Transit Operations

Riders on buses and vanpools within priced managed lanes are users and beneficiaries of their

operational performance. Improvements to travel times and travel-time reliability for buses help increase transit ridership and lower transit providers costs to transit providers. In certain situations the revenue generated by priced managed lanes may also be used to fund enhanced transit services. In fact, with many operating facilities, demonstrating an improvement in transit capacity and service was critical to gaining public support for the managed lanes. As such, operators may coordinate plans for enhancing transit service with the development of priced managed lane improvements. These improvements may include BRT, as well as other technology-dependent strategies to improve service and provide better information to transit riders. Coordination with transit providers is facilitated through the concepts of operations described earlier in Section 2.3.1. Under the right conditions transit improvements leverage the benefits of priced managed lanes, but this requires close coordination and often the deployment of the strategies described below.

7.7.1 Dynamic Transit Operations

Dynamic transit operations overall seek to expand transportation options by leveraging available services from multiple modes of transportation. Travelers are able to request a trip via a handheld mobile device and have itineraries containing multiple transportation services (public transportation modes, private transportation services, shared ride, walking and biking) sent to them via the same handheld device.

This type of enhanced traveler information builds upon existing technology systems such as computer-aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location systems and automated scheduling software, all of which have been a mainstay for transit operations. However, in order to facilitate dynamic transit operations they need to be expanded to incorporate business and organizational structures that aim to better coordinate transportation services in a region. Once implemented, this form of dynamic transit operations will enhance communications with travelers to enable them receive the broadest range of travel options when making a trip.

Priced managed lanes directly contribute to specific travel-time reliability and assurance such that dynamic transit operations can occur. The intent is to improve rider satisfaction and reduce expected trip time for multimodal travelers by increasing the probability of automatic intermodal or intramodal connections. This strategy protects transfers between both transit (e.g., bus, subway, and commuter rail) and non-transit (e.g., shared-ride modes) modes, and facilitates coordination between multiple agencies to accomplish the tasks. In certain situations, integration with other dynamic transit operational strategies may be required to coordinate connections between transit and non-transit modes. Dynamic transit operations is an element of USDOT’s Connected Vehicle Initiative.

7.7.2 real-Time ridematching/Dynamic ridesharing

Today, slightly more than 10 percent of Americans commute to work by carpool, and carpooling rates have declined steadily since 1980, when 20 percent of Americans shared rides for the journey to

work.¹⁴ The decline in carpooling levels is most commonly attributed to the fact that workers today have increasingly variable work schedules that can change on a daily or weekly basis. Unpredictable work schedules are incompatible with fixed plans required for traditional carpooling.

Today’s ubiquitous information and communications technologies provide a platform from which a new range of dynamic ridematching¹⁵ services have emerged to facilitate the formation of carpools in “real-time.” Real-time ridematching (RTR) matches drivers and riders at the time of (during or directly prior to) the taking of a trip. Unlike traditional ridesharing. RTR does not require commuters to commit to a single carpool with fixed routes and schedules, rather it facilitates the matching of riders and drivers on an ad-hoc basis, based on availability of seats and a common origin-destination pattern. While these services greatly expand options for commuters, they do not modify the basic dynamics of prearranged carpools, which still requires substantial coordination among participants and severely constrains schedule flexibility.

14 In order to avoid unfair equity bias against individuals who do not have credit cards or bank accounts many operators also accept cash towards prepaid accounts..

15 Dynamic ridesharing is defined as a market package as ATIS8 in the National IT Architecture. See, “The National ITS Architecture.” Version 6.0, May 2007 update.

Priced Managed Lane Guide

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The primary enabler of RTR today is smartphone technology, which permits the matching of riders and drivers in real-time through the coalescence of location-based services, cashless payment, incentives and rewards tracking, secure identification, matching by affinities and relationships, and user ratings/

crowdsourcing (Figure 7-2). RTR represents the natural technological evolution of carpooling and has the promise of substantial social and environmental benefits. If technology is the enabler of RTR, then incentives are the catalyst to making it succeed. Success in a RTR program is dependent upon creating an incentive for drivers to abandon their single-occupancy vehicle habits, and to share their seats with riders that they may not know. Combining direct financial incentives with the convenience of real-time matching of riders and drivers has the potential to dramatically decrease the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road.

RTR has the potential compliment priced managed lane facilities as it gives single occupant motorists the opportunity to carpool with ride sharers, thereby allowing them to use the priced managed lane at no cost or for a reduced fee.

Figure 7-2: A ridematching Smartphone Application used in Seattle

Source: Avego

Appendix