ITS Element: WRTA Special Service Transportation (SST) Dispatch

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Description: WRTA paratransit service.
Status: Existing
Stakeholder: Western Reserve Transit Authority (WRTA)
Mapping: Emergency Management
Transit Management

Interfaces:

Buckeye Traffic Website
CARTS Transit Operations
City of Niles Public Safety Dispatch
City of Warren Public Safety Dispatch
City of Youngstown Maintenance Dispatch
City of Youngstown Public Safety Dispatch
City of Youngstown Traffic Signal System
Mahoning County 9-1-1 Center
Mahoning County Maintenance Dispatch
Mahoning County Signal Control System
National Weather Service
NiTTS Demand Response Dispatch
ODOT District 4 Maintenance Garages
Other Municipality or Township Public Safety Dispatch
PARTA Transit Operations
SARTA Transit Operations
TCAP Community Action Transportation System (CATS)
Traveler Information Device
Trumbull County 9-1-1 Center
Trumbull County Signal Control System
WRTA Fixed Route Dispatch
WRTA Special Service Transportation (SST) Vehicles
WRTA Special Service Transportation (SST) Vehicles
WRTA Special Service Transportation (SST) Vehicles
WRTA Website
YACAC Dial-A-Ride
Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport
Market Packages: APTS01 - Transit Vehicle Tracking - WRTA
APTS03 - Demand Response Transit Operations - WRTA
APTS05 - Transit Security - WRTA- SST
APTS05 - Transit Security - WRTA- SST
APTS07 - Multi-modal Coordination - WRTA Demand Response
APTS07 - Multi-modal Coordination - WRTA Fixed Route
APTS08 - Transit Traveler Information - WRTA SST
ATMS06 - Traffic Information Dissemination - Trumbull County
ATMS06 - Traffic Information Dissemination - Mahoning County
ATMS06 - Traffic Information Dissemination - City of Youngstown
MC04 - Weather Information Processing and Distribution - ODOT District 4
MC06 - Winter Maintenance - City of Youngstown
MC06 - Winter Maintenance - ODOT District 4
Functional Requirements:

Transit Center Information Services

  • The center shall provide travelers using public transportation with traffic and advisory information upon request. Such information may include transit routes, schedules, transfer options, fares, real-time schedule adherence, current incidents, weather conditions, and special events.
  • The center shall provide transit information to the media including details of deviations from schedule of regular transit services.
  • The center shall exchange transit schedules, real-time arrival information, fare schedules, and general transit service information with other transit organizations to support transit traveler information systems.
  • The center shall provide transit service information to traveler information service providers including routes, schedules, schedule adherence, and fare information as well as transit service information during evacuation.
  • The center shall enable yellow pages (including non-motorized transportation) information to be output to the traveler.
  • The center shall broadcast transit advisory data, including alerts and advisories pertaining to major emergencies, or man made disasters.

Transit Center Multi-Modal Coordination

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The center shall accept requests from traffic management to change routes and schedules as part of the implementation of demand management strategies.
  • The center shall coordinate transit services for special events, planning services for the event and managing transit services on the day of the event.
  • The center shall provide transit operations personnel with the capability to control and monitor transit service coordination activities.

Transit Center Paratransit Operations

  • The center shall process trip requests for demand responsive transit services, i.e. paratransit. Sources of the requests may include traveler information service providers.
  • The center shall monitor the operational status of the demand response vehicles including status of passenger pick-up and drop-off.
  • The center shall generate demand response transit (including paratransit) routes and schedules based on such factors as parameters input by the system operator, what other demand responsive transit schedules have been planned, the availability and location of vehicles, the relevance of any fixed transit routes and schedules, road network information, and incident information.
  • The center shall dispatch demand response (paratransit) transit vehicles.
  • The center shall exchange information with Maintenance and Construction Operations concerning work zones, roadway conditions, asset restrictions, work plans, etc.
  • The center shall disseminate up-to-date schedules and route information to other centers for demand responsive transit services (paratransit).
  • The center shall collect the log of passenger boardings and alightings from the paratransit vehicles.

Transit Center Security

  • The center shall monitor transit vehicle operational data to determine if the transit vehicle is off-route and assess whether a security incident is occurring.
  • The center shall receive reports of emergencies on-board transit vehicles entered directly be the transit vehicle operator or from a traveler through interfaces such as panic buttons or alarm switches.
  • The center shall support the back-office portion of functionality to authenticate transit vehicle operators.
  • The center shall exchange transit incident information along with other service data with other transit agencies.
  • The center shall receive information pertaining to a wide-area alert such as weather alerts, disaster situations, or child abductions. This information may come from Emergency Management or from other Alerting and Advisory Systems.
  • The center shall send wide-area alert information to travelers (on-board transit vehicles or at stations/stops) and transit vehicle operators.
  • The center shall coordinate the response to security incidents involving transit with other agencies including Emergency Management, other transit agencies, media, traffic management, and traveler information service providers.
  • The center shall receive threat information and status on the integrity of the transit infrastructure.
  • The center shall provide support to remotely disable (or reset the disabling of) a transit vehicle in service.

Transit Center Vehicle Tracking

  • 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.
  • The center shall provide transit operational data to traveler information service providers.
  • The center shall provide collected transit probe data to traffic management centers and traveler information service providers for use in measuring current traffic conditions.
  • The center shall monitor the locations of all transit vehicles within its network.
  • The center shall determine adherence of transit vehicles to their assigned schedule.

Transit Vehicle Operator Assignment

  • The center shall maintain records of a transit vehicle operator's performance. This may be done utilizing standardized performance evaluation criteria set forth by governmental regulations and transit operating company policies, assessing the transit vehicle operator's driving history, and assessing comments from the transit vehicle operator's supervisor(s) as well as noting any moving violations or accidents, supervisor comments, government regulations, and company policies.
  • The center shall assess the transit vehicle operator's availability based on previous work assignments, accumulated hours, plus health and vacation commitments.
  • The center shall assign transit vehicle operators to transit schedules based on their eligibility, route preferences, seniority, and transit vehicle availability.
  • The center shall provide an interface through which the transit vehicle operator information can be maintained - either from the transit vehicle operator, center personnel, or other functions.
  • The center shall generate supplemental vehicle operator assignments as required due to change events that occur during the operating day.

Emergency Environmental Monitoring

  • The center shall collect current and forecast road and weather information from weather service providers (such as the National Weather Service and value-added sector specific meteorological services).
  • The center shall collect current road and weather information from roadway maintenance operations.
  • The center shall assimilate current and forecast road conditions and surface weather information to support incident management.
  • The center shall present the current and forecast road and weather information to the emergency system operator.

Transit Environmental Monitoring

  • The center shall assimilate current and forecast road conditions and surface weather information to more effectively manage transit operations.
  • The center shall collect current and forecast road and weather information from weather service providers and roadway maintenance centers.

Center Secure Area Surveillance

  • The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways). The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers). The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected on-board transit vehicles. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall exchange surveillance data with other emergency centers.
  • The center shall identify potential security threats based on collected security surveillance data.
  • The center shall verify potential security threats by correlating security surveillance data from multiple sources.
  • The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways).
  • The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers).
  • The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices on-board transit vehicles.
  • The center shall match traveler video images against a database from the Alerting and Advisory Systems of known images that may represent criminals and terrorists.
  • The center shall exchange traveler images with other emergency management centers to support traveler image matching.
  • The center shall respond to control data from center personnel regarding security surveillance data collection, processing, threat detection, and image matching.
  • The center shall monitor maintenance status of the security sensor field equipment.

Center Secure Area Sensor Management

  • The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways). The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), infrastructure condition and integrity, intrusion and motion, and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers). The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), intrusion and motion, and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected on-board transit vehicles. The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors) and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  • The center shall exchange security sensor data with other emergency centers.
  • The center shall identify potential security threats based on collected security sensor data.
  • The center shall verify potential security threats by correlating security sensor data from multiple sources.
  • The center shall perform threat analysis based on correlations of security sensor and surveillance data.
  • The center shall exchange threat analysis data with Alerting and Advisory Systems and use that data in local threat analysis processing.
  • The center shall disseminate threat information to other agencies, including traffic, transit, maintenance, rail operations, and other emergency management centers.
  • The center shall respond to control data from center personnel regarding security sensor data collection, processing, threat detection, and threat analysis.
  • The center shall request activation of barriers and safeguards on request from center personnel.
  • The center shall monitor maintenance status of the security sensor field equipment.

Center Secure Area Alarm Support

  • The center shall collect silent and audible alarms received from travelers in secure areas (such as transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities).
  • The center shall collect silent and audible alarms received from transit vehicles, originated by the traveler or the transit vehicle operator.
  • After the alarm message has been received, the center shall generate an alarm acknowledgment to the sender.
  • After the alarm message becomes a verified incident, the center shall determine the appropriate response.
  • The center shall determine whether the alarm message indicates an emergency that requires the attention of public safety agencies, and forward alarm message data to the appropriate agency as necessary.
  • The center shall forward the alarm message to center personnel and respond to the traveler or transit vehicle operator as directed by the personnel.

Last updated: 01-30-14