Tram and Bus Tracker: A Dynamic Web Application for Public Transit Reliability

Currently transit quality information such as timetable adherence, bus arrival times and route performance has usually been disseminated through static environments on web-pages, paper documents or other different media. This paper describes a dynamic Geographic Information Systembased Web application which displays the same information through a dynamic web application. Using data collected from an Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVL), a map-based interface has been created to allow travellers and operators to see routes, stops and buses in motion. The collected information is archived for off-line analysis. The system allows users to query and display day-to-day management of operations as well as to generate static performance reports to provide a complete view of the transit system reliability

Haptic Transit: Tactile feedback to notify public transport users

To attract people to use public transport, efficient transit information systems providing accurate, real-time, easy-tounderstand information must be provided to users. In this paper we introduce HapticTransit, a tactile feedback based alert/notification model of a system, which provides spatial information to the public transport user. The model uses real-time bus location with other spatial information to provide feedback about the user as their journey is in progress. The system allows users make better use of „in-bus‟ time. It allows the user be involved with other activities and not be anxious about the arrival at their destination bus stop. Our survey shows a majority of users have missed a bus stop/station whilst undertaking a transit journey in an unfamiliar location. The information provided by our system can be of great advantage to certain user groups. The vibration alarm is used to provide tactile feedback. Visual feedback, in the form of colour coded buttons and textual description, is also provided. This model forms the basis for further research for developing information systems for public transport users with special needs – deaf, visually impaired and those with poor spatial abilities

Modeling Passenger-Flow in Real-Time Bus Tracking System

Transit networks in the real world are similar to data transfer across a computer network. In this paper, we present the similarity and differences between computer networks and transit networks. We have developed a passenger-flow simulation model and we tested the effects of transit services provided on passengers in term of delay and passenger quality of service. We present the passenger’s behavior at bus stops, factors that affect passenger’s interactions with buses, and the performance of buses. The objective of this research is to provide operators with improved metrics and better tools to manage the public transit network. In this paper, the overall transit network performance has been evaluated and summarized

Integrating Real-time Bus-Tracking with Pedestrian Navigation in a Journey Planning System

Automated Vehicle Location (AVL) systems provide real-time location information for emergency response, delivery services and freight transport. The advent of AVL systems has meant both public and private bus operators can implement systems to provide real-time passenger information, analyse their service performance and also to evaluate the quality of their operations. Traffic congestion, intersection delays, weather and operational conditions are some of the factors that make it difficult to predict the accurate bus arrival time in a real-time environment. In a joint project between NUI Maynooth and Blackpool Transport, a dynamic web application was developed to display and update vehicle locations (bustracking.co.uk) (Winstanley et al. 2009) and to provide predictive bus arrival times at stops. A journey by bus is usually part of a longer door-to-door itinerary, usually involving walking before, after or between bus segments. The passenger is really interested in door-to-door journey times when making decisions about time of departure and which bus to catch. Therefore journey planners that combine the pedestrian and bus journeys are required and indeed several such systems exist, such as Transport Direct (2009), Traveline Midlands (2009), Google transit (2009). However these systems are mainly designed to plan journeys in advance and so base their decisions on the fixed bus timetable. For last-minute planning, and also for updating journey plans as-you-go, real-time bus locations and short-term predictions of bus arrival times at stops can be used to give more reliable journey times taking into account delays due to congestion, diversions and other factors. This paper describes an experimental system that combines bus tracking and pedestrian navigation

Handling positional uncertainty in a real-time bus tracking system

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems are increasingly being used by transit agencies for the real time monitoring of their vehicles. AVL systems can be used to improve the service given to passengers by using informat8ion on the current position of buses to maintain headways or increase reliability by improved operational control and provide an estimate of as to the arrival time of the next bus at the stop. In real-time bus tracking systems, some positional uncertainty is usually associated with eh location of buses in service that are tracked using a locational device such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Rather than raw coordinates, the location is usually better understood in terms of the landmarks along the route, particularly the named stop. Three prediction models have been implemented to estimate the location of vehicles on bus routes. Analysis indicates that one based on mining historical data for patterns gives more accurate results than regression and Kalman filter models when travel is disrupted by one-off events

Visualizing Public Transport Quality of Service

The recent advances of geo-positioning hardware, computer software and mobile communications have combined to offer new opportunities for improved public transport services. Today many transportation companies are using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and wireless communication systems (e.g. radio data systems or GSM/GPRS) for communicating their vehicle location information and other details to a central server (Predic et al 2007) (Kane, Verma and Jain 2008). By tracking their bus fleet in real-time, operators can monitor schedule adherence and service efficiency, give better operational support and provide users with real-time service information. There are several bespoke systems commercially available to do this

Using haptics as an alternative to visual map interfaces for public transport information systems

The use of public transport for daily commutes or for journeys within a new city is something most people rely on. To ensure users actively use public transport services the availability and usability of information relevant to the traveler at any given time is very important. In this paper we describe an interaction model for users of public transport. The interaction model is divided into two main components – the web interaction model and the mobile interaction model. The web interface provides real-time bus information using a website. The mobile interaction model provides similar information to the user through visual user interfaces, gesture based querying, and haptic feedback. Improved access to transit services is very dependent on the effectiveness of communicating information to existing and potential passengers. We discuss the importance and benefits of our multi-modal interaction in public transport systems. The importance of the relatively new mode of haptic feedback is also discussed

Handling positional uncertainty in a real-time bus tracking system

Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems are increasingly being used by transit agencies for the real time monitoring of their vehicles. AVL systems can be used to improve the service given to passengers by using informat8ion on the current position of buses to maintain headways or increase reliability by improved operational control and provide an estimate of as to the arrival time of the next bus at the stop. In real-time bus tracking systems, some positional uncertainty is usually associated with eh location of buses in service that are tracked using a locational device such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Rather than raw coordinates, the location is usually better understood in terms of the landmarks along the route, particularly the named stop. Three prediction models have been implemented to estimate the location of vehicles on bus routes. Analysis indicates that one based on mining historical data for patterns gives more accurate results than regression and Kalman filter models when travel is disrupted by one-off events

Software for the Control and Analysis of Public Transport Systems

Public transport systems play an important role in providing mobility, combating traffic congestion, reducing carbon emissions, and improving economics. However, until recently, public transport systems have not exploited the full potential of information technology to improve their services and keep passengers informed of current service information. In order to convince people to leave their car at home and use public transport systems, a number of ways has been suggested, including reducing fares, introducing quality bus corridors and improving the public transport services reliability. However, the most effective strategy to achieve this is by improvements through the dissemination of up-to-date pertinent information and the reduction of perceived unreliability. The research described in this thesis presents a methodology for developing a cost-effective public transport software system which can improve transit services and provide potential passengers with real-time transit information in an easy to understand and accessible way. The system also provides the transit operator with tools for monitoring, analysing and measuring their service. In order to reduce the cost of the communications and tracking infrastructure, the system uses a vehicle location system based on GPS/GPRS positioning technology that significantly reduces the cost of implementing real-time public transport tracking. A number of features, including tools in the area of transit data visualisation, bus arrival time estimation, Quality of Service index calculation, delivering transit data on mobile devices and real-time navigation using the transport system are implemented. A test system was evaluated on a working bus route in a large town. The system demonstrates that sophisticated analysis and monitoring tools can be implemented cost-effectively. It is intended that by providing real-time passenger information, vehicle and route monitoring for transit operators and offline analysis and measurement of transport system performance the public transport system will have a resurge of use. It would also reduce route congestion, fuel consumption and carbon emissions

Tram and Bus Tracker: A Dynamic Web Application for Public Transit Reliability

Currently transit quality information such as timetable adherence, bus arrival times and route performance has usually been disseminated through static environments on web-pages, paper documents or other different media. This paper describes a dynamic Geographic Information Systembased Web application which displays the same information through a dynamic web application. Using data collected from an Automatic Vehicle Location System (AVL), a map-based interface has been created to allow travellers and operators to see routes, stops and buses in motion. The collected information is archived for off-line analysis. The system allows users to query and display day-to-day management of operations as well as to generate static performance reports to provide a complete view of the transit system reliability