| Title | Chattanooga SmartBus Project : phase 2 evaluation report |
|---|---|
| Record ID | 30587 |
| Personal Name Creator |
Rephlo, Jennifer; Haas, Robert; Bauer, John |
| Source | xiii, 46 p. : col. ill. |
| Corporate Creator | Science Applications International Corporation |
| Corporate Contributor |
United States. Joint Program Office for Intelligent Transportation Systems; United States. Federal Transit Administration. Office of Research, Demonstration, and Innovation |
| Publisher | United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration |
| Publication Date | 20080610 |
| Language | English |
| Abstract | This report presents the results of Phase II of the national evaluation of the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority’s (CARTA’s) SmartBus Project. The Smartbus Project is a comprehensive transit ITS program for the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. It involves deployment of a wide array of transit ITS technologies including: data warehousing and reporting software to accumulate data from different CARTA applications and provide reports to support CARTA operations; new operations management software to support fixed-route scheduling and demand response scheduling and dispatch; ticket vending machines for the Incline Railway; a remote diagnostics maintenance system; various on-board systems (mobile data computers, computer-aided dispatch / automated vehicle location software, a covert alarm, automated passenger counters, and a next stop automated announcement system); and new fareboxes, a revenue management system, and a multi-modal transit/parking smart card electronic fare payment system. The goal of the evaluation is to determine the impacts of these technologies in performing daily functions such as operations, scheduling, service planning, and maintenance, and to gather and document any lessons learned by the project team throughout the process of the deployment and operation of the technologies. This report discusses impacts to date of the technologies that have been in place for at least 1 year. It is important to note that the full impacts of many of the technologies are not expected to be realized until the onboard systems are in place and integrated with the existing technologies, and that those later impacts will be documented in the Phase III report. The evaluation involved a series of interviews with various CARTA staff, as well as gathering data on various performance measures including transit ridership, on-time performance, and on the road failures. The results of the study indicate that the ticket vending machines for the Incline Railway have helped CARTA access to make better business decisions about the Incline service; the data warehousing and reporting software has allowed for more rapid preparation of a variety of reports, has resulted in efficiencies in operations, and has made it possible to answer complex business decisions more quickly; the fixed route scheduling software has allowed CARTA to provide the same level of service with lower operating costs; and the paratransit scheduling and dispatch management software has increased efficiency in terms of passengers per vehicle-hour while it has not reduced the time required to issue invoices or improved the on-time performance. |
| Rosap ID | dot:3258 |
| Rosap URL | https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/3258 |
| TRT Terms | Bus transit operations; Advanced public transportation systems; Evaluation and assessment; Impact studies |
| Classification | NTL - PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - Bus Transportation; NTL - PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION - Advanced Public Transit Systems; NTL - INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS - Transit Management |
| Geographical Coverage |
Tennessee |
| TRIS Online Accession No |
1125391 |
| Contract Number | DTFH61-02-C-00061 |
| Report Number | FHWA-JPO-08-051 |
| Availability | Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office |
| Resource type | Tech Report |
| URL | https://ntlrepository.blob.core.windows.net/lib/30000/30500/30587/14431.pdf |
| Alternative URL | http://www.itsdocs.fhwa.dot.gov/JPODOCS//REPTS_TE/14431.htm |
| Format | |
| Database | NTL Digital Repository |