In today’s transit environment, passengers are increasingly demanding instant, real-time information available anytime, and from anywhere. Implementing a Passenger Information System is a way to make this happen and increase rider satisfaction at the same time. We’re pleased to present an informative webinar on Passenger Information Systems. If you want to learn about what a Passenger Information System does, what the benefits of having one are, and the technology that makes it work to seamlessly transfer information from your agency to your passengers, don’t miss this opportunity. You will also learn what you need to do to open your transit data and make use of web services.
Title: Passenger Information Systems 101: Technology, Benefits and Practical Application
Date: Thursday, December 9, 2010
Time: 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM MST
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
A bright group of people over at Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center have developed an application that will make taking the bus more convenient for staff and students alike. It also demonstrates one of the benefits of releasing transit data. Called VT Bus Tracker, this system delivers up-to-date bus location information as well as passenger counts to the rider’s mobile phone. The data is provided by Blacksburg Transit (BT), who has Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) software installed at their agency. The user simply texts their location and the BT route they are interested in riding to the VT Bus Tracker phone number, and within seconds it will reply with the bus’ estimated arrival time and the number of riders on board. The system works with smart phones including BlackBerry, Android and the iPhone, and works with regular cell phones too. Users can also access this bus information by logging on to www.bustracker.org/.
Releasing an RFP is a substantial undertaking and oftentimes it’s the little details that are forgotten. Before release be sure to double-check:
Consistency of dates (pre-bid conference, question period, due date, etc.) throughout the document.
All pertinent contact information. Make sure the delivery address is a physical location and not a P.O. Box to allow for courier delivery of proposals.
Details such as the number of copies requested as well as the type of electronic copy desired (CD, USB key or email) are clearly specified.
Font size and legibility of copy delivered to vendors.
Forms that need to be manipulated by vendors are sent in an editable format (unlocked Microsoft Word document or PDF).
Information on where to access attachments and addenda is clearly stated.
By ensuring that all of these details are met, vendor time is freed to focus on the more important parts of their RFP responses. Your agency will also have fewer administrative questions to answer after the RFP’s release.
2. Provide Relevant Information About Your Agency
Be sure to include all relevant information about your agency and its current operations within the RFP. This should include details about any in-office computer equipment, servers and software currently used, as well as the number and types of vehicles in your fleet. This information will allow vendors to format their responses specifically to your agency and current resources which will save time and money during the implementation.
3. Establish Reasonable Timelines
It is normal to want the procurement process to proceed as quickly as possible to begin benefitting from your Transit ITS Solution; however, it is important to give vendors adequate time to respond to your proposal to the best of their ability. Below is a reasonable timeframe for generating a response to a Transit ITS RFP:
Release of RFP to Pre-Bid Meeting Date………………………………………. 2 weeks Pre-Bid Meeting Date to Deadline for Questions Submission………………… 2 weeks Deadline for Questions Submission to Agency Response to Questions………. 1 week Agency Response to Questions to RFP Due Date ……………………. at least 2 weeks
4. Give Vendors an Idea of Your Budget
If possible, ask vendors for preliminary pricing information when establishing your budget to ensure it accurately reflects your desired functionality. If this is not possible, publish your budget, or at least present a budget range, to allow vendors to present a solution that will be within budgetary constraints.
5. Require a Standardized Proposal Format
Requiring vendors to follow a standardized proposal format allows you to more easily compare and evaluate RFP responses. This is especially pertinent for the price proposal and compliance matrix sections. A standardized version of these forms will enable simple side-by-side comparison of vendor offerings and price points.
6. Use References Wisely
References from existing customers are one of the best ways to evaluate a vendor’s service and technical solution in a real-world setting. Requiring at least five customer references from completed projects similar to yours will help ensure the vendor’s solution is proven and works in the field. This is also a great way to get valuable first-hand feedback about a vendor’s support and service.
7. Do Not Make Price Your Only Determinant
With the multitude of factors present in evaluating responses to a Transit ITS RFP, it may seem logical and easiest to pick the response with the lowest price. However, the lowest price could also mean lower levels of functionality, support and vendor reputation.
Because the success of a Transit ITS implementation relies heavily on procuring the correct functionality and support for your agency, it is important to weigh factors other than price during evaluation. One way to ensure price is not an overriding factor is to request pricing information be submitted separately from the rest of the proposal. This will allow the evaluation committee to choose the response that best addresses your needs without being influenced by price.
How transit agencies can keep track of all their buses all the time
Watch and learn how to make use of the essential features of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) software. With a click of the mouse, managing vehicles is effortless and stress-free. Click here to watch the demo.
If your transit agency is new to fare collection technology, or are looking to upgrade your current fare collection equipment, here is a webcast you might want to check out. On March 292010, APTA is putting on Fare Collection 101, a live video- and- audio stream webcast directly from the APTA 2010 Fare Collection Workshop in San Diego, CA. Listen to industry experts weigh in on the new options out there for fare collection technology. Hear what questions the on-site audience is asking, or submit your own to be answered directly by the panel. Click here for more information about the webcast.
We’re very excited at The Fleet Beat about a new webinar we’ve put together. Hosted by Chris Pettigrew, our resident transit specialist, the webinar will present an affordable scheduling option for small/medium sized transit agencies. Most transit agencies are interested in taking advantage of Trip Planning with Google Maps™ Transit . However, smaller agencies are quickly running into a number of issues when attempting to implement this— the prohibitive cost of most scheduling software and a lack of money/staff to name a couple. This webinar will address these issues as well as give you a glimpse of how much easier scheduling software can make your life. Please click here to register to join us on October 28, at 1:30 pm MDT
Many articles have been written about the advantages of AVL systems in fixed route transit agencies. While AVL does come with a host of benefits, including predicting next bus arrival times, lofty claims about a rider walking out their door 30 seconds before the arrival of their bus simply isn’t the case in most cities. Agencies salivate at the thought of people knowing exactly when their bus is going to arrive, but it’s important to realize that once implemented, AVL delivers predictions and not guaranteed arrival times.
The big question is why? Riders may wonder why, with all the GPS hardware and software, they can’t know exactly where their bus is every second of the day. And, why their PDA says the next bus will be at the stop in two minutes, yet they’re still standing there two minutes after the fact.
To answer this it’s important to understand how arrival predictions are constructed. First and foremost, while a vehicle may know where it is at every given second, it can’t ‘send back’ its location to in-office and online software systems every second. Not only would this incur huge costs (due to the volume of data being constantly sent), but data providers simply don’t allow it (as it would clog up their entire data network). As a result, software packages have to make an educated guess as to where a vehicle is based on the location information it does receive. Typically, vehicle location reports are sent every one to three minutes. If we assume an average vehicle speed of 12 miles/hour, this translates to anywhere from 0.2 to 0.6 miles of distance covered by the vehicle between location reports. That’s 0.2 to 0.6 miles during which the software has to ‘guess’ the vehicle’s location.
In most cases, software applications are able to predict arrival times based on a number of pieces of information:
• Last location received and speed of the vehicle
• Historical traffic and speed information for a given road section
• Distance from the target
• Current traffic information
All of this information does aid in arrival predictions, however, it will never be able to exactly predict an arrival time. Road conditions may vary from calculated values due to accidents, weather, construction, organized events, bad traffic, etc. For example, no software can predict when a vehicle in gridlock is going to start moving again. Sure, the vehicle may only be half a block from its next stop, but it may not move for an extended period of time.
Agencies looking for ‘next stop’ arrival time prediction functionality need to recognize that this information is a prediction—not the absolute truth. This holds true regardless of the software provider chosen.
A blog for those of us who live and work in fleet management. Topics include engine diagnostics, driver safety, mobile workforce management, CAD/AVL, vehicle maintenance, truck distribution, global computing, work order management, and field services.
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