Advanced Vehicle Monitoring and Communication Systems for Bus Transit, Benefits and Economic Feasibility

Notice The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation, Urban Mass Transportation Administration, in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. The United States Government does not endorse manufacturers or products. Trade names appear in the document only because they are essential to the content of the report. This report analyzes the feasibility of advanced vehicle monitoring and communication (AVM/C) systems for bus transit in the United States. Such systems are widely used in Europe and Canada to provide more reliable and efficient bus services, but have seen little deployment in the U.S. Many systems are now available from both American and foreign vendors, and thus the question of whether or not to deploy such a system is coming to the forefront in many transit agencies. In this report, the potential benefits of such a system are discussed, including benefits to current and new riders in the form of better service, to the agency in the form of increased revenues and reduced costs, and to communities in a variety of ways including " town watch " functions. This sets the stage for a discussion of the actual experience of foreign and domestic agencies that have introduced such systems, including costs and benefits. A method for evaluating the feasibility of AVM/C systems is presented, for both outright purchase and for leasing-a very attractive alternative that conserves scarce capital resources. Calculations for typical U.S. conditions suggest that these systems should be quite cost effective, improving both agency finances and passenger satisfaction. Agencies should consider them carefully. iii Executive Summary This report addresses one of the most important and potentially effective ways to improve the attractiveness of bus transit services: the use of advanced information technology to monitor and control bus operations. Specifically, it focuses on the use of automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) systems, which are more properly referred to as advanced vehicle monitoring and communication (AVM,/C) systems. AVM/C systems have great potential for improving the productivity and attractiveness of bus services. As the name suggests, essential components of these systems include an element which can track vehicle location in real time and an element which provides direct digital data, and often voice communication …