School Bus Dispatch - Transit Management Functionality
Subsystem Description
The Transit Management Subsystem manages transit vehicle fleets and coordinates with other modes and transportation services. It provides operations, maintenance, customer information, planning and management functions for the transit property. It spans distinct central dispatch and garage management systems and supports the spectrum of fixed route, flexible route, paratransit services, transit rail, and bus rapid transit (BRT) service. The subsystem's interfaces allow for communication between transit departments and with other operating entities such as emergency response services and traffic management systems. This subsystem receives special event and real-time incident data from the traffic management subsystem. It provides current transit operations data to other center subsystems. It interfaces with the Emergency Management Subsystem to allow coordinated use of transit vehicles to facilitate response to major emergencies or evacuations. The Transit Management Subsystem collects and stores accurate ridership levels and implements fare structures for use in electronic fare collection. It collects operational and maintenance data from transit vehicles, manages vehicle service histories, and assigns vehicle operators and maintenance personnel to vehicles and routes. The Transit Management Subsystem also provides the capability for automated planning and scheduling of public transit operations. The scheduling capability includes schedule writing, block building and runcutting. The subsystem furnishes travelers with real-time travel information, continuously updated schedules, schedule adherence information, transfer options, and transit routes and fares. In addition, the subsystem supports transit security features. This includes monitoring silent alarms, both passenger and operator initiated, on-board transit vehicles. It also includes the capability to support transit vehicle operator authentication and the capability to remotely disable a transit vehicle. The subsystem includes the capability to monitor for a transit vehicle being off the assigned route. The subsystem also includes the capability to alert operators and police to potential incidents identified by these security features.
Functional Area: Transit Center Fixed-Route Operations
Management of fixed route transit operations. Planning, scheduling, and dispatch associated with fixed and flexible route transit services. Updates customer service operator systems, and provides current vehicle schedule adherence and optimum scenarios for schedule adjustment.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The center shall generate transit routes and schedules based on such factors as parameters input by the system operator, road network conditions, incident information, operational data on current routes and schedules, and digitized map data. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall provide the interface to the system operator to control the generation of new routes and schedules (transit services) including the ability to review and update the parameters used by the routes and schedules generation processes and to initiate these processes | Planned |
| 3 | The center shall be able to generate special routes and schedules to support an incident, disaster, evacuation, or other emergency. | Planned |
| 4 | The center shall dispatch fixed route or flexible route transit vehicles | Planned |
| 5 | The center shall collect transit operational data for use in the generation of routes and schedules. | Planned |
| 7 | The center shall manage large deviations of individual transit vehicles, deviations in rural areas, and deviations of large numbers of vehicles. | Planned |
| 8 | The center shall generate the necessary corrective actions which may involve more than the vehicles concerned and more far reaching action, such as, the introduction of extra vehicles, wide area signal priority by traffic management, the premature termination of some services, etc. | Planned |
Functional Area: Transit Center Multi-Modal Coordination
Coordinate schedules with other agencies and modes, including transit transfer cluster and transfer point information.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The center shall coordinate schedules and services between transit agencies, traffic management, maintenance and construction operations, parking management, and other surface or air transportation modes. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall share transfer cluster and transfer point information with multimodal transportation service providers, other transit agencies, and traveler information service providers. A transfer cluster is a collection of stop points, stations, or terminals where transfers can be made conveniently. | Planned |
| 3 | The center shall accept requests from traffic management to change routes and schedules as part of the implementation of demand management strategies. | Planned |
| 4 | The center shall coordinate transit services for special events, planning services for the event and managing transit services on the day of the event. | Planned |
| 5 | The center shall provide transit operations personnel with the capability to control and monitor transit service coordination activities. | Planned |
Functional Area: Transit Center Vehicle Tracking
Monitoring transit vehicle locations via interactions with on-board systems. Furnish users with real-time transit schedule information and maintain interface with digital map providers.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The center shall monitor the locations of all transit vehicles within its network. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall determine adherence of transit vehicles to their assigned schedule. | Planned |
| 3 | The center shall support an interface with a map update provider, or other appropriate data sources, through which updates of digitized map data can be obtained and used as a background for transit tracking and dispatch. | Planned |
| 4 | The center shall provide transit operational data to traveler information service providers. | Planned |
| 5 | The center shall provide collected transit probe data to traffic management centers and traveler information service providers for use in measuring current traffic conditions. | Planned |
Functional Area: Transit Evacuation Support
Support evacuation and subsequent reentry of a population in the vicinity of a disaster or other emergency. Coordinate regional evacuation plans and resources including transit and school bus fleets.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The center shall manage the use of transit resources to support evacuation and subsequent reentry of a population in the vicinity of a disaster or other emergency. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall coordinate regional evacuation plans with Emergency Management - identifying the transit role in an evacuation and the transit resources that would be used. | Planned |
| 3 | The center shall coordinate the use of transit and school bus fleets during an evacuation, supporting evacuation of those with special needs and the general population. | Planned |