Economics and Finance

Field Test Of Vehicle-mounted, Forward Looking Range Sensor In Closed-loop Avcs

Kanaris, Alex
Ioannou, Petros
1998

The purpose of MOU-233 is to evaluate and test a low cost, short range radar sensor developed by Amerigon corporation through a subcontract with the University of Southern California. The radar is designed to be used as a ranging sensor for automatic vehicle following applications. It is intended to be mounted in the front of the vehicle and provide measurements of the distance between the front of the vehicle and the rear of any vehicle or object ahead within a maximum distance of 17 feet. The output of the radar as supplied by Amerigon, is a 32-bit binary code, using one bit to represent...

Evaluation of Cost-Effective Planning and Design Options for Bus Rapid Transit in Dedicated Bus Lanes

Li, Jing-Quan
Song, Myoung Kyun
Li, Meng
Zhang, Wei-Bin
Miller, Mark
2009

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems with dedicated lanes have shown advantages over traditional bus systems and have attracted more transit riders. However, it is not always possible to build BRT systems with two dedicated lanes due to physical and cost constraints. A BRT system with a single dedicated lane is more practical and desirable in such situations. In a single lane configuration, buses approaching from opposite directions share the same road section and can overtake or pass each other only at the bus stops. We propose an optimization model to describe the synchronization requirements...

Literature Review Report on Benefit/Cost Studies and Evaluations of Transit Management Systems

Jia, Xdong
Sullivan, Edward
2008

This study addresses the benefits and costs of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) applications in small and medium sized transit agencies using the research test implementation of a small transit oriented Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) on San Luis Obispo Transit as a case study. The Smart Transit System at San Luis Obispo is in a pre-commercialized state and implements the Efficient Development of Advanced Public Transportation Systems (EDAPTS) framework concept (Gerfen, 2001). The system has many potential benefits that will be identified and evaluated from a cost of...

Definition and Measurement of Transportation System Performance

Dahlgren, Joy
1998

Performance measures are needed to inform decisions regarding the overall level of resources to devote to transportation, where to allocate these resources, and how best to use them. The first two types of decision require regular monitoring of the system to reveal problems, which present opportunities for improvement. A few, easily measured indicators of the major benefits and costs of the system are appropriate for this task. For the third type of decision, how to best address a specific problem, a more comprehensive set of benefits and costs must be considered. Indicators must be found...

Benchmarking Best Practices of Demand Responsive Transit Systems

Dessouky, Maged
Palmer, Kurt
Abdelmaguid, Tamer
2003

Over the past 10 years, operating expenses for Demand Responsive Transit have more than doubled as demand for this mandated service has expanded. Many advanced technologies and management practices have been proposed and implemented to improve the efficiency of the service; but, evidence for the effectiveness of these actions has been based upon projections or small pilot studies. We present the results of a nationwide study involving 62 large transit agencies and 13 small transit agencies. We evaluate the impact of implemented technologies and practices upon productivity and operating...

Position Location in AHS by Magnetic Pseudo-Noise Signals

Bana, Soheila V.
Varaiya, Pravin
1999

This paper proposes a novel method for position location by automated vehicles in AHS. The proposed positioning system meets the desired accuracy for AHS and is economically feasible because it takes advantage of the infrastructure and characteristics of the automated roads. This positioning system is very similar to GPS in the sense of using pseudo-noise codes for range measurement. The phase of a pseudo-noise signal can be mapped to the receiver's range from a reference point where the signal correlation properties in sure accurate phase estimation. The magnetic markers that are...

Impacts Of Smart Cards On Transit Operators: Evaluation Of I-110 Corridor Smart Card Demonstration Project

Chira-Chavala, Ted
Coifman, Benjamin
1996

This report presents the evaluation of the first transit smart card demonstration in California. The study assesses the cost and benefit implications of the smart card system to transit agencies. Two types of smart cards were used: radio frequency (RF) proximity and contact. The assessment of the cost and productivity impacts, as well as the perceptions of transit personnel, were accomplished through personnel interviews and independent onboard observations.

Distributed Surveillance and Control on Freeways

Coifman, Benjamin
2004

Efficient management of a road network requires continuous decision-making based on conditions on the network and an understanding of the impacts of the decisions made. These conditions are usually measured with fixed-point surveillance systems, most of which are deployed in such a manner as to require communication links that are always connected and are polled at regular intervals. All of the sensor data are typically sent to a Traffic Management Center (TMC) for assessment, yet most of the time no action is taken in response to the data, leading to unnecessarily high communication costs...

Virtual Weigh Stations in California: A Preliminary Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

Santero, Nicholas
Nokes, William
Harvey, John
2005

A new technology known as Virtual Weigh Stations (VWS) is intended to transform data-collecting weigh-in-motion (WIM) sites to weight enforcement mechanisms. This study investigates the possible benefits to the highway pavements in California from potential use of VWS. The investigation proceeded in two steps: (1) determining the damage currently caused by overweight trucks and (2) modeling the potential pavement life saved with VWS. The data used for analysis is from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) WIM database.

Development and Evaluation of Selected Mobility Applications for VII

Shladover, Steven E.
Lu, Xiao-Yun
Cody, Delphine
Nowakowski, Christopher
Qiu, Zhijun (Tony)
Chow, Andy
O’Connell, Jessica
Nienhuis, Jaap
Su, Dongyan
2010

This report describes the development of two of the three mobility applications that PATH is developing and evaluating under the sponsorship of the FHWA Exploratory Advanced Research Program, with cost share funding provided by PATH TO 6224. These applications are intended to use DSRC wireless communications among vehicles and between vehicles and the roadway infrastructure to improve mobility on limited-access highways. The first application combines ramp metering with variable speed limits to enhance control of traffic so that traffic flow breakdowns can be deferred or avoided at...