1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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:

10. 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

11. Combine Central Zone and Outer Zones

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

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

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

18. Web Mapping Tools: Combine Central and Outer Zones

19. 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

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

21. 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 ITRE