A transportation system is not just the sum of its parts but also how and where those parts interact with one another. Measuring the effectiveness of that interaction contributes to everything from understanding the overall system to analyzing key components at the most disaggregate level of the system possible – in this case, the segments of roadway between stops. This presentation will show how analysts at TransLink developed a new foundational dataset by combining three existing datasets: Compass travel, the road network, and our bus location data. The emphasis will be on the FME process where data was pulled from multiple sources/types, assets/services were snapped and aligned, and the spatial relationship between assets and services were analyzed to produce the final output deliverables.

1. MEASURING BUS &
BUS-PASSENGER
TRAVEL BY
ROAD SEGMENT
Graeme Brown & Susanne Bell
TransLink

2. PRESENTATION AGENDA
1
2
3
4
Intro: The Big Picture
Origin of The Idea
Design
Results
Demo5
6 Other Applications/Conclusions

3. The Big Picture
● A transportation system is not just the
sum of its parts but also how and
where those parts interact with one
another.
● Measuring the effectiveness of that
interaction contributes to everything
from understanding the overall system
to analysing key components at the
most disaggregate level of the system
possible.

4. Origin of the Idea

5. Place screenshot here

6. The Frequent Transit Network (FTN)
● a network of corridors where transit service runs at least every 15 minutes
○ in both directions
○ until 9 p.m. every day
○ starting at
6 a.m. on weekdays, 7 a.m. on Saturdays, 8 a.m. on Sundays

7. The FTN was…
● Manually drawn/adjusted
● Frequencies were manually calculated
● Never compared to actual delivered
service
○ Required better data
● Considered a policy piece, not relatable to
other processes

8. How Could we
Improve this?
● Calculate and automate the
generation of the Frequent
Transit Network (FTN)
● Understand the routes, service
types and frequencies (etc.)
that contribute
Keep in mind…
● The FTN is corridor based
(i.e. not route based)

9. Finding the Solution

10. What is a
Corridor of
Service?
A corridor based service is
● Road sections of service
that combine to meet FTN
(or other) levels of service
● A combination of
○ multiple sections
○ multiple stops
○ multiple intersections

11. At first this seemed simple…
STOPSTOP
STOP TO STOP SEGMENT
Route A

12. But Route interaction is more complicated…
STOPSTOP
STOP
NODE
(e.g. intersection)
SECTION
STOP TO STOP SEGMENT
Route A
RouteB

13. The
Segment/Section
Workspace

14. Readers
Bus Routes
•Incomplete/manually
updated
Roads (DRA)
From/To
•Stop to stop pairs
Workspace
Transit Roads
Topology Builder
Shortest Path Finder
List Exploder
Remove Duplicates
Writers
Segments
Road stop to stop
(overlapping)
Segment/section
Membership
Sections
Road node to node
(non-overlapping)

15. FTN :
Scheduled
Segment Traversals
Section/Segment
Membership
Scheduled
Section
Traversals
Section
frequency, span-
of-service, etc.
Meets
FTN
Criteria?
Yes No

16. This is useful for other things too…
● Person-traversals (passenger volumes)
● Roadway wear and tear
● Visualizing delay
● 3D load profiles

17. The Results

18. Place screenshot here
Section Number
Segment Membership
Route (s)
Route Pattern (s)
Route Frequency (s)
Road name
Speed Limit
Segment Number
Route
Route Pattern
Route Info (Other)
Stop From
Stop To

19. DEMO

20. THANK YOU!
www.translink.ca