Transit Technology Primer
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1 Executive Summary As the pace of technology adoption has increased in recent years, small and medium sized transit agencies have struggled to keep up with large transit agencies, which have the resources and expertise to meet with technology vendors, review products, and participate in organizations to remain abreast of existing and emerging technologies. Large agencies, however, have their own challenges of deciding which emerging technology to pursue, whether to be an early adopter, or on how the new technology will affect service delivery. This Transit Technology Primer and the accompanying Transit Technology Assessment Framework Tool (TTAFT) are intended to be resources for transit agencies in researching traditional and emerging transit technologies. This report is a synthesis of the policy and regulatory framework surrounding transit technology; past and ongoing research, prototype, and pilot efforts; commercially available products; and the experiences of transit agencies. The report first defined transit technologies as the following categories: • Safety systems designed to reduce collisions with vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians; • Mobility enhancing technologies that increase access to transit options, and increase trips speed and travel time reliability while completing trips; • Accessibility features and services that make trips easier for the elderly and travelers with disabilities; • Environmental technologies that reduce fuel consumption and emissions; • Fare Collection and Processing systems that enable easier payments across multiple modes; • Traveler Information technologies that provide users with actionable trip planning options prior to and while completing transit trips; • Operations systems that support transit agencies back office planning, operations and maintenance of transit systems and assets; and • Emerging Service Models that may complement traditional transit service in the future. These categories cover the majority of functions and activities performed by transit agencies in order to effectively and efficiently transport customers to the destinations. Once the technology categories were defined, a review of the federal and state policy/regulatory environment was conducted. This review summarized both the supporting policies and programs, as well as identified potential barriers to technology adoption. While there is a significant amount of federal and state guidance on more traditional technologies (such as asset management, accessibility, mobility, and fare collection), the policy landscape for emerging technologies is rapidly shifting. Among the key findings is the need to revise the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards to allow for the certification of autonomous vehicle (AV) technology and to address the uncertainty about whether connected vehicle (CV) technology will be mandated by the National Highway Transportation EasyMile EZ10 Gen-2 Vehicle Safety Administration. While the exact timing of AV/CV ES-i adoption is unknown, there are a number of Federal funding programs for these emerging transit technologies. Furthermore, Florida is seen as a national leader in transportation technology, by passing the nation’s first regulation to legalize fully autonomous vehicles without a driver behind the wheel on roadways and supporting many AV/CV pilots. Florida is also one of the few states in the nation that regulates transportation network companies (i.e. Lyft and Uber) at the statewide level. Tampa CV Application Pilot - Vehicle Turning Right in Front of Transit Vehicle Since policymakers at the Federal level have struggled to keep pace with emerging technology, states have enacted a patchwork of legislation to help bridge the gap in the meantime. The following considerations are important for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to evaluate as it seeks to help Florida transit agencies deploy new technologies: • Revisions to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards is needed to ensure the AV industry grows with consistent safety requirements. In the meantime, exemptions to certain requirements at the state level are recommended to help microtransit vehicles enter pilot or permanent deployments within a given geographic boundary. • Despite a large body of Federal research and standards on connected vehicle technology, uncertainty remains about the pending vehicle-to-vehicle communications requirement for new vehicles affecting future adoption rates, and the benefits to transit agencies, in jeopardy. ES-ii • Transportation technology provides numerous opportunities to meet the needs of elderly and those with disabilities while meeting various provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Some of these technologies, however, remain in research and development stages, or are not yet cost-effective enough for small to medium transit agency to pursue. • Both Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and emerging autonomous/connected vehicle applications provide an unprecedented means of real-time monitoring of individual movements. While there are some privacy protections at the Federal level, states should consider passing additional private regulations. • As emerging transit models enter the market to provide first and last mile service, state regulators should ensure that Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) policy remains flexible enough to account for the needs of local agencies while consistent enough to meet Federal law including ADA. A literature review was conducted, which focused primarily on prototype and pilot efforts rathe than theoretical research. The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) has for many years funded prototypes for transportation technology deployments through its ITS Joint Program Office. Subsequently, pilot projects, including the Tampa Connected Vehicle Pilot site, have sought to deploy multiple integrated technologies simultaneously. State and local agencies, with many in Florida, have also conducted research and pilot projects of their own. Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), for example, has been making notable progress into the realm of AV technology. Since JTA’s existing Skyway system is due for a complete overhaul, JTA officials decided to research alternatives to replace the monorail vehicles and evaluate future plans for expanding the Skyway system to surface level. JTA, ultimately, decided to invest in an AV system given the technology’s capabilities, emerging trends, and overall financial savings of its integration. Unlike other transit modes, the AV system would allow vehicles to operate on the existing Skyway infrastructure and along existing roadways, reducing the need to construct additional infrastructure. Florida is seen as a national leader in embracing transportation technology testing and deployment. FDOT’s Transportation Systems Management and Operations Division administers the Florida Connected Vehicle Initiative. The connected vehicle initiative technologies include: • Wireless Communications • Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) • Roadside Units (RSUs) • On-Board Units • Freight Signal Priority • Transit Signal Priority • Emergency Vehicle Preemption • Vehicle Sensors • Global Positioning System Navigation The initiative includes five planning projects, nine design and implementation projects, and one operational project. One of the innovative planning projects is the Central Florida Autonomous ES-iii Vehicle Proving Ground1. This project seeks to create the nation’s premiere hubs for research and development of automated vehicle technology. It consists of multiple existing and planned facilities that will offer simulation at state-of-the-art universities, test tracks offering extreme environmental and controlled scenario testing, and open deployment on select roadways, among other capabilities. The remaining projects under this Division are spread throughout the state and shows FDOT’s commitment to be on the cutting edge for transportation technologies. USDOT, state DOTs, industry groups, and universities also have a number of ongoing programs with results that will shape future transit technology deployments. For example, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox program recently funded a set of partnerships between a taxi company, paratransit service, and car sharing company in St. Petersburg, FL to develop a model for on-demand, door-to-door paratransit service. Similarly the ongoing Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technology Deployment (ATCMTD) program has funded numerous ITS deployments in Orlando including the PedSafe, GreenWay, SmartCommunity and SunStore. Other states including Colorado (RoadX), Missouri (Road to Tomorrow), and California (Program for Advanced Technology for the Highway) have embarked on research programs of their own. Non-profit organizations and universities have similarly funded transit technology research and pilot projects, with the University of Florida leading one of the seven national University Transportation Centers. To understand the impact of technology on the industry, outreach was conducted for a number of stakeholder groups: transit agencies within Florida, the ten largest transit providers in North America, and ten cutting-edge transit agencies2 which provided a cross-section of the different types of transit agencies. The responding agencies summarized their experience with transit technologies with all indicated a desire to pursue new technology over the next five years. The majority of the respondents