Transit Signal Priority Research Tools

This report addresses Transit Signal Priority (TSP) deployment issues. It reviews National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP) 1211 Signal Control and Prioritization (SCP) standards, defines five SCP scenarios, and describes how the SCP scenarios can be applied differently based on TSP priority and operating policies. The report provides an overview of a number of TSP systems, including centralized TSP, two discrete TSP systems based on loop detection and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies, and an Adaptive Transit Signal Priority (ATSP) system. A comparison of the different TSP deployments, and guidance on the necessary infrastructure required to implement these TSP systems, are provided. The report also discusses TSP evaluation methodologies, including recommended measures of effectiveness (MOE’s) and data required for performing a quantitative assessment. Evaluations of a number of TSP deployment sites are documented to demonstrate how the benefits of TSP to transit and the impacts of TSP to traffic operations are assessed using the recommended approaches. Finally, the report provides guidance on TSP planning and analysis methods, such as simulation and regional modeling tools.