Using GIS to Create Demand Response Service Schedule Zones and Times TRB Planning Applications Conference May 17, 2017 Jeremy Scott Institute for Transportation Research and Education North Carolina State University

Demand Response Transportation Typical Demand Response Transportation Inefficient to deliver Driver schedules vary every day Difficulty understanding why service and costs vary Time-consuming to schedule Client’s enjoy taxi-like service Bigger emphasis on data driven analytics As demand response services increase, transit systems experience capacity constraints for: Funding Scheduling Vehicles Drivers What are the problems we are trying to address? Need a solution that allows the transit system to address these capacity constraints while demand for their services increase

Structured Scheduling Solution? Efficiency Structured Scheduling Simplifies scheduling, dispatching and service delivery Improves efficiency Reduces cost per trip Increase ridership by offering organized and understandable service at established times Scheduler Drivers All in one Solution Creates understandable environment for customers which can result in increase in ridership Standardizes service times and costs for funding agencies Simplifies scheduling process Creates uniform driver schedules Increases efficiencies Reduce costs per trip Customers Agency

Lee County and the City of Sanford Sanford Population: 29,470 Lee County Population: 60,266 90% of destinations in Sanford 89% of trip destinations in Sanford Currently seeing large job growth

GIS Process 3. Build Outer Zones* 2. Build Central Zone* 1. Geocode Orig/Dest 2. Build Central Zone* 3. Build Outer Zones* 4. Combine Zones* 5. Adjust Zones 6. Create Schedule* Time A-->A A-->B B-->A B-->B A-->C C-->A C-->C A-->D D-->A A-->E E-->A 4   x 5 5.43 0.95 0.43 0.05 6 2.48 0.57 7 3.10 0.71 0.38 8 5.71 2.43 2.00 0.86 0.81 9 2.90 1.33 0.14 2.33 0.24 0.76 10 10.67 1.38 1.19 1.10 11 16.86 1.76 2.14 0.10 0.33 2.05 12 10.86 1.90 0.00 0.19 13 6.24 1.00 14 3.19 1.52 1.05 0.29 15 4.43 2.67 1.81 16 1.86 1.48 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 * Automated through Model Builder and/or Python script

Geocode Origins & Destinations Trip information Trip data from April, 2015 was used to capture COLTS trip patterns Require pick up and drop off locations (xy coordinates or address) Require pick up and drop off time Address locator Composite address locator Street Parcel Review/Rematch addresses

Central Zone Python script created based around ESRI’s AggregatePoints function Looped over range of aggregation distances Min: 528 Max: 5280 Increment 132 Results in set of polygons at each aggregation distance At each aggregation distance, select max area polygon, append to new feature dataset Determine optimal aggregate distance 𝑋−𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒= 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝐴𝑟𝑒𝑎 Optimal Aggregation Distance: 3828 Aggregate Point function creates polygons around 3 or more points within aggregation distance Result provides initial central zone, should also consider existing geographic boundaries and customer demand to adjust if necessary

Central Zone: Adjustment Would like majority of destinations within central zone Avoid splitting neighborhoods/small communities/other areas with distinct identities Consider existing geographic features Initial central zone does not take into consideration geographic boundaries (i.e. inherent dividing lines: interstates, subdivisions), proximity between clients within/without zone boundary Need to be cognizant of these and may need to adjust the central boundary accordingly Tool gives us a place to start

Initial Outer Zones: Overview Interstates Major Roads Minor Roads Railroads Hydrography Undeveloped Area Employed Least Cost Path analysis to determine initial boundaries Draw one point inside the central zone to define where the boundaries meet Draw several points on the boundary of the study area to define where each boundary ends Source: ESRI See tool help for more details Source: http://geology.wlu.edu/harbor/geol260/lecture_notes/cost_path_output.png

Initial Outer Zones: Creation Geographic Feature Convert to Raster Reclassify Raster (0/1) Assign Weights Get Cost Surface Determine LCP Convert LCP to Line Convert Lines to Zones To obtain cost surface, sum all raster layers with assigned weights Estimate Least Cost Path between central point and all points on the boundary Create zones from Least Cost Paths Interstates (10) Major Roads (40) Minor Roads (30) Railroads (10) Hydrography (10) Undeveloped Area (30) CS=𝑈𝐴−𝐼−𝐻− 𝑅+ 𝑀 𝑎 + 𝑀 𝑖

Combine Central Zone and Outer Zones

Zone Adjustment and Evaluation Avoid splitting neighborhoods/small community/other areas with distinct identities Resize to create manageable service areas Easier to merge zones together when scheduling than break zones apart Easily understandable to both schedulers and customers

Determine Zone Schedules Time A-->A A-->B B-->A B-->B A-->C C-->A C-->C A-->D D-->A A-->E E-->A 4   x 5 5.43 0.95 0.43 0.05 6 2.48 0.57 7 3.10 0.71 0.38 8 5.71 2.43 2.00 0.86 0.81 9 2.90 1.33 0.14 2.33 0.24 0.76 10 10.67 1.38 1.19 1.10 11 16.86 1.76 2.14 0.10 0.33 2.05 12 10.86 1.90 0.00 0.19 13 6.24 1.00 14 3.19 1.52 1.05 0.29 15 4.43 2.67 1.81 16 1.86 1.48 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Assign the origins and destinations to the zones Categorize trips based on customer’s need All times trimmed to full hour Time based on stop preference Count the number of trips that travel from origin zones to destination zones by time divide by operating days to get average trips per day Save the result to a .csv file Once the zones have been created, need to create the schedule. Start by aggregating origins and destinations to the created zones and by time of day Stop preference: customers picked up at home use drop off; customers picked up at non-home use pickup

Driver Schedule A-A A-C A-F Sweeper A-B A-D A-G Available A-B1 A-E A-H   A-A A-C A-F Sweeper A-B A-D A-G Available A-B1 A-E A-H Driver 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1 2 3 Total Drivers

Final Zones with Service Times S-S Sweeper Time # Vehicles 5:00 AM 2 7:00 AM 1 6:00 AM 8:00 AM 9:00 AM 3 10:00 AM 11:00 AM 12:00 PM 5 1:00 PM 2:00 PM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM Information for scheduler Distribute to funding agencies to aid in following schedule

Customer & Agency Education Information for scheduler Distribute to funding agencies to aid in following schedule

Web Mapping Tool: Create Outer Zones Clip Geographies Rasterize Geographies Reclassify Raster Layers Combine Raster Layers

Web Mapping Tools: Combine Central and Outer Zones

Web Mapping Tool: Create Zone Schedule Once the zones have been created, need to create the schedule. Start by aggregating origins and destinations to the created zones and by time of day Stop preference: customers picked up at home use drop off; customers picked up at non-home use pickup

Future Work Web-based map application Allow users to geocode customs’ locations Allow users to create boundaries and zones

Using GIS to Create Demand Response Service Schedule Zones and Times Questions? Using GIS to Create Demand Response Service Schedule Zones and Times Jeremy Scott Public Transportation Group @ ITRE jscott@ncsu.edu 919.515.8624