Bus Priority in Portland - Lessons Learned

1. Bus Priority in Portland -Lessons Learned • Bill Kloos • City of Portland • (Prepared 12/3/01) City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

2. The problem - buses in mixed flow City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

3. Exclusive bus lanes are the best option City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

4. But, our talk is about mixed flow. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

5. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk • History of transit priority in Portland • System architecture for bus priority • Portland’s large scale bus priority project • Lessons learned City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

6. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk • History of transit priority in Portland • System architecture for bus priority • Portland’s large scale bus priority project • Lessons learned City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

7. Transit definition: Light Rail Bus City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

8. Light rail preemption • Station-to-station running w/o stopping • Mostly emergency vehicle-like preemption • Detected via Vetag and inductive loops • In CBD, goes with progression City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

9. Bus Priority • Two issues: • Detection method • Priority method Kloos Way City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

10. LoopComm Hockey puck & loop Have Tried 3 Detection Methods: • TOTE (1st generation) • Amtech RF tags & reader Current Choice • Opticom • Emitter and detector City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

11. Various TSP Methods Tried • Provide green extension, red truncation • Provide queue jumps • Provide bus-only phase • Eliminate phase skipping City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

12. Provide green extension /red truncation • Basic premise: • If arrive on green, extend a few seconds more • If arrive on red, shorten other phases to return earlier • Powell Blvd test (1993): • 3 intersections using Wapiti Type 170 software • 5% to 8% travel time reduction peak direction • discontinued due to inflexible phase shortening City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

13. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk • History of transit priority in Portland • System architecture for bus priority • Portland’s large scale bus priority project • Lessons learned City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

14. Basis for Bus Signal Priority Direction in Portland Three main concepts: • Use Tri-Met’s GPS based AVL (smart bus concept) • Use bus-controller communication method shared with Fire (Opticom) • Develop next generation Type 170 controller and software City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

15. Basis for Bus Signal Priority Direction in Portland But always keep control distributed!!! City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

16. 1. Use Basic Smart Bus Concept 1. Smart bus knows location and schedule status 2. Bus communicates priority request to signal 3. Local controller provides priority City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

17. 2. Use existing Opticom for Communication • 150+ of 963 intersections had Opticom • Most suburbs have 100% Opticom • Goal is for City to also reach 100% • Don’t want another intersection “add-on” piece of hardware • Makes expansion easy City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

18. 3. Develop next generation ofcontroller and firmware • From 6800 based Type 170 to 170 HC11 • Future will use ATC • Port existing program to new platform. • Continue to expand algorithms City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

19. Next generation firmware • Will be upgrade of existing Wapiti local intersection program • Will include extended priority functions - • will add ‘smart’ recovery options • will include improved green extension routine City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

20. Basic description of how it works A ‘smart’ bus knows its location in time and space. When the bus is late, it activates its Opticom emitter. The intersection receives the low priority call and extends green or truncates red as defined in the controllers database. As the bus passes the intersection detector, the priority call is dropped and the controller returns to normal operation. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

21. What is the definition of late? • Industry standard - 5 minutes late • BDS reporting - 7 minutes late • For our bus priority project - • bus activates emitter when 90 seconds late • bus deactivates emitter when 30 seconds late • may decrease value later City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

22. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk • History of transit priority in Portland • System architecture for bus priority • Portland’s large scale bus priority project • Lessons learned City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

23. What are our implementation plans? Or, do we have any - Money? Yes we do! City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

24. TEA-21 Earmark for signals • $4.5 million “high priority” project • Intended to provide signal priority for emergency and transit vehicles • Will be used to: • Install Opticom on 775 buses • Provide priority at 250+ intersections • Retrofit 190+ intersections with Opticom detectors City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

25. Where? St John’s 5 4 75 Every where! 6 75 72 4 8 6 9 5 33 72 33 71 12 15 19 Gateway TC 19 Central City 15 15 71 14 Gresham 4 4 Beaverton 8 9 9 54 54 75 56 14 33 19 71 5 56 12 19 71 75 72 Phase I Washington Square Milwaukie Phase II Clackamas TC 33 Phase III Oregon City City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

26. Project status • Tri-Met has installed Opticom emitters on buses and revised the bus software • Activated priority on pilot corridor (line #4) last July (55 intersections out of 71 total) • Completed major arterial (Barbur Blvd) with 12 intersections last September • Will do 4 other lines this winter/spring City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

27. City / Tri-Met Partnership for Transit Priority • Signal priority is only one element • Have established joint program for all aspects of transit priority • special lanes, curb extensions, stop relocation • Tri-Met plans to provide ~$1.5 mil/yr • Hope for true impact on operating costs City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

28. But, most of all . . . We’re working together to find solutions!!! City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

29. Outline for Today’s TSP Talk • History of transit priority in Portland • System architecture for bus priority • Portland’s large scale bus priority project • Lessons learned City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

30. LL#1 - Bus AVL data is your friend. Tri-Met’s AVL: • Uses a PCMCIA Data Card for each bus. • Each bus records data throughout the day. • The bus makes a data record for each stop or event • Over 600,000 records are generated per day City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

31. AVL information obtained • Actual Arrive Time • Actual Leave Time • Dwell • Door Open (yes or no) • Lift Used (yes or no) • Maximum Speed • Distance Between Stops • X & Y Coordinates • Service Date • Vehicle Number • Train No. (Block) • Badge Number • Route • Day Type • Trip Number • Scheduled Time City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

32. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

33. Map of delay Not in the City of Portland City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

34. Analyzing the Data Delay By Segment Shows delay by direction - City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

35. AVL used for overall analysis Results from Portland pilot routes: • 10% reduced travel time - peak period / peak direction • 8-10% improvement in on-time performance City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

36. AVL data caveat - Sometimes we had trouble turning the mounds of AVL data into understandable information for for decision makers. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

37. LL#2 - The devil’s in the details Developing and implementing TSP for the controller is labor intensive. • The truncation / extension algorithm requires review of each location • Method requires mounds of data the needs to be checked and re-checked • Similar intersections are not similar. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

38. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

39. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

40. LL#3 - TSP is an iterative process. • With fixed route transit, the schedule needs to be optimized to take advantage of priority • Initial schedule change on the pilot route took too much time out of the schedule City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

41. LL#4 - Working together is best. • Need to include all groups from each agency - • signal and operations staff w/City • schedulers, operators, analysts, ITS staff, and PMs for transit agency • Reviewing the route block-by-block City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

42. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002

43. Bottom line - • Bus signal priority can help reduce travel time and improve on-time performance • The process requires involving staffs from both the traffic and transit agencies • The process is iterative and takes time to reach the final objective. City of Portland - TRB Transit Signal Priority Workshop 2002