Center for Urban Transportation Research | University of South Florida

Adding New Agencies to OneBusAway Tampa

Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.Center for Urban Transportation ResearchUniversity of South Florida

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Why real-time transit info?

• Real-time transit information has many benefits– Shorter perceived wait time [1]

– Shorter actual wait time [1]

– Lowers learning curve for new riders [2]

– Increased ridership[3][7]

– Increased feeling of safety (e.g., at night) [5][6]

• Riders prefer accessing real-time transit info via mobile apps [1]

[1] Kari Edison Watkins, Brian Ferris, Alan Borning, G. Scott Rutherford, and David Layton (2011), "Where Is My Bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol. 45 pp. 839-848.[2] C. Cluett, S. Bregman, and J. Richman (2003). "Customer Preferences for Transit ATIS," Federal Transit Administration. Available at http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/13935/13935.pdf#sthash.jwn5Oltr.dpuf[3] Lei Tang and Piyushimita Thakuriah (2012), "Ridership effects of real-time bus information system: A case study in the City of Chicago," Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 22 pp. 146-161.[4] Aaron Steinfeld and John Zimmerman, "Interviews with transit riders in San Francisco and Seattle," ed, 2010.[5] Brian Ferris, Kari Watkins, and Alan Borning (2010), "OneBusAway: results from providing real-time arrival information for public transit," in Proceedings of the 28th International CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, pp. 1807-1816. [6] A. Gooze, K. Watkins, and A. Borning (2013), "Benefits of Real-Time Information and the Impacts of Data Accuracy on the Rider Experience," in Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 13, 2013. [7] Brakewood, Macfarlane and Watkins (2015). The Impact of Real-Time Information on Bus Ridership in New York City. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Volume 53, pp. 59-7

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger

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What is OneBusAway?• What? Suite of tools that provides real-time

bus/train tracking information– Open-source software project

• Freely available to set up at your agency

– Free to riders– Maintained by board, consortium of organizations

• Universities• Transit Agencies• Vendors

• Why? Make riding public transit easier by providing good information in usable formats– Research can evaluate the impacts– No software licensing feeds for agencies– Shared across regions = shared costs Real-time arrival info

http://onebusaway.org

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Where is OneBusAway?

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Seattle WA: Original deployment

New York, NY: Adapted for the MTA (Bus Time)

Washington, DC: Beta

Atlanta, GA: Launched in early fall 2013

Tampa, FL: Launched in late

summer 2013

York, CA: Launched 2015

Bear Transit (UC Berkeley): San Joaquin: Beta

http://onebusaway.org

San Diego, CA: Launched Jan. 2016

Rogue Valley, OR: Launched Sept. 2015

Lappeenranta , Finland: Beta

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How do you use OneBusAway?

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OneBusAway – Mobile Apps

Android Windows Phone &Windows 8

iPhone

Also Amazon Fire Phone, Google Glass

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OneBusAway - Websites

Desktop browser

Smartphone browserText-only browser• SMS (Text message)• IVR (Phone call)

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ONEBUSAWAY TAMPAExpanding mobile transit apps to the Tampa Bay area

9tampa.onebusaway.org

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OneBusAway Tampa history

• USF research project established original OneBusAway Tampa pilot in 2011– As part of national “multi-region” project

• Launched as HART’s customer-facing real-time mobile apps in Aug. 2013

• HART has continued to improve the system– Added info via SMS (text), IVR (phone)– Adding ability to see live buses on map

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Tampa Research• OneBusAway Tampa research[1][2] indicates significant

improvements in the waiting experience:– Decreases in self-reported usual wait times– Decreases in negative feelings, particularly frustration – Increases in satisfaction with wait times

• “…Has really helped me catch busses that aren't originating at the Marion Transit Center. Often when catching busses along their route, I felt like it was the "wild, wild, west" with times, busses not showing, etc. OneBusAway helped make everything much more sensible and relaxing!!”With Georgia Tech (Kari Watkins and Candace Brakewood)

[1] http://www.slideshare.net/sjbarbeau/brakewood-apta-final[2] http://www.cutr.usf.edu/2014/08/cutr-webcast-evaluating-impacts-real-time-transit-tampa-atlanta/

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OneBusAway Tampa expansion

• Currently working with PSTA• Just started TBARTA project to create roadmap

for other regional agencies:– Citrus County Transit– Hernando County Transit– Manatee County Area Transit– Polk Transit– Sarasota County Area Transit– Pasco County Public Transportation

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New Agency Checklist

Transit Data in GTFS format AVL system that provides arrival estimates Implement a GTFS-realtime (or SIRI) feed Work with HART/USF to test in OneBusAway

Tampa test server Do some quality-control testing Launch in OneBusAway Tampa!

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Future improvements

• FDOT and National Center for Transit Research-funded project– Better crowd-sourced info

• Examining integration with services like “SeeClickFix.com”

– Better analytics• What stops riders are using

• Travel behavior – Origin/destination data

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Thanks!

Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.barbeau@cutr.usf.edu813.974.7208

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Challenge

• Custom mobile apps are expensive– Some estimates > $150,000k for a single platform [7]

– Doesn’t include maintenance cost• Implementing and maintaining custom apps on all

popular smartphone platforms is cost-prohibitive• Open data is good, but doesn’t always result in

apps by 3rd party developers• How can we cost-effectively launch mobile transit

apps in new cities?

[7] Larry Lauvray "iPad App Development Cost - A Breakdown." Propelics Blog, Vol. Accessed at: http://www.propelics.com/ipad-app-development-cost-a-breakdown/

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OneBusAway – Desktop Website

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OneBusAway – Desktop Website