Trip Planning Tools for Flexible Transit Services CalACT Autumn 2018 Technology & Shared Mobility Conference Paul Sorensen November 14, 2018

Agenda GTFS Flex GTFS Flex and OpenTripPlanner GTFS Flex and 1-Click Building momentum for GTFS flex

Takeaways GTFS Flex is about: Making sure flexible transit services can be discovered within trip planning tools Making sure that trip planning tools have the necessary information to combine flexible transit with other modes to create efficient itineraries

GTFS Flex – What and Why?

Benefits of GTFS GTFS = General Transit Feed Specification Open standard for defining fixed route transit services Routes, stops, days, times, etc. Dramatic impact over past decade Agencies define their services using GTFS Trip planners are built to read in GTFS Result -> emergence of ubiquitous trip planning tools (e.g. Google transit) that include fixed route transit wherever it is available and GTFS has ben produced

Transit Trip Planning Works Well in Most Urban Areas

Limits of GTFS for Flexible Transit Services Fixed route transit is often not cost effective in lower population density areas Many rural and exurban areas may instead make use of various types of flexible, or demand responsive, transit: Flag stop / continuous stop Deviated fixed route Dial-a-ride / call-n-ride These services cannot be represented in GTFS, and so they are not included in current trip planning tools

Current Trip Planning Tools Do Not Include Flexible Services

GTFS Flex Extends GTFS To Define Flexible Transit Services GTFS Flex is an emerging standard that provides additional information for defining flexible or “on demand” transit services Such as: deviated fixed route, flag stops, dial-a-ride Objectives of GTFS flex: Make it possible for agencies to accurately specify the flexible services that they provide Make it possible for trip planning tools to incorporate flexible services when searching for transit itineraries

GTFS Flex Can Help Customers Discover Available Services

GTFS Flex and Open Trip Planner (OTP)

What Is OTP? Open source trip planning tool with a strong and growing community of agency users TriMet, RTD, LA Metro, VTA, NYMTA… Ingests GTFS and OpenStreetMap (OSM) data Can generate routes for combinations of fixed route transit, biking, walking, and driving Provides out-of-the-box user interfaces Open source -> can be modified to work with GTFS Flex as well!

GTFS Flex / OTP MOD Sandbox Grant FTA awarded MOD Sandbox grant to VTrans Project team includes Trillium, Cambridge Systematics First year objectives (done): Use GTFS Flex to define flexible transit services across Vermont Revise or extend GTFS Flex data standard as needed Modify OpenTripPlanner to work with GTFS flex Load data, optimize routes, symbolize in UI Second year objectives (ongoing): Pilot test for Vermont, improving as needed Share data, code, lessons learned with developers, agencies

Flexible Service Types in Vermont Deviated fixed route Flag stops / continuous stops Dial-a-ride / call-n-ride

Deviated Fixed Route Example

Flag Stop Example

Dial-A-Ride Example

New User Interface Conventions Uncertain Stop Location Uncertain Route

Transferability of GTFS Flex: Testing with Denver RTD The “G” in GTFS stands for “General” Should work well for other agencies!!! Denver RTD has strong interest in GTFS Flex Extensive demand-responsive call-n-ride system Already use OTP-based trip planning tools Testing out GTFS Flex with RTD RTD created GTFS Flex files for call-n-ride system CS deployed version of OTP with RTD’s GTFS and GTFS Flex data

Transferability of GTFS Flex: Testing with Denver RTD

GTFS Flex and 1-Click

What Is 1-Click? Open source multi-modal trip planner, initially funded by federal VTCLI grants Aimed at the needs of human service clients (in addition to general public) In addition to transit, driving, biking, walking, adds demand responsive transportation (DRT) options such as paratransit, veteran’s services, volunteer services, etc. Considers eligibility and required accommodations Current clients: PennDOT, JTA, Broward, LYNX (Orlando), Atlanta, Livingston, UTA, RTD, So Cal 211s…

Multi-Modal Trip Planning in 1-Click 1-Click|CS DRT Engine Open Trip Planner 3rd Party APIs Paratransit Volunteer Services Non-Emergency Medical Transport Fixed-route (GTFS) Driving Walking Bicycling TNCs Taxis Rideshare Vanpools Agencies can choose what modes to include

Additional 1-Click Capabilities Integration with 211 human service databases iCarol, ReferNet Integration with paratransit scheduling systems Ecolane, Trapeze, RidePilot Integration with medical scheduling systems Via Rides-To-Wellness grants Extensive reporting capabilities

Opportunities to Enhance 1-Click Based on GTFS Flex Advances in OTP/GTFS Flex make it possible to find itineraries that combine fixed route and DRT services in smart ways 1-Click layers on additional capabilities Ability to test for eligibility and required accommodations Ability to integrate with scheduling systems Ability to interact with Taxis, TNCs for first/last mile options Ability to present fare information and in turn consider tradeoffs between financial cost and travel time

Considering Rider Eligibility and Required Accommodations 1-Click (unlike OTP) has user accounts Based on user information, can filter relevant services based on: Eligibility criteria, such as age, veteran status, disability… Required accommodations, such as door-to-door, wheelchair lift… 1-Click could use this information to determine which DRT services OTP should consider as it puts together itinerary options that combine modes Side benefit: helping clients find viable transport options that are less costly to provide

Integrating with DRT Scheduling Systems 1-Click designed to integrate with scheduling systems to automate process of scheduling a ride: Ecolane, Trapeze, RidePilot Rider credentials can be stored as part of user profile With addition of GTFS Flex, 1-Click could find itineraries that combine fixed-route and DRT services and automatically schedule the latter

Finding First/Last Mile Solutions Involving Taxis or TNCs From a routing perspective, taxis and TNCs are structurally similar to call-n-ride Operate within a given area and can pickup and drop off at arbitrary origins and destinations With OTP augmented for flexible services, 1-Click can potentially: Use OTP routing logic to find good transfer points for switching between fixed route and DRT services Make calls to TNC or taxi systems to get costs and travel times associated trip segments that start or end at the identified transfer points

Trading Off Cost vs. Travel Time When looking at first/last mile solutions involving TNCs or taxis, cost vs. travel time tradeoffs highly relevant In combination, 1-Click and OTP could help users identify options and compare cost vs. travel time 1-Click already stores DRT fare structures Via API, 1-Click can get cost estimates for taxis, TNCs Fixed route fare information (often) available via GTFS Additional routing logic could be added to OTP to more explicitly trade off costs vs. travel time based on this information

Future Roadmap for 1-Click 1-Click is open source Most enhancements are agency funded Our expectation is that many of the potential advances discussed here will be funded sooner rather than later

Pushing GTFS Flex Forward

What You Can Do Building momentum for GTFS: Play around with GTFS Flex at https://plan.govermont.org Contact Google and let them know of your interest at transit-partners@google.com Get engaged at gtfsflex.com – ask questions, express interest (GitHub repository) Work with state DOTs / larger regional transit providers to start thinking about how to get flexible services included in state or regional trip planning tools Reach out to CS or Trillium with any additional questions: psorensen@camsys.com thomas@trilliumtransit.com

Thanks! Questions?