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Intelligent Transportation Systems: Dispatch and Scheduling By Nick Ross
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There Is Real-Time Tracking, Predictive Maintenance, Integrations, and More (Oh My) Here are five resources to show you the value of Intelligent Transportation Systems 4
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Intelligent Transportation Systems: DISPATCH AND SCHEDULING BUSRide spoke with Nick Ross, industry solutions manager for Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) at Trapeze Group, about GPS, dispatch and scheduling technology. In a comprehensive interview, he touched on several recent significant technological advancements, the benefits of open architecture and what the future holds for these solutions.
In your estimation, how can dispatch and scheduling tools help agency and municipality organizers to stay “connected,” in real-time, with their assets and systems? Nick Ross: With the appropriate CAD/AVL solution, you’re seeing a true level of real-time connection. Not only is there a link between operators and dispatchers for various levels of data and voice communications, but it also links real-time reporting between the vehicle itself, in-vehicle peripherals, dispatch, and maintenance. This enables an agency to streamline the response process ensuring they can be proactive rather than reactive with their resolutions. Lastly, but maybe most importantly, the real-time data generated within the CAD/AVL solution throughout day-to-day operations can then be communicated to the agency’s ridership via website, apps, wayside signage, and infotainment. What are the most significant advancements in dispatch, GPS, scheduling and asset management in the past few years? Some of the major milestones of the recent couple of years include: • Increased data sharing – look at your agency holistically. It has become increasingly apparent that several different systems require similar data to be shared, giving you the ability to see a result across each system as the data is shared simultaneously • I ntelligent incident queues – in the past, as incidents would occur throughout the day, dispatchers had manual processes to deal with them as they arrived in the queue. Now you can automate many of the incidents through a defined set of actions to save time and to save money • Proactive route monitoring tools – the evolution of tools available to dispatchers now allow multiple views of the fleet and to monitor headway, which enables an agency to see a higher level of the health of their service • Advanced service adjustment capabilities – this provides the means for dispatchers and administrators to efficiently resolve situations they encounter during the day-to-day service of an agency • Vehicle intelligence – detailed vehicle analytics for improved maintenance mean–time between failures and fleet longevity proactively notify dispatchers of potential issues within their fleet. It gives them a heads up on the maintenance or failure so dispatchers (and riders) aren’t left stranded.
What factors are driving innovation in this field? The main thing driving innovation in the field is, and will continue to be, passenger issues and operator safety. But another important goal is to keep riders, dispatchers and operators satisfied. Satisfaction is the driving force for all that we do. If riders aren’t satisfied, they will look elsewhere to get from point A to B. If your operators and dispatchers aren’t satisfied, then you won’t have a workforce to operate your agency, which would lead to unsatisfied riders. And the best way to have high satisfaction is to keep all parties informed. To be constantly pushing the envelope to keep operators, dispatchers, and ridership informed, we need to remain open to new opportunities as they present themselves. It is the people in the industry attending conferences and technology expos to explore and discuss the latest technological developments. It is understanding that ideas might come from somewhere outside the public transit space. We can’t be restricted in our processes or so close-minded that the current solutions are, and will always be, the best solutions. Stay receptive to technology advancements, from all industries, as an opportunity to inform riders, dispatchers and operators. What kind of concepts, technology or innovations in the realm of dispatch and asset management can operators / agencies expect to see in the coming years? It is important to look at everything in a full view. It’s time to start looking at agency operations holistically. ITS is exactly what its acronym means – intelligent transportation systems. Notice the plural on systems. No longer is ITS just tracking where your buses are and the communication of dispatchers to operators. The change is to have all systems talking together. As this full 360-degree approach picks up pace, you will likely see continued advancements in open source data sharing and increased informational exchanges amongst all systems within an agency. The agency’s operational “eco-system” will not be a single solution focus. But, how these varying systems work together will have a direct impact on an agency’s future and directly impact dispatch and asset management in the coming years. Nick Ross serves as industry solutions manager for ITS at Trapeze Group. Visit www.trapezegroup.com for more information.
How has the concept of open architecture affected asset management technology? Does it represent a net positive for agencies? The concept of open architecture is that you are sharing data. And with the continuing advancements in data sharing across multiple platforms, processes are streamlined: not only does data entry only have to be performed and shared once, but it also ensures that the information is consistent – for every department looking at it, across every platform– it isn’t just limited to asset management. busride.com | BUSRIDE
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There Is Real-Time Tracking, Predictive Maintenance, Integrations, and More (Oh My) Here are five resources to show you the value of Intelligent Transportation Systems When transit thinks of ITS, the main thought is often of a CAD/AVL system. While this is technically correct, there is so much more than just real-time tracking. The conversations happening between all the technologies in your transit agency are endless. ITS helps make sure all those technologies are speaking the same language. In order to make sense of all that chatter, your ITS solution can give you the means to sift through what is important and simplify the things that don’t need immediate attention. It can do that and so much more.
Do you know how to choose the correct technology provider? Here is a short list of questions to help you out: Do you know my Xs and Os? What have you helped others like me do? Who do you remind me of? When will I see some wins? Where do I go to get help? CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
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The transit trifecta is an example of how all your different departments’ software talk and work together. Let’s say one of your buses needs unexpected maintenance and an incident is created within the maintenance department. It will automatically be updated within scheduling and dispatch that the bus is no longer in use and a new one will be needed in order to maintain service. The original operator will automatically be assigned to the new bus and service will continue without any interruptions. busride.com
Automation is now an important thing in transit. Intelligent Decision Support (IDS) has the ability to help you set parameters to automate tasks or events by following a protocol. This allows you to deal with the important things. It keeps you organized and allows you to be the most efficient you can be at your job. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
ITS can integrate into many different aspects of your agency. When you combine Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) and ITS, not only does your agency as a whole benefit by understanding the data being collected, but your operators and finance departments have an easier time understanding what’s going on within the agency. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
Another example of integrating ITS into your operations is combining ITS and your maintenance department. You can use telematics to analyze all the data and actually predict when your assets will break down. Using this predictive maintenance model, Metro Transit – St. Louis was able to save $2.4 million annually. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
Now you can really see the power of what Intelligent Transportation Systems can do for your transit agency. Is your agency using ITS to its full potential? busride.com | BUSRIDE
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