus stops, removal of parking for bus stops, bus stop relocation due to traffic, and bus priority measures. Selecting and maintaining traffic control devices is primarily a city function. The categories considered during the bus stop location and design process are (in descending order): bus operations, area type or land use, passenger safety, roadway features, and traffic conditions.
Feasibility of Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) for Transit Buses
Robert A. Larsen, Raytheon-E Systems
Abstract
In the course of developing automated vehicle-roadway systems, opportunities to deploy vehicle control systems at intermediate stages of development may emerge. Some of these systems may provide a significant efficiency or safety enhancement to existing operations with manually-driven vehicles. Under certain circumstances, transit buses provide an ideal testbed for such systems. The work presented here represents a feasibility study for the application of Advanced Vehicle Control Systems (AVCS) to transit bus operations. The paper explores past and present research relevant to automatic control for buses and describes specific operations that could be better performed by AVCS-assisted or controlled vehicles.The study concludes with a series of recommendations for proceeding toward a deployment phase. For transit bus operations, the most suitable deployment opportunities for AVCS exist on exclusive busways (bus-only roads) or large bus servicing facilities used for daily maintenance operations. Busways would provide an excellent testing ground for a lateral control/lane keeping system. Such a system would provide immediate utility on the existing busway and would serve as a building block for more highly automated systems in the future. Maintenance operations in service garages require dedicated drivers to move vehicles through a routine servicing sequence. By fully automating the movement of buses within such facilities, labor costs could be dramatically reduced.
Personal Public Transport in Australia: Developments and Prospects
Garry Glazebrook, Booz-Allen & Hamilton (Aust) Limited - Sydney, Australia and Sam Subramaniam, Booz-Allen & Hamilton Limited - McLean, Virginia
Abstract
The environmental, social, and economic cost of current car dependence is well known. But people tend to be unwilling to forgo the convenience of private transport. Personal Public Transport (PPT) is a new concept combining the environmental advantages of public transport with the flexibility of the car. The key elements of PPT are new multi-hire modes provided by maxitaxis and taxibuses to supplement single-hire taxis and scheduled services; integration of all modes into a single system; and provision of real-time information and booking systems enabling individual passengers to communicate with the transport system, whether they be at home, on street or in transit.This paper describes how PPT will integrate various technologies, such as automatic vehicle location systems, multi-hire dispatching systems, advanced passenger information systems, and smart card billing systems, together with some of the latest developments in Personal Public Transport.
The Characteristics of Shopping Trips by Bus Transit
Salameh A. Nsour, Santa Clara University
Abstract
This paper presents a summary of the findings of a one-year research project that was sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and conducted on the characteristics of shopping trips using bus transit. The study involved the collection of extensive amounts of data on shopping trips and on the shoppers themselves in a large sampling area in California. It describes the integrated environment a shopper faces starting from his or her home and ending at the entrance of a mall. This includes analyzing the distances from home to bus stops, travel time on the bus, frequency of transfers, and the walking environment from bus stops to mall entrances. Also characterized are the distributions of shoppers and bus users on the basis of gender and age and the implications of these distributions in regard to what should be improved in bus service. Several other attributes of shoppers and shopping trips were collected, analyzed, and included in the recommendations. A total of 45 malls, 22 transit authorities and more than 1,000 shoppers were surveyed through relatively lengthy questionnaires for their opinions and for data on a wide range of issues. The most important finding of this work is that no organized or significant efforts exist between mall operators and transit authorities, to continuously monitor and improve shopping by bus, especially in regard to the location of bus stops around malls and the safety andconvenience of the walking environment for a shopper who uses the bus and walks to and from the mall entrance.
A Comparison of Pattern Recognition and Probabilistic Techniques for Capital Asset Deterioration
Matthew G. Karlaftis, Greek Air-Force Academy
Abstract
Capital asset management is a critical component of the operation of transit systems. In particular, much interest has been generated lately regarding the development of rolling stock deterioration models that can predict the future condition of a fleet from the corresponding deterioration curves. Based on a rolling stock inspection data set from Athens, Greece, this paper presents the development of both an ordered probit model and a predictive discriminant function that can be invaluable tools in predicting rolling stock deterioration. This combination of models provides a way in which we can get both aggregate (system level) projections on future bus conditions and disaggregate (individual bus level) projections. Both of the methodologies used recognize the ordinal nature of condition ratings and link deterioration to a set of relevant explanatory variables such as bus age, mileage, and size. The results can be easily used in a number of practical situations, such as capital asset life-cycle cost analysis, optimal timing for bus replacement, and examination of the effect of different operational strategies on bus deterioration.