1. Bus Priority in Portland - Lessons Learned
Transit Priority TRB TSP Workshop 2002
December 3, 2001 submission
Bus Priority in Portland - Lessons Learned
Bill Kloos
City of Portland
(Prepared 12/3/01)
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
City of Portland

2. The problem - buses in mixed flow
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

3. Exclusive bus lanes are the best option
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

4. But, our talk is about mixed flow.
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

5. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk
History of transit priority in Portland
System architecture for bus priority
Portland’s large scale bus priority project
Lessons learned
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

6. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk
History of transit priority in Portland
System architecture for bus priority
Portland’s large scale bus priority project
Lessons learned
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

7. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Transit definition:
Light Rail
Bus
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

8. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Light rail preemption
Station-to-station running w/o stopping
Mostly emergency vehicle-like preemption
Detected via Vetag and inductive loops
In CBD, goes with progression
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

9. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Bus Priority
Two issues:
Detection method
Priority method
Kloos Way
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

10. Have Tried 3 Detection Methods:
LoopComm
Hockey puck & loop
TOTE (1st generation)
Amtech RF tags & reader
Current
Choice
Opticom
Emitter and detector
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

11. Various TSP Methods Tried
Provide green extension, red truncation
Provide queue jumps
Provide bus-only phase
Eliminate phase skipping
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

12. Provide green extension / red truncation
Basic premise:
If arrive on green, extend a few seconds more
If arrive on red, shorten other phases to return earlier
Powell Blvd test (1993):
3 intersections using Wapiti Type 170 software
5% to 8% travel time reduction peak direction
discontinued due to inflexible phase shortening
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

13. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk
History of transit priority in Portland
System architecture for bus priority
Portland’s large scale bus priority project
Lessons learned
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

14. Basis for Bus Signal Priority Direction in Portland
Three main concepts:
Use Tri-Met’s GPS based AVL (smart bus concept)
Use bus-controller communication method shared with Fire (Opticom)
Develop next generation Type 170 controller and software
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

15. Basis for Bus Signal Priority Direction in Portland
But always keep control distributed!!!
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

16. 1. Use Basic Smart Bus Concept
1. Smart bus knows location and schedule status
2. Bus communicates priority request to signal
3. Local controller provides priority
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

17. 2. Use existing Opticom for Communication
150+ of 963 intersections had Opticom
Most suburbs have 100% Opticom
Goal is for City to also reach 100%
Don’t want another intersection “add-on” piece of hardware
Makes expansion easy
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

18. 3. Develop next generation of controller and firmware
From 6800 based Type 170 to 170 HC11
Future will use ATC
Port existing program to new platform.
Continue to expand algorithms
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

19. Next generation firmware
Will be upgrade of existing Wapiti local intersection program
Will include extended priority functions -
will add ‘smart’ recovery options
will include improved green extension routine
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

20. Basic description of how it works
A ‘smart’ bus knows its location in time and space. When the bus is late, it activates its Opticom emitter. The intersection receives the low priority call and extends green or truncates red as defined in the controllers database. As the bus passes the intersection detector, the priority call is dropped and the controller returns to normal operation.
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

21. What is the definition of late?
Industry standard - 5 minutes late
BDS reporting - 7 minutes late
For our bus priority project -
bus activates emitter when 90 seconds late
bus deactivates emitter when 30 seconds late
may decrease value later
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

22. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk
History of transit priority in Portland
System architecture for bus priority
Portland’s large scale bus priority project
Lessons learned
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

23. What are our implementation plans?
Or, do we have any -
Money?
Yes we do!
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

24. TEA-21 Earmark for signals
$4.5 million “high priority” project
Intended to provide signal priority for emergency and transit vehicles
Will be used to:
Install Opticom on 775 buses
Provide priority at 250+ intersections
Retrofit 190+ intersections with Opticom detectors
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

25. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Where?
St John’s 5 4 75
Every where! 6 75 72 4 5 6 8 9 33 72 33 15 12 71 19 19
Gateway TC
Central City 15 15 71 14 4
Gresham
Beaverton 8 4 9 54 54 9 56 75 14 33 19 71 56 5 12 19 75 71 72
Phase I
Washington Square
Milwaukie
Phase II
Clackamas TC 33
Phase III
Oregon City
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

26. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Project status
Tri-Met has installed Opticom emitters on buses and revised the bus software
Activated priority on pilot corridor (line #4) last July (55 intersections out of 71 total)
Completed major arterial (Barbur Blvd) with 12 intersections last September
Will do 4 other lines this winter/spring
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

27. City / Tri-Met Partnership for Transit Priority
Signal priority is only one element
Have established joint program for all aspects of transit priority
special lanes, curb extensions, stop relocation
Tri-Met plans to provide ~$1.5 mil/yr
Hope for true impact on operating costs
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

28. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
But, most of all . . .
We’re working together to find solutions!!!
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

29. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk
History of transit priority in Portland
System architecture for bus priority
Portland’s large scale bus priority project
Lessons learned
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

30. LL#1 - Bus AVL data is your friend.
Tri-Met’s AVL:
Uses a PCMCIA Data Card for each bus.
Each bus records data throughout the day.
The bus makes a data record for each stop or event
Over 600,000 records are generated per day
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

31. AVL information obtained
Actual Arrive Time
Actual Leave Time
Dwell
Door Open (yes or no)
Lift Used (yes or no)
Maximum Speed
Distance Between Stops
X & Y Coordinates
Service Date
Vehicle Number
Train No. (Block)
Badge Number
Route
Day Type
Trip Number
Scheduled Time
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

32. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

33. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Map of delay
Not in the City of Portland
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

34. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Analyzing the Data
Delay By Segment
Shows delay by direction -
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

35. AVL used for overall analysis
Results from Portland pilot routes:
10% reduced travel time - peak period / peak direction
8-10% improvement in on-time performance
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

36. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
AVL data caveat -
Sometimes we had trouble turning the mounds of AVL data into understandable information for for decision makers.
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

37. LL#2 - The devil’s in the details
Developing and implementing TSP for the controller is labor intensive.
The truncation / extension algorithm requires review of each location
Method requires mounds of data the needs to be checked and re-checked
Similar intersections are not similar.
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

38. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

39. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

40. LL#3 - TSP is an iterative process.
With fixed route transit, the schedule needs to be optimized to take advantage of priority
Initial schedule change on the pilot route took too much time out of the schedule
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

41. LL#4 - Working together is best.
Need to include all groups from each agency -
signal and operations staff w/City
schedulers, operators, analysts, ITS staff, and PMs for transit agency
Reviewing the route block-by-block
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

42. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

43. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002
Bottom line -
Bus signal priority can help reduce travel time and improve on-time performance
The process requires involving staffs from both the traffic and transit agencies
The process is iterative and takes time to reach the final objective.
City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002