NC State Wolfline: Tracking & Personalization

STATE

Keya Shanbhag GD 202, Spring 2022

NC State Wolfline Bus System

Every day, millions of people use public transport for various purposes. It is a service that benefits and gives back to the community as well as the environment by reducing air pollution, improving community health, providing equitable transportation, and so on. With all these benefits, these public transit systems can have several drawbacks that affect their operations and the experience of their users.

Through the rise of technological advancements, the development of transit applications has been implemented to organize these systems as a whole and provide a platform for users to navigate through their preferred journey. Universities are one of the main environments that public transport is used in for students and others around campus to move around campus and areas surrounding it.

COVID-19 pandemic has brought shortages in transportation staff, which leads to a lack of running transportation and longer wait times for users to move from place to place. At North Carolina State University, the Wolfline Bus Transit System runs through campus and its surrounding area, providing free service to the public in these areas.

The Focus

The impact of system applications, in this case, Transloc, on users’ experience riding universitysponsored transportation. Public transportation companies and their system applications tend to fall behind with schedules, resulting in users’ frustration around unexpected disruptions to their journeys.

The lack of real-time information available to users on these applications majorly contributes to their dissatisfaction with public transport systems. In the case of navigating through these apps, oftentimes, new users have trouble finding routes that fit their personal schedules.

The lack of real-time tracking and personalized navigation information available to users negatively impacts their overall experience using public transportation systems due to their increased delay times and poor guide planning, which affects transportation staff and lowers ridership numbers.

How can Transit Applications better apply real-time tracking and personalization navigation to aid users’ journeys?

Increased Delay Times

One of the major concerns of Wolfline bus users is the increased delay in the arrival of buses to their respective stops on a route. Often, users experience untimely arrivals, which makes them late for their classes or other activities that they use the bus system to travel to.

In a study done by researchers at The Ohio State University on the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), they measured the Risk of Missing Transfers (RoMT), the empirical probability of missing transfers based on historical data, and the Average Total Time Penalty (ATTP), overall time loss compared to the scheduled trip, to determine how to improve the system for users at the university. Researchers Luyu Liu and Harvey Miller defined transit delays as “a positive deviation of a transit vehicle’s actual arrival time from the scheduled time, are inevitable due to traffic, equipment malfunctions, external events and other circumstances” (Liu and Miller).

In their initial research on the COTA system, they found that these delays made the system less “desirable” and “functional” to users. By measuring the RoMT and the ATTP of COTA, the researchers were able to find “errors in guide planning and decision-making to improve on-time performance” (Liu and Miller) of buses. The emergence of “location-aware and wireless communication technologies” could lead to effective improvements on the current situation transit systems are facing, especially with a shortage of staff due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interview with Sloane Byrd

NC State Wilson College of Textiles Student

Have you used the Wolfline transportation at NC State campus before?

I mainly use it to go over from Main Campus to Centennial to go to the Wilson College of Textiles. All my classes are there.

What route do you use?

My preferred route is 41. 41 is low on buses right now and drivers, sometimes have to take 20.

Does that usually increase the time?

A little bit. Instead of a straight shoot to get me back to main campus, we have to go through all these stops

Do you use the Transloc app?

Yeah, I use the Transloc app

Have you experienced any problems with that app?

Yes, sometimes with the school Wi Fi or your data, it won’t load and so you won’t be able to see the buses or sometimes it’s glitching. You just have to stand there until you find the bus because the bus routes that they post are not always up to date or accurate based on what’s going on. I find that sometimes buses will just disappear. Even if they’re saying it’s five minutes away, it’ll just disappear from the app and may pull up even later than it was supposed to, or earlier.

What kinds of other problems have you encountered?

The time it takes between buses to arrive has increased a lot. Sometimes, it’s 20 minutes in between catching a bus, especially at night standing out there, it doesn’t really feel safe and it’s cold. Or if I have to get to class there’s not a lot of buses, they’re in such a hurry to get to places that they won’t wait. They will pull up for a minute or two, and whoever’s at the bus stop at the time gets on and leaves. So if you’re not there, they’ll leave you. It’s really inconvenient, especially when you’re walking and you’re trying to get there and they just leave. And even on the weekends, that’s hard because you know, the buses are even fewer, so normally I have to catch a ride with one of my classmates over there.

Would you say the bus system as a whole there could be some improvements to be made?

It would help a lot if they could employ more bus drivers and pay them well, so they stay employed and more buses are available for students

Sometimes, it’s 20 minutes in between catching a bus. They will pull up for a minute or two, and whoever’s at the bus stop at the time gets on and leaves.

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Activities Environments Interactions

Objects Users

FAULTY Guide Planning

I neffective guide planning on the Transloc transit application used by Wolfline users was deemed to be another problem affecting their scheduled journeys. The Dehli Metro system in India was analyzed for its user experience and researchers discovered various aspects about the framing of commuters’ experience. According to their exploratory findings, most of the approaches to personalize commuters’ experiences were based on users’ interests and collected fare cards. However, they found that if users’ preferences were catered toward convenience, it would yield better outcomes to their journeys using public transportation. The researchers described convenience in public transit based on three parameters - “time, crowdedness, and seat availability” (Agarwal et al).

In Raleigh, NC, around rush-hour traffic, the Wolfline buses can experience delays up to 15 to 30 minutes and this can majorly throw off the schedule of the buses as well as students riding them. The Dehli researchers’ eventual goal is to develop a system which can “infer commuter preferences of convenience in public transit” and provide “suitable route recommendations”. With implementations like these into the transit apps, riders will be less likely to experience frustration with transport systems. Transit networks need to be highly dynamic and commuters should be provided information in real-time in order to navigate their surroundings as well as reach their intended destination on time. In a big city, delays and route changes can occur because of accidents, mishaps, traffic jams, etc, so transportation must be able to provide these updates to users. Due to poor guide-planning on transit applications, like Transloc, users are experiencing unwanted inconvenience in their daily commutes.

Each metropolis usually has its own transportation system and often times multiple systems will use a common transportation application. In these cases, it is essential that they are up to date and loaded with the correct information for users to have little to no confusion with navigation; however, riders find them to be an unreliable source. In research, taken place in the Madrid region of Spain, researchers analyzed bus passengers’ usage of mobile transit applications to travel to their desired destinations. They conducted a survey to “capture the use of real-time information (RTI) mobile apps”. The results showed that “multimodal commuters tend to consult several apps since none of the main apps integrates all the multimodal RTI for their trips” (Alonso et al).

They found that users had to consult multiple types of transit apps in order to obtain accurate information. Google Maps was a popular application that worked somewhat effectively rather than the official public transport authority app. The Transloc application used by Wolfline bus riders displays approximate arrival times for buses on routes across campus; however, due to different inconveniences faced throughout the day, these times can be inaccurate and no longer display RTI. By improving the multimodal information passengers receive through transit apps, transport systems could ease their trips and help materialize some of the potential bus demand in metropolitan areas.

Interview with Hiba Al Naqshabandi

University of North Carolina Student

My first question is have you used the Wolfline transportation at NC State?

Yes, I used it once.

And compared to the UNC’s buses, how would you compare the two together?

I thought that the Wolfline was more organized. It looked a lot cleaner. And the seats, in my opinion, we’re more comfortable.

At NC State we have an app called Transloc to follow the bus routes and see when they come to the bus stops. Do you guys have an app?

We also use Transloc

Does it work for you guys? Do you like the app Transloc?

I like it. But lately, it has been acting up a little bit. I have been waiting for buses that suddenly changes times or disappear while I’m waiting for them on the map, so I don’t like that a lot. But I know that there’s a shortage on buses here. And that’s why it’s happening.

Aside from the Transloc app, do you have any other inconveniences at like the bus stops with the visuals around the bus stops in the bus or just the experience of riding the bus?

One thing, I do not know if I hate it or not, but it’s just weird. In UNC, you could go through whatever door you want. I do not know if is it the windows, or what but like when you sit in the NC State bus, the view is a lot better

Do you guys experience overcrowding on the bus?

Occasionally, not all the time, but it happens.

How would you say that the buses regulate COVID-19 rules?

The only thing I would say they do is provide masks otherwise, sometimes it’s pretty crowded to the point that people are standing

And does your bus have a barrier between the driver and the students?

No, there’s a barrier that they can open and close

How many routes does UNC have in general?

So I only take one route usually that’s the one that I use the most as it goes to where I have my classes. But we do have it looks like we have 17 routes

What would you like to improve about the UNC bus system?

I wish it could look cleaner. I cannot complain about the shortage because I understand the problem but like, I wish they’d fix that too

Activities Environments Interactions Objects Users

Interview with Shams Al Naqshabandi

NC State College of Design Student

Do you use the Wolfline transportation at NC State?

I used to use it a lot last semester but this semester, in the beginning of the year of freshman year, finding out which route would take me to classes was so confusing I started to figure out things on my own. They have two apps to find out where you want to go and where the bus stops are. But they’re kind of confusing and not very helpful.

Which apps do you use?

I used to use Transloc. But it was the old version, and it didn’t work out really well. So I ended up switching to an app. It’s not very famous, it’s called UMO. And this one was it was more helpful. It had more accurate information about the bus routes, the stops and everything. And it had more details on the bus routes

What made the apps difficult, like transloc, What were some aspects that were inconvenient for you?

It kind of lags a lot and it doesn’t always show real time. It says that it shows real time in terms of when the bus is going to arrive, but sometimes that information is not so accurate. It is kind of confusing, sometimes it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t show the bus

How about your experience on taking the actual bus? How was that like?

I didn’t like that sometimes leaving studio late, after six or something, and I have to ride the bus. But for some reason, after five at times, the bus comes really late. You have to wait half an hour or something, which is so not convenient. I would rather walk to my car instead of waiting

And what about the visuals on the route of the bus stop and on the bus? Are they helpful to you? Or are they reliable?

On the bus itself, it says the route and where it would take you, so that was very helpful. But the maps, they were so confusing.

What is the most inconvenient part about riding the bus from the whole experience?

The waiting part.

The information is not so accurate. It is kind of confusing, sometimes it doesn’t work, or it doesn’t show the bus. The maps, they were so confusing.

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I have been waiting for buses that suddenly changes times or disappear while I’m waiting for them on the map.

Decreased Ridership Numbers

Ridership numbers of public transportation was another major factor that came as an effect of the lack of real-time information available on transport apps. “In a UK transit guide, it is reported that on-time performance of local bus services is considered by passengers to be twice as important as scheduling frequency” (Ceder et al). This type of data supports the idea that reliable transit services are important in order to attract and retain riders. Among bigger cities, there may be several options of transportation, so there is the possibility of transport companies being in jeopardy of losing their services altogether, which can also negatively impact staff. Having “rider information is empowering, allowing transit riders to have greater control over their trip (Ceder et al).

According to their research, the ability to determine when the next vehicle is coming brings travelers’ perception of wait time in line with the true time spent waiting is what it comes down to when deciding if a transport system is wasteful or not. Realtime arrival information can most definitely increase ridership on the system. “Transit users value knowing how long their wait is or whether they have just missed the last bus.” (Liu and Miller). Therefore, in order to increases ridership numbers, transport systems must do better to provide consistently accurate information for their users.

reliable service retains riders

Inconvenienced Transportation Staff

With the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the inconveniences that the transport system has faced because of it, the staff can be the core population that understands the activity of passengers. In a study done on the valuesensitive design and its effects on transportation systems, a team surveyed 253 bus operators to determine their views and values concerning the existing use of real-time information and to ask about future transit rider information applications. The researchers investigated the design of potential rider information tools based on many factors, such as how often they would be used by riders, how big of a difference they would make in gaining new transit riders or in improving the experience for existing riders, and how they would affect the job of bus operators and other transit employees. They identified different tools that are used in the system and their effectiveness towards users’ experience.

“Often such tools are implemented without the input of the bus operators, who have day-to-day contact with the riders and know them the best” (Borning et al). They started a project called the OneBusAway (OBA) project provides real-time bus arrival information via a website, smartphone applications, voice response telephone, and text-message to transit riders in greater Seattle-Tacoma. This project allowed for riders using this region’s transportation to have a better experience with the system through timely arrivals and enhanced communication

Interview with Ian Bailey

NC State Wolfline Bus Driver and student at College of Design

You were a bus driver on the Wolfline?

Yes, I was from the summer of 2018 through the beginning of 2020.

Did you go through a training process when you’re first hired?

When I was hired, I did not have my commercial driver’s license required to drive the wolfline bus. Transdev is the company that hired me. It’s a month long commitment, where you’re working 40 hours a week to learn about how to operate a bus, how to go about the safety, company policies that are in place, and practice driving

What would you say your experience was with maintaining a timely arrival at locations?

Time points, the stops that the bus makes, they wait from five to 10 minutes for the next departure. Those are built into the bus schedule to account for traffic. If you get behind on a route because of rush hour traffic, once rush hour passes just keep driving. After a couple of loops, you get that time back and you’re back on schedule. The time that they give us to drive from one end to the other is usually sufficient.

What are some other causes of late arrivals besides traffic?

Lack of drivers, call outs, mechanical issues with the bus, an incident happens, and if a passenger needs extra help.

Physically, on the bus, is there anything that you think would require some improvements? For students, there could be more information available to them on. Like a pamphlet that explains routes or something.

Were there some common complaints about buses from passengers that got on?

If it’s a busy day and you have multiple buses on the route, buses will often fill up. They will have to skip stops It’s a frustrating moment for students because they see the bus go by. Then, they have to wait for the next driver. With navigation, students are not sure where a bus was gonna go. They have to ask for directions to a specific place and then a driver isn’t able to answer the question. If a driver doesn’t know that’s kind of frustrating.

Do the drivers have contacts they can give those students to find that information?

A lot of drivers will defer them to the Transloc app or they’ll call dispatch to ask over the radio They can be less responsive sometimes and it’s not as reliable

Any other challenges the system could have dealt better with?

To speak on the driver shortage, that’s something that they could deal better with. Drivers who already have their CDL (commercial driver’s license), and they want to work for Transdev or drive the Wolfline, they have to go through the training process too. So, that’s a huge limitation that stops experienced drivers from coming in. The pay is $14.25 starting and increases are written into your contract when you sign. It’s around 25 cents a year, which is ridiculous. After working there for four whole years. You now make $1 more an hour than when you started I think that stops drivers from coming in. They could do more to attract people.

You being a bus driver, how would that compared to being a bus user?

Having been a driver it kind of makes me more sensitive to just the environment on the bus

Would you say there are things that bus drivers could help users with now that you’ve experienced both sides?

Being maybe more transparent instead of being stoic about when problems show up with lateness or when students are frustrated. It would be good for drivers to explain time points, which is why you might see buses idling. Being open to talking about the driver shortage.

Being maybe more transparent instead of being stoic about when problems show up with lateness or when students are frustrated.

Conclusion

With the wide range of people using public transportation in and around urban areas as well as universities, users should be provided with accurate details to navigate towards their intended destinations. The Wolfline bus system users at NC State University have often encountered problems with their mobile application Transloc and this has been the case for other transit applications in various cities. With the implementation of real-time tracking and personalization of navigation information on these public transit apps, users’ experience with public transportation can improve drastically.

References

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“Potential Demand for Bus Commuting Trips in Metropolitan Corridors through the Use of Real-Time Information Tools.” Taylor & Francis, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15568318.2020.187 1131.

“Towards Building Real-Time, Convenient Route Recommendation System for Public Transit.” IEEE Xplore, https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ document/7580779/authors#authors.

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