1. Transit Signal Priority (TSP): Deployment Issues and R&D Needs as Identified by Practitioners Hallie Smith Brendon Hemily

2. What is TSP? Definition: TSP is an operational strategy that facilitates the movement of in-service transit vehicles, either buses or streetcars, through traffic-signal controlled intersections. An Overview of Transit Signal Priority ITS America, 2001

3. Signal Priority in the U.S. Agencies with Transit Signal Priority 70% of transit properties with over 100 vehicles in North America are implementing/planning TSP (CUTA, 2000) Recent Implementations. –Los Angeles, CA –Portland, OR –Pierce County, WA –Atlanta, GA –King County, WA 33716 PlannedImplementationOperational (Volpe, 1999)

4. Bus Rapid Transit and Signal Priority BRT Major Initiative in the U.S. –Combines the quality of rail transit (speed, reliability) with the flexibility of buses –BRT Consortium (11 demonstration sites, 6 other) –Signal Priority is a Major Component (14 of 17) –TSP Benefits are significant –Research is ongoing

5. Benefits Reduced Intersection Delay (20 - 40%) Total Travel Time Savings (5 - 8%) Improved Service Reliability Leads to Savings in Vehicle Requirements Improves Customer Satisfaction Small Negative Impacts on Traffic

6. “An Overview of Transit Signal Priority” Report prepared jointly by ATMS (Traffic) and APTS (Transit) Committees of ITS America Contents: –Fundamentals –Benefits and Costs –Issues: Planning, Implementation, Operations Published in 2001 and downloadable from ITS America web site

7. TSP Deployment Issues Project Sponsored by FTA and JPO and conducted by ITS America Technical Workshop on TSP Research Needs and Guidance to FTA –Practitioners, Researchers, Consultants, Suppliers –Over 50 R&D topics identified

8. TSP Deployment Project (ctd) 3 Regional workshops to encourage deployment (Tucson, Chicago, Hartford) –Morning - Industry experts provide technical presentations –Afternoon – Breakout groups address local issues and create Action Plans Update of Overview document

9. TSP Deployment: General Issues Significant benefits, but many issues: Confusing array of technical choices: detection, communications, control strategies, integration with other systems Complex organizational issues in multi-agency and multi- jurisdictional setting Need better guidance to navigate choices and issues Lack of standardized reporting on impacts and benefits to allow comparisons Practical information hard to obtain by practitioners All simulation and optimization tools, and traffic controllers are not well suited for TSP

10. TSP Strategic Questions Raised by Workshop Participants What are goals and objectives for TSP? Is TSP part of regional plans, or BRT corridors? How to choose where it should be implemented? Should TSP be combined with physical priority (bus lanes, queue jumps, etc.)? How to design TSP system: –unconditional vs. conditional? –centralized vs. decentralized control? –strategies (green extension, red truncation, etc.)? –integration with EMS pre-emption –detection and communication technologies?

11. How to Assess Potential Benefits and Impacts of TSP? What should be standard TSP measures of effectiveness? What has been experience elsewhere with TSP? Do we have TSP simulation and optimization tools to measure impacts? Is traffic controller equipment TSP-compatible? Do ITS standards exist for TSP? How does TSP relate to MUTCD and Transit Capacity Manuals?

12. Questions for Transit Agency How to build a solid partnership with traffic counterparts? Should TSP be integrated with AVL or other ITS transit systems (new and/or retrofit)? How to address near-side stops? Can transit scheduling take advantage of TSP?

13. Transit Signal Priority: Areas Where R&D is Needed to Encourage Deployment TSP Strategic Choices and Guidance Effective Utilization by Transit Agencies Improved Planning of TSP (especially BRT) Enhanced Analytic Tools (e.g. Simulation and Optimization) Technical Enhancements for Conditional Priority TSP Deployment Evaluation

14. Future Continued deployments (especially BRT) Signal Control & Prioritization Standards –NTCIP 1211 –TCIP TWG 10 Review of updated Overview document Future research and dissemination initiatives

15. Thank You! Documents, R&D Needs, presentations from the TSP Deployment Project are posted at: www.itsa.org/tsp.html