Development of Standards for Transit Priority Paul R. Olson, P.E. PTOE FHWA Western Resource Center

Quick Quotes The only reason God was able to create the Universe in six days was because He didnt have to worry about the installed base. - Enzo Torresi The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. - Andrew Tanenbaum

Reminder These ARE Communications Standards They ARE NOT Hardware Standards

Why? Cross-boundary operations Many systems involved Multiple agencies Different points of view Evolving systems Open systems

What Systems

Common Understanding Two different points of view Many different goals Two different sets of terms Many potential pieces to standardize

Legacy Issues Incompatibilities in current systems Glacial change Market forces Vendor politics Standards Development Organizations Who is in charge?

Transit Priority Data Needs Vehicle Location Speed Door & Lift Status Predictions Passenger Counting Stop Location Near side Far side Vehicle Routing Stopping Turning Schedule Adherence Vehicle Identification

Transit Management Center Location Monitoring Schedule Information Desired Headway Ridership Monitoring Other

Traffic Signal Systems Monitoring Services request for priority Resolve conflicting priority requests Recovery from priority request

Traffic Management Center Signal System Management Signal Coordination Signal Timing Feedback

SCP Logical System Model

Scenario 1

Scenario 1 Examples Los Angeles, CA Buses use loop detectors to communicate to the transit management center Transit management center determines whether to grant priority Central system sends messages to the local controllers and adjusts timing accordingly

Scenario 2

Scenario 2 Examples Montgomery County, MD AVL System communicates to a central traffic signal system Central system sends messages to the local controllers and adjusts timing accordingly

Scenario 3

Scenario 3 Example

Scenario 4

Scenario 4 Example Portland, OR AVL System on bus determines whether to provide priority (based on criteria) Bus sends signal directly to traffic signal to request priority

Who Is The Development Team? Subject matter experts Infrastructure owners & users Transportation professionals Communications experts Equipment manufacturers Automobile manufacturers Information service providers Public Safety Officials

What and Who?

ITE, NEMA, AASHTO NTCIP Standards Actuated Signal Controllers NTCIP 1202 Signal Control Priority NTCIP 1211

Transit PRG

APTA Formerly NTCIP 14xx Suite Now TCIP V 2.4 New group for Signal Control Prioritization is TCIP Technical Working Group #10 Standards for a Priority Request Generator

Status NTCIP 1211 User Comment Draft released Revisions now at Version 33 To final Ballot CY 2004 APTA TCIP Start from old NTCIP 14xx documents Now at Version 2.4 Final Version will be 3.0 Due out 2005

Questions