Leveraging GIS to Implement an Automated Bus Announcement Program 1 2015 GIS in Transit Conference Metro Transit, Minneapolis/St. Paul

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Leveraging GIS to Implement an Automated Bus Announcement Program

2015 GIS in Transit Conference

Metro Transit, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Metro Transit Facts• Regional Population 3.7 Million• 250,000 Weekday Daily Boardings• 123 Bus Routes, 2 light rail lines, 1 commuter rail line• Employ 2,800 staff (1,450 Operators)• 81 million rides per year• www.metrotransit.org

http://www.metrotransit.org/

Metro Transit Facts• Opening first Arterial BRT Line June 2016; 10 more

corridors planned• http://www.metrotransit.org/a-line-project

http://www.metrotransit.org/a-line-project

http://www.metrotransit.org/a-line-project

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Where can GIS have a role in a major project?

1. Project DevelopmentA. CommunicationB. Ad hoc Analysis

2. Daily Enterprise Operations

Develop Reports, Applications, etc. to make Informed

Decisions

Data Development

and Management

Enterprise Databases

(ArcSDE, Data Warehouses)

Why Automated Announcements?

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People Struggle to Navigate

Inconsistent Operator Announcements

Help Individuals with Disabilities

Difficult to See at Night


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• 123 Customers Surveyed– 76% Very Helpful– 18% Somewhat Helpful– 6% Not Helpful

• 132 Bus Operators Surveyed– 58% Very Helpful– 33% Somewhat Helpful– 9% Not Helpful

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• Required by ADA Regulations Sec. 37.167– The entity shall announce at least at transfer points with other fixed

routes, other major intersections and destination points, and intervals along a route sufficient to permit individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities to be oriented to their location. • “Internal” announcements made on interior of bus

– When buses share the same route or stop, the agency is required to provide a means by which an individual with a visual impairment or other disability can identify his/her proper bus• “External” announcements made on exterior of bus

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Internal Announcements• Made on bus when bus enters designated bus stop zones –

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Internal Announcement Content Development• Original plan to announce all stops• Identified Need to Develop ‘Phrasemaker’ Database

– 12,000+ bus stops– Need to integrate transfer, major intersections, interval

and Transfer Points

• Unforeseeable issue with file interface to buses allowed time to examine tradeoffs of announcing all stops vs. what’s required by ADA

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Internal Announcement Content Development

• MS Visio is a great, easy to use tool for communicating data and work flows in a project

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• Trade Offs Announcing All Stops vs. ADA Requirements– All Stops

• Easy to communicate• Helps avoid unnecessary stopping• More labor to maintain• Could be annoying to customers and Operators

– ADA Requirements• Operators can make announcements when hardware doesn’t work or exist• Complies with ADA Requirements• Mitigates WAV file challenges

• **Leveraged GIS to Analyze and Compare Scenarios

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Transfer points, destination points, major intersections, and intervalsADA Requirement Scenario

• Customer Information Software (ATIS Trapeze Inc.)

• Plotted Transfer Database 86,400 records• Determined 77,000

were transfers in downtowns

• Determined had to refine enterprise GIS data management in ATIS

• Made ATIS software enhancements to identify transfers to be announced

• Example of enterprise GIS

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• Customer Information Software (ATIS Trapeze Inc.)

• Customer Information Dept. identified about 200 transit destination points (landmarks) to announce

• Example of enterprise GIS

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• Can be locally defined• Traffic signals, stop signs, roundabouts, arterial road

intersections, etc.• Intersections are ever-changing

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• Explored Arterial Road Classifications

• Mapped intersection points

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• Explored traffic signal, stop sign, roundabout information• MetroGIS and other regional GIS entities do not have the data

• www.metrogis.org

• Determined ‘traffic signals’ was our definition of major intersections

http://www.metrogis.org/

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• Traffic Signals• Contacted cities, counties, DOT for traffic signal GIS data

• DOT, Minneapolis, Saint Paul, 2 of 3 counties all had GIS data• City availability inconsistent

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• Traffic Signals• Buffered signals by 250’ to capture bus stops at signalized intersections• Developed Model Builder solution to merge and maintain data

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• Intervals are announcements intended to “fill in the gaps” of long distance stop segments or long gaps in announcement spacing• FTA determined

announcements every two minutes sufficient, announcements more than 5 minutes apart insufficient

• With the exception of express routes, we have few long distances between stops and announcements

• Identified Interval Bus Stops in GIS

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Comparing All Stops versus ADA Requirement Scenario

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Internal Announcement GPS Zones• Have the ability to adjust zone distance for each stop• Default setting 800 feet (long city block 660’ feet, short city block 330’ feet)• Used Street Centerline GIS Data to Help Identify High Speed Approaches (2,000 foot

buffer) • Regional Street Centerline Initiative

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External Announcements• Made every time Operator opens the front door• Announce information matching overhead sign

– [Route]– [Branch]– [Direction]– [Destination(s)]

• 1,200 external phrases maintained to support route system • External volumes reduced 8:00 PM – 7:00 AM

“Route 5. M. Southbound. To Mall of America via

Chicago Avenue.”

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External Announcements• FTA Requirement

– When buses share the same route or stop, the agency is required to provide a means by which an individual with a visual impairment or other disability can identify his/her proper bus

Interactive Announcement Map• Interactive Announcement Map

• Includes mapping of phrases, buffers, landmarks, route alignments

Interactive Announcement Map• Internal interactive map getting developed

• Needed to publish GIS layers in ArcSDE and data in enterprise locations• Announcement Zones• ATIS Landmarks• Bus Stop Locations• WAV files• Announcement Phrases

• Includes mapping of phrases, buffers, landmarks, route alignments• GIS Data Sharing Portals - www.metrogis.org and

www.datafinder.org

http://www.metrogis.org/

http://www.datafinder.org/

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Where can GIS have a role in a major project?

1. Project DevelopmentA. CommunicationB. Ad hoc Analysis

2. Daily Enterprise OperationsDevelop Reports, Applications, etc. to make Informed

Decisions

Data Development

and Management

Enterprise Databases

• Bus Stop Mapping• ATIS Transfers• ATIS Landmarks• Zone Management• Traffic Signal Model Builder• High Speed Approaches

• Announcement Zones• Phrases• Stop Locations• WAV Files

• Transfer Analysis• Major Intersection Analysis• Comparing Scenarios• Roads with Multiple Routes

• GIS Interactive Map

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Announcement Project Lessons Learned• Develop Solid Concept of Operations Plan Early On• Perform Peer Agency Outreach• Communicate Announcement Guidelines Early to Project

Stakeholders• Audio Files are Large• Phrasemaker Application Valuable• FTA Provides more Guidance than General Requirements• Volumes Settings Vary by Bus Manufacturer• **GIS Valuable Tool to Implementing Project

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Significant Contributions

• Bus Stop Coordinator• DBA• Application Developer• Diversity• GIS Application Developer• Customer Information• Bus Maintenance• Bus Hardware and Software Specialists

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Looking Ahead

• On Board Real Time Display

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Jason Podanywww.metrotransit.org

Business Systems Analyst, Transit Technology [email protected]

612-349-7714

Leveraging GIS to Implement an Automated Bus Announcement Program

Questions?

http://www.metrotransit.org/

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

Leveraging GIS to Implement an Automated Bus Announcement Program 1 2015 GIS in Transit Conference Metro Transit, Minneapolis/St. Paul