Transportation Research Record 994 35
Use of SUPERCALC to Compile and Report Statistics in Public Transportation
ROBERT CHAPLEAU and KARSTEN G. BAASS
ABSTRACT lyst to design field sheets, to compile data, and to produce reports easily and in an extremely user friendly way. The concepts behind VISICALC, The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the SUPERCI\LC, and the other CALCs are much the same and usefulness of commercially developed and SUPERCALC (2) is used in this illustration. Some widely available software for solving prob introductory- explanations are necessary in order to lems of data analysis and statistical evalu un.derstand the basics of this program. Its useful ation in transportation planning and opera ness in transportation will then be illustrated by t i ons. As an example, SUPERC!).LC, developed an application. by sorcim Corporation, is applied to the study of public transportation usage. The problem-solving illustration is composed of THE CALC PROGRAM three parts: The first part involves the design of a basic worksheet (template), the The memory of the micr ocomputer is subdivided into a second demonstrates the definition of a bus worksheet or spreadsheet similar to a matrix with 63 line and the preparation of a field sheet, columns and 254 rows. Each of these cells can con and the third describes the compilation of tain data, complicated formulas, or alphanumeric observed data and the preparation of final information, or it can be used for graphic output. and intermediate reports. The sample appli The width of the columns can be varied if necessary. cation shows that fairly difficult problems, Figure l shows an example of a worksheet. which formerly would have required a main frame computer and specialized knowledge of computer programming, can now be handled by I A 11 B 11 II 11 E 11 ~ 3 s this user-friendly and easily understood 21 software. The application described was im 31 plemented on an Osborne l (64K) computer, a 41 51 typical modern microcomputer. '!;'he low cost bl of this and similar microcomputers makes 71 81 them particularly appealing for small, me 91 dium, and even larger transportation 101 111 agencies. 121 131 141 151 161 171 181 Microcomputers are penetrating more and more into 191 our everyday lives . Because of their personal char Cl For.-SQRT
i ng of data and formul a£ in an extremely simpl e and The particular usefulness of the microcompu ter user-frie ndly way. Some of these c ommands [see lies in its i nte r ac tive capability. The comput er Os borne user's guide (1_) o r equivalent ] include operator, programmer, and analyst are all one person in this P.tivironm~n.t, reuniting the functions of ae - Data commands s ign, calculation, and a nalysis that are essential /Edit: Transfers cell contents to in all engineering applications and that have been entry line for editing . separated since the introduction of the mainframe /Format: Specifies format for a given compute r. The feedback among data, program, and r e portion of the worksheet. s ults is i nstant aneous a nd thus facilitates t he en - Worksheet adjustment commands g i nee r's work i n design and daily operations , f r ee /Delete: Erases data from a specified ing him f rom dependence on computer programs a nd column or row. computer specialists. / I nsert: Inserts an empty column or row. Consider, aa an example, the problem or transl t /Move : Relocates a column or a row of route performance anal ysis and, especially, rider data. s hip repor t i ng. Many programs exis t i n this field as /Copy: Duplicates data from source i s documented in t he Software source book of Micro row or column to destination. computer s in Transportation (ll, but these are /Replicate: Replicates source until speci mainly programs written in BASIC or s imi lar program fied range is filled. mi ng languages. /Title: Provides method for fixing Procedures for the study of public transportation titles. use Ci) are well known. There are several activities - File manipulation related to these studi es: /Load: Loads and displays part or all of a disk file. - Definit ion of bus lines with lists of stops and /Save: Stores data from worksheet to the dis t ances between them; disk. - Data aoquisi tion on board transit vehicles by /Output: Prints results to printer or an observer ; and disk. - Compilation for a given time period of statis - General conunands tics such as time series distribution, maximum /Zap: Clears the entire worksheet of load point, and passenger-kilometers. data. /Quit: Exits from SUPERCALC. In a traditional computer environment at least t hree procedures would have to be programmed : (a) The copy and replicate commands dese rve spec ial update of the file of bus routes (stops , speeds, and ment ion because t hey a re par ticularly usef ul in mul s o f orth) 1 (b) data acquisition, verification, and tiplyi ng data i n t he wor ks hee t. The f ormat command, validation1 and (c) preparation of the report. wh ich can be used to design a field sheet or final In t he microcomputer environmen t a similar design report, is also helpful. can be used, which i s much simplifi ed by the use of CALC. The procedur e has f our level s :
APPLICATION OF CALC IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION L. General design of the spreadsheet data struc ture and analysis, together with the design of a The principal aim of this paper is to illustrate an field sheet for this particular problem. elegant and efficient way to solve some of the 2. Preparation of the f i eld sheet for the par everyday problems encountered by the transit planner ticular t ransit line to be studied. This sheet can without using any heavy computer har dware. be used by the observer on the bus. The sample sheet
, II I A I I C II D II E II f II & II H II I II J I I L II " II 1111 0 II e II ., I S 11 T II U 11 V 111'18.IC TIWllll'Ol!TATIOII ~ R, ClliplNU 11 of CX1111lhtion--- 21 i:--e•MIIII• 31 41 LIIE:I MlE: TEIIP: CAP.: 75 41 51 I MY1 51 61 run= bl 71TOTH. IUIIER dir = 71 81 Of IUIS • 1 DIST, TII£ start- CU " Ul i\TIVE &I 91 No. BUS (k1) (1in.l PASSE!&RS T•an P"5SOIIERS p;iss p;iss SPEED 91 No. BUS ON 10 20 30 i,o 50 60 70 80 101 STOP theor. obs. ON OfF (1inl ON OFF IN k1 1in theor, obs. 101 STOP BOARD 111--- Ill· 121 1 0 D 0 Qllllllltllllllllllllllll 121 1 0 131 2 0 0 0 0 0 IEIROR ERROR 131 2 0 HI 3 0 D 0 0 0 !ERROR ERIIOII HI 3 0 151 4 0 u 0 0 0 !ERROR ERROR 151 4 0 161 5 0 0 0 D D !ERROR ERROR 1bl 5 0 171 6 0 D D 0 0 !ERROR ERROR 171 6 0 181 7 0 0 0 0 0 !ERROR ERIIOII 181 7 0 191 8 0 0 0 D D !ERROR ERROR 191 8 0 201 9 D D D D D !ERROR ERROR 201 9 0 211 10 D 0 D 0 D IEIROR ERROR 211 10 D 221 11 0 0 D D 0 IEIROR ERROR 221 11 0 231 12 0 0 0 0 0 !ERROR ERROR 231 12 0 241 13 0 0 0 0 0 !ERROR ERROR 241 13 0 251 14 0 0 0 0 D !ERROR ERROR 251 14 0 261 15 0 D D D D !ERROR ERROR 261 15 D 271 16 D 0 0 0 0 !ERROR ERROR 271 16 0 241 17 D 0 0 D 0 !ERROR ERROR 281 17 0 2'11 18 0 0 0 D 0 !ERROR ERROR 2'11 18 0 .. 3111 19 D D a a a !ERROR ERROR 301 19 0 311 20 0 0 D a 0 !ERROR ERROR 31 1 20 0 - 321 32 331 TOTAL•••• 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 341 on off ON OFF IN NM 3519..0l!lt. INOICATORS: 361 H k1 /.JJJU = ERROR 371 fflifl/,...~ 381 fffltlo v/o • EllllDII FIGURE 2 Baaic workBheet. Chapleau and Baass 37 presented here follows closely the one used by the - Cumulative time of arrival at each bus stop; and Montreal Urban Community Transit Commission. - Number of boarding and alighting passengers, 3. Data entry on the field sheet and input of data to the microcomputer. 4. Preparation of intermediate and final reports. The final report should contain cumulative calcu lations for a chosen period of the day: for example, volumes of boarding and alighting passengers, the DESIGN OF THE BASIC WORKSHEET maximum point load, and a graphic display of the passenger load profile for one or more bus r u.ns. The The practical illustration i s based on an example repo,:t should also identify by an astedsk those with 20 bus stops, but CALC allows the number of links, between t wo stops, on which the theoretical stops to be modified easily (up to 254 if the memory average overall travel time differs by more than 1 of the· microcomputer is large enough) by inserting min from the observed time. Several. global indica new stops or deleting existing ones. tors of performance such as overall travel speed , At the beginning of the design procedure, the passenger-kilometers, and volume-to-capacity ratio kind of report to be produced in terms of format and should also be given on the report sheet. graphic or written output must be defined. In the When this basic worksheet has been designed, it example the following information was required: can be saved on a disk file and used for any bus line to be studied. The basic worksheet is shown in - All information contained on the basic field Figure 2. Rows l to ll. essentially contain tiUes sheet such as line number, weather conditions, and headings for the report and the field sheet. The capacity of the bus, and time of departure of actual calculations are done in columns J to V over the run; rows 12 to 31 using data that are contained in col - Number of each bus stop, its name and location: umns C to I over rows 12 to 31. The formulas intro - Cumulative distance of each bus stop from the duced i nto the worksheet are shown in Figure 3. They starting point; are not displayed on the worksheet and are repro-
I I I I C.11 I ti I II F ti I II N II II I II t 11'18.IC TIW6POITATIOH llSME R, Olapl1M1 • 11-~11 of co.t,il•ti- 41 UIE1I MTEI lBP: Cl#,t 75 51 I MVt nm• 6111ToT1t------IU'IIER dlr • I CF 1116 • t DIST. Tl!£ 1tart.- 91 11:1, 111B (kal (1in.l PAS S•E N 6 ER S 1111n Trawl Till )fl STOI' tMor, obi. i!W111rq Alightlrq (llinl 121 I (Jl2'U1&·1l+612l1Da IF(A8S(Jl2-f12))1 ,1,0> 131 At2+1 (J13t(t>e•1 )+613)/Da JF(A8S(J13-f!J»l, I 10l 141 A13t1 U1'•(Da-t)+6Hl/D8 lF(A8S duced here for explanatory purposes only. The ERROR I A I .I C II O II E II F 11611 H 11111 J IIKII L 11"1 1 IPll!UC TRNISl'ORTmON USl6: ft. Ch1pleau messages in Figure 2 a.re normal because the program 21----exuple or capihtlon---- calculates, with the help of the formu.la of Figure 31 ~I Llt£:l DATE: TE"P: CAP.: 75 3, speeds and global indicators using times and dis 51 51 l OAV, tance8: wh ich are ~recently zc~v. CALC will produce 6\------run = meaningful values only when numbers are introduced 71TOT Al. tueER dir = 81 OF RI.NS $$ TUE start= into areas Cl to I20. 91 Ho, BUS DIST . C~in) PASstNGERS To understand the formulas, consider the number 101 STOP Ck~) theor. obs. ON OFF 111- - --- · of passengers on the bus in column N of Figure 3 at 121 .00 0 I the third bus stop. The n.umber of boarding passen 131----- 141 2 HALIFAX ,&2 2.5 gers corresponds to the current contents of cell Ll4 15 1 plus the contents of cell Hl4, which contains the \i,I 3 SIOIEY 1.79 6.t 171 - number of passengers boarding and counted by the ob 181 CHARLOTTE 2.45 8, 7 I server. Occupancy ii; calc ulatad in column N as the 191- - --· difference between the number of boarding and 201 SOURIS 3.60 11.6 I I 211 ----- alighting passengars plus those who are a lready in 22 1 6 t10NCTON 4.82 14.3 I 1 231------·------the bus from t he preceding stop . The ce.feC"ences to 241 7 FREDERICTON 5, 74 17,9 I the cells can be interpreted as the indices o f a 251 - - 261 8 QUEBEC 7 .00 21.1 I matrix. On e o f the most usef ul charact eristics of 271------CALC is that all indices are automatically changed 281 9 SIUBROOKE 7 .'15 23.8 I 2'11 ------if a row (i.e., a bus stop) is deleted or inserted, 301 10 NONTREAL 8.81 26.5 I I I I so the worksheet can truly be used for any bus li.ne 311 ------with any number of stops. 331321 ------11 OTTAWA 10,42 29.7 I I I I 341 12 TORONTO 11.3b 32.1 I I 35 1------36 1 13 LONDON 12.40 34.2 I I I I FIELO SREET 14 WINNIPEG 13,46 38.3 I I I I m391------· using this basic design, a field sheet for a partic ,OI 15 REGINA 14.10 41.6 I ular bus line c an eas ily be prepared by saving from 411 ------421 16 EDIIONTON 15,08 45.2 I Figure 2 only columns A to I over rows 1 to 31 on a U l--- - disk file. Adding the necessary information on bus 44 1 17 CALGARY 16.37 48.7 I 4SI ------stops such as location, d i stance, and travel times 461 18 VIClORIA 16,88 52.6 I I I I 471 ------defines the field sheet shown i n Figure 4. If sepa i.a, 19 VANCOUVER 17.55 54.9 I I I I ration lines are inserted, this sheet can be used 491 ------501 20 Yru.OIOIIFE 18,00 60 I directly on the bus (Figure 5) . 511 ------· FIGURE 5 Field sheet used on a bus. I A I I C II O II E II F II 6 II 1111 l I I !PIBLIC TRANSPORTATION USAa: R, Oiapleau 2 - - exuple ol -pl latlon-- 3 - --- the basic worksheet (Figure 2) is first loaded from 41 LI!£:! 0/\TE: mtP: CAP.: 0 disk file int-o tM memor~l cf the c ompu .... er anU then I 51 ! DIY: bl ------run = the contents of disk file BAl are inserted (using 71TOTAI. lf..tl!ER dir = the command /Load) into this worksheet, which is 81 Of RUe • 1 01ST, Tl!£ start= 91 He. BUS Ck~) (nin.) PASSENGERS equivalent to filling out the cells in columns C to 101 STOP theor. obs. ON OFF I and rows 12 to 31. This automatically initiates 111 the calculations des.ci: ibed by the formulas shown in 121 1 ST-JOHN 0 0 131 2 HALIFAX .82 2.5 Figure 3, and this produces the i:eport (Fig,ure 7) 141 3 SIDNEY 1.79 6.1 for this run. If an average for the three runs is 151 4 CHARI.OTlE 2.45 8.7 161 5 SOURIS 3.6 11.6 r equired, files Bl'.2 and Bl'.3 are successively loaded 171 6 t10NCTON 4.82 14.3 onto the basic worksheet and the final report (Fig 181 7 FREDERICTON 5.74 17 .9 191 8 QI.EBEC 7 21.1 ure 8) is obtained for the peak hour. 201 9 Sl£R81l(l()KE 7.'1S 23.8 211 10 PIONTREAL 8.81 26.5 221 11 OTIAIIA 10.42 'l'l.7 231 12 TORONTO 11.36 32.1 CONCLUSIONS 241 13 LONDON 12.4 34.2 251 14 WINNIPEG 13.41, 38.3 261 15 REGINA 14.1 41.6 The application of CALC to the case of transit sur 271 16 EDNONTON 15.08 45.2 281 17 CAI.GARY 1n.,1 4A.7 veys 15 e [Clulent an~ fast. The worksheet can easily 291 18 VICTORIA 16.88 52.6 be adapted to fit all possible transit lines and 301 19 VANCOUVER 17 .5S 54.9 311 20 Yru.OIIOIIFE 18 60 titles; column headings and row headings can be mod ified as necessary for use by different transit FIGURE 4 Field sheed stored on disk file. authorities. The same basic CALC program can be adapted to other applications in the transit field; for example, to public transportation speed and OBSERVEO DATA delay studies. There are also many applications in the traffic engineering field such as spot speed The observed data are intrO I A I I C I I E II F II 6 II H II 1 I I A I I C II D II E II F II 6 11 H 11 I I I A I I C 11 0 11 E 11 F 11 6 11 H 11 I I 11PIJILJC TRAHSPORTATIOII0 " USAGE R. Chapleau f'UlUC TRANSPORTATION USAGE R. Chapleau PIJ8LIC TRANSPORTATION USAGE R. Chapleau 21----ekilltl)le of eo1pl latlon------11xaapl• of coapi lation------e,ample of C011pilatian----- 31 ---- 41 U/£:1 OATE1t50683 TEIIP : clear CAP.: 75 Ll!l::I OATE:150683 TEMP: clear CAP.: 75 LIIE:l OATE:150683 TEMP: clear CAP.: 75 51 51 I OAY:aonday 51 I OAY:11anday St I OAY:111anday 61 ------run = BA1 ------run = BA2 ------run = BA3 71TOTAl~R dir =WEST TOT Al NLteER dir =WEST TOT Al IUIBE:R dir =WEST 61 Cf = 1 DIST. TU£ start=07h00 Cf IMS = 2 DIST. TINE start=07h15 OF RUNS = 3 DIST. TIME start=07h30 91 No. BUS l k•) lain. I PASSE&RS Ne. BUS (kml (min,) PASSENfiERS No. BUS Ck mJ I A I I C II D II E 11 F II 6 If H II 1 11 J I I L II N II 0 II p fl 9 II RI I IPU!LIC TRNISPORTATlOK USA6E R. Olaple~u " II j -exaple o( coapilatlon- 1 41 LltE SU,8 201,6 16,33 19.6 281 t7 CALGARY 16.37 48. 7 48 o 4 48 0 4 52 72.24 191. 22.tt 25,8 291 18 VICTORIA 16.88 52.b 51 7 0 51 • 7 o 59 26,52 202.8 7.846 10.2 301 19 VANCOUVER 17.55 54.9 54 t 33 54 t 33 27 39.53 135.7 17 . 48 13,4 311 20 YEI.LOll I 5 11 T 11 U 11 V 91 No. BUS ON tO 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 101 STOP BOARD 11 1------·------121 tST-JOH 10 ..... 131 2HALIFA 13 ...... 141 3SIONEY 16 ...... 151 4CHARLD 16 ...... 1bl 5SOUR!S 20 flfHHHI 171 bl10NCTO 1b ...... 181 7FREOER 15 ...... 191 BQUEBEC 20 HffffH·ff 201 'ISl£RBR 32 ffHHHfHHHf 211 tlJMONTRE "S'f HHHflHHtHHI 221 110TTAWA 40 HlflfffffHfUHHf 231 12TORONT 44 HffllfflfHIIIHtffH 241 13LONOON 44 HHHHfffHHHHIH 251 14Wit,NIP 50 fftlffflfftHHfffHHftf 2bl 15REG!Nfl 56 ffH..... ffffffftHffffffffff 271 16EDIIONT Sb HHIIIIHHHftlftHIIIHlf 281 t7CAL6AR 52 fHffffHfHHUffffffllH 291 t8VICTOR 59 ffffHIIIIHHHltHHHHIH 301 19VANCOU 27 fHHfflffHf 311 20YEU.OW o 321 --- - FIGURE 7 Report of bus run BAI on Line 51. 40 Transportation Research Record 994 I A I I C II D 11 E II F II 6 II H II l II J I I L II NII D 11 p II 8 II I I ti P\111.lC TIW$PORTAT10N USAG: R, Chapleau " II 21--11•uple ol -pi hlioo- 31 41 Lit£:! DATE11506&l TEl1P: clear CAP.: 75 51 51 I DAY:aonday 61 - nm:::M'3 71TOTAL NNER dir =IEST 81 OF RIMS . 3 DIST. TII£ start not only cheap and fast but requires no special TRNews, No. 105, March-April 1983, pp. 6-11. knowledge of computer programming languages. The 2. Osborne l Oser• e Reference Gu.ide. Sore im Corpo extremely user-friendly design of these mass-pro ration, Santa Clara, Calif., 1981. du.ced programs that contain no "bugs• provides an 3. Microcomputers in Transportation: software a nd easy way to introduce c omputers at all levels o f t he source Oook. UMTll.-ORT-41-83-1. OMTA, u.s. De transportation agency. This will help to demystify partment of Transportation, 1983. computers for engineers and planners now working in 4, P.C. Box et al. Ma nual of Traffic Eng in Pting the field. The ease of use of these programs en ur Studies. Institute of Transportation Engineers, ages more frequent ~pplications because it is possi Washington, o . c . , 1976. ble to produce interesting results without t he long and hard apprenticeship necessary to work with a mainframe computer. REFERENCES 1. H.J. Simkowitz and M.L. Manheim. Microcomputers Publication of this paper sponsored by Conunittee on and Transportation Team Up: What's Ahead? Bus Transit Systems.