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AVL Systems for Bus Transit T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M SPONSORED BY The Federal Transit Administration TCRP Synthesis 24 AVL Systems for Bus Transit A Synthesis of Transit Practice Transportation Research Board National Research Council TCRP OVERSIGHT AND PROJECT TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 1997 SELECTION COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN OFFICERS MICHAEL S. TOWNES Peninsula Transportation District Chair: DAVID N. WORMLEY, Dean of Engineering, Pennsylvania State University Commission Vice Chair: SHARON D. BANKS, General Manager, AC Transit Executive Director: ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board, National Research Council MEMBERS SHARON D. BANKS MEMBERS AC Transit LEE BARNES BRIAN J. L. BERRY, Lloyd Viel Berkner Regental Professor, Bruton Center for Development Studies, Barwood, Inc University of Texas at Dallas GERALD L. BLAIR LILLIAN C. BORRONE, Director, Port Department, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Past Indiana County Transit Authority Chair, 1995) SHIRLEY A. DELIBERO DAVID BURWELL, President, Rails-to-Trails Conservancy New Jersey Transit Corporation E. DEAN CARLSON, Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation ROD J. DIRIDON JAMES N. DENN, Commissioner, Minnesota Department of Transportation International Institute for Surface JOHN W. FISHER, Director, ATLSS Engineering Research Center, Lehigh University Transportation Policy Study DENNIS J. FITZGERALD, Executive Director, Capital District Transportation Authority SANDRA DRAGGOO DAVID R. GOODE, Chairman, President, and CEO, Norfolk Southern Corporation CATA DELON HAMPTON, Chairman & CEO, Delon Hampton & Associates LOUIS J. GAMBACCINI LESTER A. HOEL, Hamilton Professor, University of Virginia. Department of Civil Engineering SEPTA JAMES L. LAMMIE, President & CEO, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc DELON HAMPTON BRADLEY L. MALLORY, Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Delon Hampton & Associates ROBERT E. MARTINEZ, Secretary of Transportation, Commonwealth of Virginia KATHARINE HUNTER-ZAWORSKI JEFFREY J. McCAIG, President & CEO, Trimac Corporation Transportation Research Institute MARSHALL W. MOORE, Director, North Dakota Department of Transportation ALAN F. KIEPPER CRAIG E. PHILIP, President, Ingram Barge Company Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas ANDREA RINIKER, Deputy Executive Director, Port of Seattle PAUL LARROUSSE JOHN M. SAMUELS, Vice President-Operating Assets, Consolidated Rail Corporation Madison Metro Transit System WAYNE SHACKLEFORD, Commissioner, Georgia Department of Transportation ROBERT G. LINGWOOD LESLIE STERMAN, Executive Director of East-West Gateway Coordinating Council BC Transit JOSEPH M. SUSSMAN, JR East Professor and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering,MIT GORDON J. LINTON JAMES W VAN LOBEN SELS, Director, California Department of Transportation FTA MARTIN WACHS, Director, University of California Transportation Center, Berkeley, California DON S. MONROE DAVID L. WINSTEAD, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation Pierce Transit PATRICIA "Tish" S. NETTLESHIP The Nettleship Group, Inc ROBERT E. PAASWELL MIKE ACO'TT, President, National Asphalt Pavement Association (ex officio) The City College of New York ROY A. ALLEN, Vice President, Research and Test Department, Association of American Railroads (ex JAMES P. REICHERT officio) Reichert Management Services JOE N. BALLARD, Chief of Engineers and Commander, US Army Corps of Engineers (ex officio) LAWRENCE G. REUTER ANDREW H. CARD, JR., President & CEO, American Automobile Manufacturers Association (ex officio) New York City Transit Authority THOMAS J. DONOHUE, President and CEO, American Trucking Associations, Inc (ex officio) PAUL TOLIVER FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation King County Department of Officials (ex officio) Transportation/Metro DAVID GARDINER, Assistant Administrator, Office of Policy, Planning, and Evaluation, U.S. LINDA WATSON EnvironmentalProtection Agency (ex officio) Corpus Christi RTA JANE F. GARVEY, Acting Federal Highway Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) EDWARD WYTKIND ALBERT J. HERBERGER, Maritime Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) AFL-CIO T. R. LAKSHMANAN, Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) GORDON J. LINTON, Federal Transit Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) EX OFFICIO MEMBERS RICARDO MARTINEZ, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (ex officio) WILLIAM W. MILLAR WILLIAM W. MILLAR, President. American Public Transit Association (ex officio) APTA JOLENE M. MOLITORIS, Federal Railroad Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation (ex officio) RODNEY E. SLATER DHARMENDRA K. (DAVE) SHARMA, Administrator, Research & Special Programs Administration, U.S. FHWA Department of Transportation (ex officio) FRANCIS B. FRANCOIS BARRY L. VALENTINE, Acting Federal Aviation Administrator, U.S. Department of Transportation AASHTO (ex officio) ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR. TRB TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TDC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FRANK J. CIHAK Transportation Research Board Executive Committee Subcommittee for TCRP APT SHARON D. BANKS, AC Transit DENNIS J. FITZGERALD, Capital District Transportation Authority SECRETARY LESTER A. HOEL, University of Virginia ROBERT J. REILLY GORDON J. LINTON, U.S. Department of Transportation TRB ROBERT E. SKINNER, JR., Transportation Research Board JAMES W. VAN LOBEN SELS, California Department of Transportation DAVID N. WORMLEY, Pennsylvania State University (Chair) T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M Synthesis of Transit Practice 24 AVL Systems for Bus Transit PAULA E. OKUNIEFF Cambridge Systematics, Inc TOPIC PANEL BRUCE W. AHERN, Beaver County Transit Authority D.W. (BILL) DEARASAUGH, Transportation Research Board WILLIAM D. EVANS, Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority HAROLD EWEN, Millitech Corporation WILLIAM HILLER, Ann Arbor Transportation Authority BILL J. KRONENBERGER, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County MAURICE J. MORONEY, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center DAVID OLSON, Kansas City Area Transportation Authority DENIS J. STYMES, Federal Transit Administration Transportation Research Board National Research Council Research Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in Cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS Washington, D.C. 1997 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM TCRP SYNTHESIS 24 Project J-7, Topic SA-04 The nation's growth and the need to meet mobility, ISSN 10734880 environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public ISBN 0-309-060184 transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need Library of Congress Catalog Card No 97-67059 of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, © 1997 Transportation Research Board and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new Price $16.00 technologies from other industries, and to introduce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit NOTICE industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Cooperative Research Program conducted by the Transportation Report 213--Research for Public Transit. New Directions, published Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Federal Transit National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transit Board' s judgment that the project concerned is appropriate with Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research for local, problem-solving research TCRP, modeled after the Council. longstanding and successful National Cooperative Highway Research The members of the technical advisory panel selected to Program, undertakes research and other technical activities in monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for response to the needs of transit service providers. The scope of vice recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human resources, balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. that performed the research, and while they have been accepted as Proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was appropriate by the technical panel, they are not necessarily those of authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation the Transportation Research Board, the Transit Development Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum Corporation, the National Research Council, or the Federal Transit agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the Administration of the U S Department of Transportation three cooperating organizations: FTA, the National Academy of Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the Sciences, acting through the Transportation
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