Prepared by

U.S.DepartmentofTransportationAdvancedVehicleMonitoringandCommunicationSystemsforBusTransitBenefitsandEconomicFeasibilitySeptember1991RevisedMarch1993MonitoringOperationsControlCenterAdvancedVehicleMonitoringandCommunicationSystemsforBusTransitBenefitsandEconomicFeasibilityFinalReportSeptember1991RevisedMarch1993PreparedbyEdwardK.Morlok,EricC.BruunandKimberlyJ.BattleBlackmanDepartmentofSystemsUniversityofPennsylvaniaPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania19104-6315PreparedforUniveristyResearchandTrainingProgramOfficeofTechnicalAssistanceFederalTransitAdministrationWashington,DC20590DistributedinCooperationwithTechnologySharingProgramU.S.DepartmentofTransportationWashington,D.C.20590DOT-T-94-03NoticeThecontentsofthisreportreflecttheviewsoftheauthors,whoareresponsibleforthefactsandtheaccuracyoftheinformationpresentedherein.Thisdocumentisdis-seminatedunderthesponsorshipoftheDepartmentofTransportation,UrbanMassTransportationAdministration,intheinterestofinformationexchange.TheU.S.Gov-ernmentassumesnoliabilityforthecontentsorusethereof.TheUnitedStatesGovernmentdoesnotendorsemanufacturersorproducts.Tradenamesappearinthedocumentonlybecausetheyareessentialtothecontentofthereport.TechnicalReportThisreportanalyzesthefeasibilityofadvancedvehiclemonitoringandcommunication(AVM/C)systemsforbustransitintheUnitedStates.SuchsystemsarewidelyusedinEuropeandCanadatoprovidemorereliableandefficientbusservices,buthaveseenlittledeploymentintheU.S.ManysystemsarenowavailablefrombothAmericanandforeignvendors,andthusthequestionofwhetherornottodeploysuchasystemiscomingtotheforefrontinmanytransitagencies.Inthisreport,thepotentialbenefitsofsuchasystemarediscussed,includingbenefitstocurrentandnewridersintheformofbetterservice,totheagencyintheformofincreasedrevenuesandreducedcosts,andtocommunitiesinavarietyofwaysincluding“townwatch”functions.Thissetsthestageforadiscussionoftheactualexperienceofforeignanddomesticagenciesthathaveintroducedsuchsystems,includingcostsandbenefits.AmethodforevaluatingthefeasibilityofAVM/Csystemsispresented,forbothoutrightpurchaseandforleasing-averyattractivealternativethatconservesscarcecapitalresources.CalculationsfortypicalU.S.conditionssuggestthatthesesystemsshouldbequitecosteffective,improvingbothagencyfinancesandpassengersatisfaction.Agenciesshouldconsiderthemcarefully.iiiExecutiveSummaryThisreportaddressesoneofthemostimportantandpotentiallyeffectivewaystoimprovetheattractivenessofbustransitservices:theuseofadvancedinformationtechnologytomonitorandcontrolbusoperations.Specifically,itfocusesontheuseofautomaticvehiclemonitoring(AVM)systems,whicharemoreproperlyreferredtoasadvancedvehiclemonitoringandcommunication(AVM,/C)systems.AVM/Csystemshavegreatpotentialforimprovingtheproductivityandattractivenessofbusservices.Asthenamesuggests,essentialcomponentsofthesesystemsincludeanelementwhichcantrackvehiclelocationinrealtimeandanelementwhichprovidesdirectdigitaldata,andoftenvoicecommunicationbetweeneachvehicleandthedispatcher.Inaddition,thecomputersystemmanagesandprocessesthedatainrealtimetoassistthedispatcherinbettercontrollingbusoperations.Thesesystemscanalsobeusedtoprovideinformationforpurposesofrouteandscheduleplanning,maintenancemanagement,andoperatingstatistics,andcanprovidethebasicdataforrealtimepassengerinformationservices.ThepurposeofthisreportistoprovideaknowledgebasefortransitmanagersthatwillenablethemtoevaluatethepotentialofAVM/Csystemsforapplicationtotheirparticulartransitsystems.Themainsectionsofthisreportaddressthefollowingtopics:lIdentifythevariousAVM/Csystemsandoptions.lIdentifypossiblebenefitsandlikelycostsofsuchsystems.-DescribetheexperiencetodatewithAVM/CsystemsonpropertiesinNorthAmericaandelsewhere.lProvideamethodologybywhichthefeasibilityofsuchsystemscanbedetermined,includingvariouspublic/privatefinancingoptions.Asummaryofourfindingsfollows.ThereisnostandardAVM/Csystemforbustransit,butrathertherearemanysuchsystems,consistingofdifferenttypesofhardwareelementsandperformingavarietyofdifferentfunctions.ThebasicelementswhichcharacterizeanyAVM/Csysteminclude:ameansforautomaticvehiclelocation(AVL),acom-municationsystembetweenbusdriversanddispatchers,includingdigitaland/orvoiceinterface,acomputerandsoftwareforassemblingandmanaging,inrealtime,thedataonbuslocationandanyotherdatagathered(e.g.,passengerloads,vehiclecondition),softwareforcomparingactualwithdesiredperformance(e.g.,actualoperationstosched-ules),andassistancetothedispatcherincorrectingundesirablesituations.CriticaltothesuccessofAVM/Csystemsisappropriatetrainingofdispatchersanddrivers.ThebenefitsofAVM/Csystemsarepotentiallyquitewidespread.Onebroadclassofbenefitsderivesfromthebetterrealtimecontrolofoperations,whichleadstoimprove-mentsinscheduleadherenceandservicereliability,reducedovercrowdingandingeneralimprovementsinthequalityofservicefromthestandpointoftheuser.Concomitantwiththisarevariousimprovementsfromthestandpointofthetransitagency,includingivtheabilitytoreduceslacktimeinschedulesandtherebyreducethefleetsize,numberofdrivers,andvehiclemilesoperatedtoachie