30winstonsalem.pdf

The

Winston-Salem

Transit Authority:

Planning

for

Mobility

Management

Anna M.

Nalevanko

With

the passage of the Intermodal Surface TransportationAct

(ISTEA)

of1991, the na-tional transportationfocushasshifted to a

more

inte-gratedapproachof developingtransportationsvstems. Transit services, infrastructure, and

community

de-signs that support transit, such as parking policies,

bicycle paths,andtransit-orientedde\elopment.areall

consideredpartofabalanced,efficienttransportation system.

With

greateremphasis ontransitand

non-automo-bile

modes

oftransportation, transportation profes-sionals arechallengedtoexplore

more

cost-effective, efficientapproachestodelivertransitservice, andto

pursuebetterintegrationofthe variouspublic transpor-tation

modes

(i.e.,rail,intercitybus).Publictransitcan be aviable alternativetothe singleoccupancyvehicle

ifthe service is accessible and designed to meetthe

needs ofthe community. In

man\

cases, enhance-mentscan be achieved throughtheimplementationof advanced,transit-specifictechnologies.

Thisarticleoutlines

how

a multi-disciplinaryteam has

come

togethertoenhanceservicedeliveryinone North Carolinacommunity.

The

Winston-Salem

Tran-sitAuthority

(WSTA)

isinvestigating service delivery

improvementstliroughtheimplementation ofadvanced communication andinformationtechnologies.

What

is

learnedfrom the applicationoftransit-specific tech-nologiesat

WSTA

willbenefittransitoperationsinthe

stateandnationally.

Anna

NalevankohasaMaster'sdegreeinPublic

Admin-istrationfrom George Washington University,

Washing-ton, D.C. She helpedto initiatethePublic Transportation

ProgramattheInstitutefor TransportationResearchand Education(ITRE) andoverseesresearch, technical assis-tance, andtrainingeffortsrelatedtopublictransportation.

Project

Background

The

Winston-Salem Transit Authority

(WSTA),

like other

medium

to large transit operations in the country, is aggressively assessingitsmarket and

ex-aminingappropriate technologiestoimproveservice delivery.

The

way

of doing business at

WSTA

is

changing dramatically.

WSTA

is in the midst ofa

technologyinfusion that willinthelong-termenhance

public transportation services, streamline day-to-day administrativeandplanningactivities,prepare

WSTA

forfuture serviceexpansions, linktransitmodes, and connecttransit

more

closelywithtraffic

management

systems. These technological changes are

coming

aboutdueto

WSTA's

participationinaFederalTransit Administration

(FTA) Advanced

Public Transporta-tion Systems operational test project.

WSTA,

as a

result, willbeabletoprovidea

more

efficient, reliable,

customer-oriented publictransportation service.

What

is

Advanced

Public

Transportation

Systems

and

Mobility

Management

?

Before going into the details ofthe planning and implementation ofadvancedtechnologiesat

WSTA,

several concepts must be defined. First,

Advanced

Public Transportation Systems

(APTS)

is a Federal Transit Administration initiative to promotethe

ad-vancement of technologies in transit systems. This

FTA

program

was

createdas partoftheU.S.

Depart-ment

ofTransportation's intelligentVehicle

Highway

Systems(I

VHS)

initiative.I

VHS

isarange of

commu-nications and control technologies developedto

en-hance road travel through better mobility, energy

efficiency,and environmentalprotectionandsafety.

man-VOLUME

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agement

approachto service delivery.Mobility

man-agement

isa

means

ofachievingpositive integration

andcoordinationofpublic transportation services

of-fered by multiple providers and a variety oftravel

modes. This integration is primarily accomplished throughelectronictechnologies.

Similarin function to a travel agencyorfmanciai clearinghouse,the mobility

manager

provides users with a

menu

of transit services by telephone and through electronic technologies suchas information kiosksandcabletelevision.

Through

asinglepointof contact,e.g.callingonetelephonenumber,apotential passengercanscheduleatrip,askaboutthe statusof thetrip,

make

arrangementstotransferfrom one

mode

oftravel totheanother, and/or receiveascheduleof

transportationservices availableinthecityor region. Availableservicescould include bothprivateand not-for-profitproviders, such astaxicabs,vans, and pas-sengertrains.

The

mobility

management

facilityserves asan intermodaltransportationresourcecenterforthe

geographic area served.

This centralized mobility

management

system is

supported witha varietyoftechnologies, including:

•

_{Computer-Aided}

SchedulingandDispatching Soft-ware;This softwareautomates

some management

functions inthe demand-responseservice, suchas reportingandbilling,andprovidesscheduling

assis-tance to reservation clerks to allow for real-time scheduling ofshared-ride trips. This technology serves asone ofthebasesofa

mobi

lity

management

system.

• _{Mobile Data Terminals}

_{(MDTs); The mobi}

lity

man-agement

system must be able to accomplish

effi-cientcommunications betweentheoperations

cen-terandthe vehicle.

MDTs

providetheopportunity

for rapid,high

volume

communications.Mobiledata

communications allow

two-way

interactive mes-sageexchange,bothbetweenvehiclesandbetween

a vehicle and the transit operations center. Data,

e.g. short messages, are displayed on a digital

screenthatis installedon eachtransitvehicle.

The

use of

MDTs

replaces the conventional manual recordingoftrip informationandreducestheneed

forradiocommunications andvoice"chatter."

• AutomaticVehicle LocationDevices

(AVL);

This technology,particularlysatelliteglobalpositioning

systems (GPS), is installed on transit vehicles to

trackthewhereaboutsofthevehicleen-route.Both customers and transit center dispatchers can be

updatedonvehicle progresstowardsitsdesignated

stop.This technology enablesthetransitoperatorto be

more

responsivetothepassengerandallowsfor bettertimingoftransfers.Italsoprovidesthe

pos-sibilityofimplementing

new

service alternatives, such as permitting a bus to leave a fixed-routeto

pickupapassengerandthenreturningtothe

fixed-route.

• _{Electronic FareCard Media: These "smartcards"}

are the sizeofacreditcardand

may

allowfor credits

anddebitsandthestorageofotherinformationthat

may

be needed for recordkeeping purposes. For example,billing information can be stored on the card fortrips that are subsidized by a

human

ser-vicesagency. This can serve the purpose of

more

accuratelyattributingatripcosttotheappropriate contractingagency.

The

informationonthecard is

read by a reader that is installed in each transit

vehicle and the dataare

downloaded

for analysis

and reports.

The

Project

Concept

The

ideatopursuean

Advanced

Public Transpor-tationSystems

(APTS)

technologysite inNorth

Caro-lina originated with the Institute for Transportation Research and Education (ITRE) at North Carolina State University in 1992. Researchers from North CarolinaStateUniversity'sCivilEngineering

Depart-ment

andstafffromtheNorthCarolinaDepartment of Transportation, Public Transportation Division

(NCDOT/PTD)

were involvedearlyon in conceptu-alizingthisoperational testactivity.

The

initialgoals established forthisprojectweretodevelopand opera-tionally test a mobility

management

system for (1)

human

service transportation,suchasshared-ride,

on-demand

service for persons with specialized needs, and(2) toplan for a Phase II project to integratethis

systemwithamobility

management

systemfor fixed-route bus transit(the traditional general bus service

thatfollowsa specificpre-determinedrouteand

sched-ule).

This team

was

aware oftechnological activities

being conducted in

APTS

operational test projects already underway.

They

were alsofamiliarwith the characteristicsofthetypesof operations beingfunded andwere awareof

some

ofthepitfallsexperiencedby

theseoperationsinstart-upandimplementation. This information helped the team define a unique

opera-tional testactivityandtobebetterprepared for

some

CAROLINA

PLANNING

To

be competitive with other transit operations pursuing

APTS

funding, theNorthCarolinasiteneeded

to possess

some

characteristics that distinguished it

fromtheothertest sites.

The

Winston-Salem Transit Authority

was

chosen for several reasons. It is a

medium-sizedoperation, serving both acityandcounty.

The

general fixed-route bus, paratransit service,and ridesharing arecoordinatedunderasingle authority

.

WSTA

alreadyhad

some

level ofcomputerizationin

placeandthe staffhadthein-housetechnical expertise necessary to implement, monitor, and evaluate

new

systems. Another favorable factor

was

the

endorse-ment

ofthecity'stransportation directorandhisvision forfuture integrationof

some

transitandtraffic

man-agement

technologiesandaplanforcentralizingthese

traffic and transitoperations in a new^ transportation

facility(anticipatedtobecomplete in 1996).

Another reason North Carolina

became

a serious

contender for

FTA APTS

funds

was

because there

were

no other such demonstration projects in the southeastern United States. In addition, noothertest

sitehad begunmobility

management

implementation with a demand-response paratransit service. This project alsoofferedthe potential fornetworkingwith a social serviceagencytoallowtheagencyaccessto tripand billing information and for integrating with general fixed-route busservice inafollow-upPhase

Winston-Salem

Transit

Authority'

(WSTA):

Background

Information

intoForsyth

County

andcoveringapproximately409 square miles. Trans-AID's riJership totaled about

170,000 passengersin 1993.

Preliminary

Planning

Activities

Once

theoperational test sitehad been identified,

thenextstep

was

toclarifythe rolesandexpectations oftheprojectteam andtodevelopa proposalforthe Federal Transit Administration.

The

NCDOT/PTD

financiailysupportedthisplanningandproposal

devel-opment

phase through a grant

awarded

to ITRE.

The

CityofWinston-Salem

was

the identifiedgrant applicant. ITRE'srole

was

to assistwith administra-tion and technical assistance. North Carolina State University

(NCSU)

researchers took the lead on proposaldevelopment andtechnicalassistance

activi-ties.

NCDOT/PTD

staffprovided review and

com-ment

throughoutasprojectteam

members.

The

project

was

designed in

two

phases. Phase I,

thefocus ofthe

FTA

proposal, consistsof

two

major

activities:

1

.

Implementationof technologiesinTrans-AID,the

human

service transportation service,and

2. Establishment ofa test-bed site for research and demonstrationofother technologies.

The

activitieswere clearly defined in the Phase I

proposal.

The

primaryactivitiesinPhaseIinvolved:

Accordingtothe 1990census, theWinston-Salem

metropolitan area hasapopulationofabout 320,000.

Winston-Salem

is located in ForsythCounty, in the northwesternpartofthestate.

The

public transporta-tion services in Winston-Salem and Forsyth

County

are coordinated under onetransitauthority,

WSTA.

The

authorityis partoftheCity ofWinston-Salem's Department of Transportation but the city contracts withaprivate

management

compan\'torunthe

da\-to-dayoperationsofthetransportationsystem.

WSTA

isamulti-serviceoperation withfixed-route buses,

human

ser\ice transportation(demand-response/

shared-ride service),

commuter

ridesharing,and van pooling.

WSTA

operates58fixed-route buses. Fixed-route service covers an area of approximately 98 squaremiles,andin 1993thisservice carried atotalof

about 3.5 million passengers. Trans-AID, the desig-natedcoordinated county

human

service transporta-tion provider serving the elderly, low-income, and mentally-andphysically-challenged,operates 17

ve-hicles.

Trans-AID

services a larger area, extending

1

.

Securingthe servicesofasystems integratorwith thetechnicalexpertisetotakethe leadonselecting

and installingthe appropriatetechnologies and to

overseethe integrationofthe various technologies,

2. Procuring an automated scheduling software

sys-tem and compatible hardware for

WSTA

andthe

remote sites, i.e. the

NCSU

test-bed site and the

DepartmentofSocial Services,

3. Implementingtheautomated system inthe

human

serviceoperation,Trans-AID,

4. Installing

MDTs,

AVE,

and electronic fare card readers in three

Trans-AID

vehicles,

5. Testingthe mathematical algorithms with

WSTA

data atthe

NCSU

research test-bed site, and 6. Developingtheprivatesector interestand

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33

operationssetting.

Tiie current project team

would

continue to be involvedifa projectweretodevelopoutofthis effort.

Another North Carolina State University

(NCSU)

researciierand severalgraduate studentswere added

totheproject proposal.

The

proposed budgetreflected

NCDOT/PTD's

requiredfederalmatch andadditional support for hardware and otherequipment. Phase II

was

alsodescribed in the proposal with the focusof expandingtheapplicationandintegrationof technolo-gies tothe fixed-route busservice.

Phase

I -

Technology

Testing

inthe

Trans-AID

Service

Upon

award

from

FTA

in

May

of1993,theproject

team began to furtherdevelopthe project objectives

and

work

tasks.

A

technicalproposaland budget were developed for the request for proposals (RFP) to

procure the services of the systems integrator.

A

request for qualifications

(RFQ) was

issued first to solicitinformationaboutfirms, their capabilities,and

level ofinterestinthisproject.

The

RFP

was

issuedin

November

1993.

The

systems integrator(contractor)

was

selectedandthecontractor'sautomated schedul-ing software

was

the first technology to be

imple-mented

at Trans-AID.

The

on-site

WSTA

staff

members

were the key contacts with the

new

private-sector project team

member.

Inaninitialprojectteammeeting,the instal-lationtimetable

was

refined.

The

projectteam

antici-pated frequentmeetingsoftheteam andsub-groupsof theteamoverthecourseof eighteen

months

todiscuss installationproblemsandimplementationstrategies.

The

contractor

worked

closely with

WSTA

staff

and

NCSU

researchers to transfer the data from

WSTA's

computerized system to the

new

system.

Once

the data were transferred and reviewed, the collectionof "before" dataand stafftrainingbegan.

The

WSTA

team

members

developed their team

internally.Staffing

was

evaluatedand

new

temporary

staff

was

added to facilitate the transition from the

moretime-consumingtaskofschedulingtripsto

learn-ing theautomatedscheduling system.

The

dispatching office

was

redesignedto

accommodate

the

new

com-puter system.

The

automated system

became

operational in

Au-gust of 1994.

The

project team

worked

with the contractortoevaluateand

work

outany problemswith the dataand trip scheduling.

As

the installation

was

occurring on-site, back in the laboratory the

NCSU

researcher and a graduate student were testing the

mathematical algorithms, using software that they developed and

WSTA

systems data to evaluate the efficienciesoftheroutingandscheduling algorithms.

Lessons

Learned

Thereare avarietyoflessonstobe learnedfromthis

planningand implementationeffortformobility

man-agement.

1

.

The implementation _{of an}

automated

scheduling system will initially increase the administrative

and

dispatcher workload. There is a learning curve ofuptosix

months

todeveloptheexpertiseto

operate the system.

As

a result, temporary staff

may

need to be added to handle the reservations.

WSTA

recognizedthatittakestimeforreservation

clerks/schedulerstoadjust tothe on-line real-time reservation system.

2. Learn

from

the mistakes ofothers.

The

project

team avoided

some

ofthe pitfalls and benefitted

from

some

ofthe successes ofother technology implementationsbyassessingtheshortcomings and

strengths of other

APTS

test projects underway. External factors, such asthe political climate and problemswith regional cooperation,

were

factors

thatdelayed other

APTS

projects. Forthisproject team,ithelpedtoreviewothertechnicalproposals

fortheirapproach.

3. Allow sufficient time in aproject schedulefor

delays. Delayscan beexpectedintheprocurement process and as a result of software "glitches" or unanticipated data communications problems. In

the

WSTA

project,the PhaseI deadlineneededto

beextended sixmonths, from

November

1994 to

May

1995,toaccomplishallprojecttasks.

4. Ensure ongoing communications

among

team

members. Inthiscase, it

was

especiallydifficult to

maintainaconnectionduetotheinvolvementoftwo

universityresearchentities,alocal transitproperty located11 milesfromtheotherteam

members,

the

state public transportation division, and a private sector contractor with a

home

office in a distant

state. There

was

some

shiftingofleadership

roles-andtaskassignments,but theteamhasbuilta solid base.Itiscommittedtotheprojectandhas

made

an

34

CAROLINA

PLANNING

5. Calculate the risk. There is risk associated with being

among

the first to test a

new

technology.

Some

ofthe"bugs"arestillbeing

worked

outinthe software and in the interfaces that connect the technologies as the contractor adapts

them

to the operators" needs.

The

software selectedby

WSTA

hasa solidtrackrecord intransitoperations, butis still a relatively

new

productundergoingfrequent upgrades.

6.

Do

not

assume

that technologies in

and

of themselves will increaseproductivity. Staffneed

tobetrained tounderstandthe specifictechnology andto

maximize

itsuse.

The

introductionof tech-nologies should alsocause the transit operatorto

examine

otherpracticesandpoliciesinthe organi-zationandupdate these sothatincombinationwith the technologies, the greatest efficiencies will be

realized.

7. Ensure the

commitment

and

support ofall key players. Initiating this test in an efficient, coordi-nated transit system

was

an advantage.

The

staff familiaritywith automation, together with support from

WSTA

and city administration, provided a solidbaseon

which

tobuild.

8. Design an evaluation process. Evaluating "be-fore"and"after"dataisa useful

way

tounderstand

what

levelsofefficienciesareachievedasa result

ofthe

new

technologies.Datarelatingtothe

number

ofpassengers perhour, levelof customer satisfac-tion,andtheaverage time requiredtoscheduleatrip

are examples ofthe data being collected.

WSTA

can usethis datato determine improvementsthat couldbe

made

toincreaseproductivityandto assist

with planningforPhaseII.

FTA

isalso interestedin

theevaluationprocess.

The

VoipeNational Trans-portation Systems Center, through an evaluation contractor,

Cambridge

Systematics, Inc., is con-ductingan independent"national"evaluation.

The

purposeofthisevaluationistodeterminethedegree to

which

the national

APTS

program andthe local

objectivesofthetestare being met. This indepen-dent evaluation is conducted to ensure that the reportedresultsareunbiased.Inaddition,ithelpsto

ensurethatthe dataand analysesarestandardized and comparabletoothersites.

The

evaluation plan hasbeendeveloped,and"before" datahavealready beencollected.Afterayearofsuccessful

installa-tionoftheautomatedsoftware, "after"datawillbe

collectedby the projectteam to

compare

withthe datagathered beforeinstallation.

What

Lies

Ahead?

The

Mobile Data Terminals

(MDTs),

Automatic Vehicle Location Devices (AVLs), and electronic fare card readers were installed on three

Trans-AID

vehicles in early February 1995.

The

vendors and products to be installed have been identified and

interfacesdevelopedtoallowforthe

communication

ofdata.

The

WSTA

mobility

management

projectteamhas begunto clarifygoalsandobjectives forPhaseIIwork.

Potential

government

and private sector funding sources for the Phase II efforts are currently being evaluatedandaproposalforPhaseIIwillbedeveloped withinthe Phase I timeframe.

During Phase II, it is anticipated that

MDT's,

electronic farecardreaders,and

AVL

systemswillbe

installedthroughoutthe

Trans-AID

fleet.

The

mobility

management

system will be

expanded

from

human

servicestransportationtogeneral publicservices,

in-cludingfixed-routetransit,ridesharing,andvanpooling.

A

varietyofresearchandtest-bedopportunitieswill

existinPhaseII.

They

include, forexample,the bench-markingof scheduling algorithms, standards

evalua-tion, and testingofservice options. Future plans for

dynamic

traffic

management

in

Winston-Salem

will allowreal-timetrafficinformation tobesharedwith publictransitvehicles.Thissignificantopportunityto integrate traffic and transit

management

is a key

ingredient fortrue

community-

wide, mobility manage-ment.

Through

theimplementationofadvanced informa-tion and

communication

technologies, the Winston-SalemTransitAuthoritystrivestoachieve anefficient,

responsive, integrated service tomeetthemobilityand