Paratransit Services 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 Paratransit Operations
Management of demand response transit services, including paratransit. Planning and scheduling of these services. Supports automated vehicle dispatch and automatically updates customer service operator systems.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The center shall process trip requests for demand responsive transit services, i.e. paratransit. Sources of the requests may include traveler information service providers. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall monitor the operational status of the demand response vehicles including status of passenger pick-up and drop-off. | Planned |
| 3 | 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. | Planned |
| 4 | The center shall dispatch demand response (paratransit) transit vehicles. | Planned |
| 5 | The center shall exchange information with Maintenance and Construction Operations concerning work zones, roadway conditions, asset restrictions, work plans, etc. | Planned |
| 6 | The center shall disseminate up-to-date schedules and route information to other centers for demand responsive transit services (paratransit). | Planned |
| 7 | The center shall collect the log of passenger boardings and alightings from the paratransit vehicles. | 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 Vehicle Operator Assignment
Assignment of transit operators to runs in a fair manner while minimizing labor and overtime services, considering operator preferences, qualifications, accumulated work hours, and other information about each operator.
| ID | Requirement | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 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. | Planned |
| 2 | The center shall assess the transit vehicle operator's availability based on previous work assignments, accumulated hours, plus health and vacation commitments. | Planned |
| 3 | The center shall assign transit vehicle operators to transit schedules based on their eligibility, route preferences, seniority, and transit vehicle availability. | Planned |
| 4 | 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. | Planned |
| 5 | The center shall generate supplemental vehicle operator assignments as required due to change events that occur during the operating day. | Planned |