1. Using ITS to Achieve the
Potential of Public Transport
BRENDAN FINN
ETTS LTD., IRELAND

2. Overview
 ITS for public transport
 Practice in ITS support to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
 Capacity constraints for high-volume BRT systems
 Vehicle throughput at stations
 Vehicle throughput at junctions
 Passenger throughput at stations
 Dynamic operations management could increase
capacity
 Management of access
 Slot management along the route

3. ITS for Public Transport
 Hardware, software, data exchange tools & services
 Higher-level objectives:
 Effectiveness
 Efficiency
 Usability
 Cluster in three strands:
 ITS for Transport Operations
 ITS for Customer-Facing Services
 ITS for platform and back-office
 Solve problems and/or exploit opportunities

4. ITS systems for Public Transport
 Operations Management
 Automatic Vehicle Location and Management
 Traffic Signal Priority
 Service and System planning and support
 Collision avoidance/warning
 Precision docking
 Customer-facing and support services
 Automatic fare collection
 Real-time passenger information
 Journey planning
 Security and passenger management systems

5. Context of this presentation
 Bus Rapid Transit
 High volume contexts
 Large numbers of buses
 Multiple routes using the infrastructure
 Large numbers of passengers
 Operating Strategies to maximise throughput
 Efficiently
 Reliably
 Safely
 Technologies to support the Operating Strategies

6. Running Way – Guanghzhou, China
Source : Paul Barter

7. BRT Station - Istanbul
Source: EMBARQ

8. BRT Bus Station - Bogota
Source : Peter Danielsson, Volvo Bus Corporation

9. BRT Station, Sao Paulo
Source : Toni Lindau

10. BRT in Johannesburg (Soweto)

11. Key elements of the BRT system
 Operating infrastructure
 Running way
 Junctions
 Stations
 Network
 Vehicles
 Operations management
 Operations control, incident management, supporting ITS
 Customer-facing services
 Fare collection, information, customer support

12. Operations Management activities
 Resource deployment
 Service control and regulation
 Operate the core service to plan
 Adjust the planned service to meet demand and events
 Monitoring
 Incident management
 At stations and adjacent areas
 Along running way, at junctions
 Vehicles and operational staff
 Data capture and analyis
 Review of plan and of procedures
 Cost optimisation

13. Technologies for Operations Management
 Monitoring systems
 Vehicle location
 CCTV
 Sensors - roadside, platform, in-vehicle
 Communications
 Network for fixed locations – control centre, stations, depot
 Wireless, from vehicles and mobile units
 Applications
 Functional
 Analytic
 Integration with traffic signal system
 Information display and diffusion

14. Control Centre – Bogota, Columbia
Source : Sam Zimmerman, World Bank

15. BRT in Johannesburg

16. In-vehicle headway management - Seoul

17. Capacity is an issue in high-volume systems
 Buses at intervals of 10-20 seconds at peak
 10+ routes and route variants
 Multiple operators
 Hard to avoid some intersections with general traffic
 Stations handling >5,000 passengers in the peak
period
 Unpredictable arrival pattern by day, by time interval

18. Where do the limits arise?
 Three critical areas:
 Throughput of vehicles at the bus stations
 Getting vehicles through the junctions
 Passenger throughput at the stations
 Potential problems :
 Basic capacity to handle the demand
 Instability - risk of drastic loss of performance, capacity
 Queues and delays for passengers
 Crush conditions at stations
 Running way itself is not the problem

19. Strategic Operations Options
 Constrain volume to what can easily be managed
 Single end-to-end route
 Limit number of routes, fixed boarding areas
 (Bi-) articulated buses to minimise number of vehicles
 Plan to capacity, accept occasional degradation
 Standard intervention techniques
 Maximise throughput by dynamic management
 Manage access by available slots – ramp metering
 Manage precise movement and timing - ATC style
 What is the maximum possible throughput?

20. Is Dynamic Management possible?
 Dynamic Access Management (Ramp Metering)
 Continuous system state monitoring, available capacity
 Vehicle held at BRT access point until capacity available
 Enters BRT running way under standard operations mgt.
 Dynamic Slot Management
 Continuous system state monitoring
 Slot assigned to each vehicle based on plan and current state
 Vehicle held at access point until slot available
 Enters BRT running way at allocated slot
 Dynamic operations mgt. for entire journey along BRT
 Must stay +/- X seconds of allocated slot
 Slot can be adjusted dynamically by the application software
 Requires precise station and junction operations

21. Enablers
 Conceptual
 Dynamic management concepts
 Operations management methods and procedures
 Technology platform
 Location system(standard AVL)
 Communications (standard AVL)
 Information
 Vehicle location,
 Passenger loading, station status
 Intelligent software
 Slot development and assignment
 Slot adjustment and management
 Dynamic platform management
 Operations
 Field management, training, monitoring, incentives

22. Conclusions
 At the high-capacity end, three key challenge areas
 Vehicle throughput at stations
 Vehicle throughput at junctions
 Passenger throughput at stations
 If we cannot handle these better, capacity is limited
 Lower productivity, lower benefits, lower transport impact
 Current generation of Ops. Mgt. Tools not enough
 Technical platform is NOT the issue
 Focus needs to shift to delivering capacity
 Paradigm shift in approach to operations management
 Intelligent strategies and management procedures

23. BRENDAN FINN
ETTS@INDIGO.IE

24. Vehicle Throughput at Stations
 Length of platform, arrangement of boarding areas
 Number of slots
 Fixed allocation or dynamic allocation
 If dynamic, how to advise and organise customers?
 Precise docking – clinical, but lose flexibility
 Can we handle buses of different lengths, door arrangements
 Passenger processing, dwell times
 Separate fare collection/validation from boarding
 Level boarding, demarcation/protection of boarding area
 Management of the bus flows
 Passing lanes, (semi-) express services, queuing rules
 Strict operations control, departure management
 Rapid response to disruptions
 Station management, activity oversight

25. Vehicle Throughput at Junctions
 As frequency increases, problem escalates
 High-volume systems can have up to 6 buses per minute
 Need adequate time to clear queue of buses
 Random arrivals? If so, can have Q lengths of up to 10 vehicles
 How much green time possible?
 Turning movements by buses
 Requirement for cross-turning movements by general traffic
 Cycle time at the junctions
 If long cycle time, wave of buses hits next stations
 Queuing problems downstream
 Can partially overcome by using larger vehicles
 Less vehicles needed, but longer for each unit to clear

26. Passenger Throughput at Stations
 Passenger volume
 Total movement of people, boarding and alighting
 Transferring passengers
 Dynamics of movement
 Conflict of boarding and alighting passengers
 Internal movement within the station area
 May constrain dynamic allocation of buses to boarding areas
 Movement to/from transfer areas
 Limited area and width for median stations
 Fare collection and verification
 For median stations
 Safe passage to main pavement
 Storage while waiting to cross, conflict with new arrivals
 Number of opportunities and impact on general traffic
 Minimise conflict between passengers and vehicles