Chapel Hill TransitWant to know where your bus is?

Ever had to wait in the cold for the bus??

Bus too crowded?

End up waiting for that ride that never shows??

Chapel Hill Transit

• Catching the bus can be a frustrating task for many at the University of North Carolina.

• It is such a waste of time when you are waiting and waiting

• There has to be a better way of managing bus times and routes

Transit Today

• Most buses are “supposed” to come every fifteen minutes

• Booklets or websites give you the route map and inaccurate time intervals

• Free Service

Common Problems for bus riders

• Waiting in rain or frigid temperatures• Cannot get on because of the bus is full• The bus just does not show up• The bus arrives later or earlier than

expected• Hard to determine how to get to locations

when you have to take more than one bus• You end up late for class

Improvements

• Constantly updated times on when buses will make their stops

• Locations of all buses• Updated capacity• Direct riders on getting from Point A to

Point B• Give riders access to all of this information• All in all save bus riders’ time

Solutions

• GPS tracking to give exact location of buses• This will help give accurate time estimates on

when buses will reach their destinations• Provide bus routes and times for passengers who

need to take more than one bus to get to their destinations

• Post all this information on the web for riders to see

• Live video feed to see how many people are on the bus and at the bus stop

Bus Solutions

• Bus Tracking• Shows current location of buses• Continuously updated time estimates for routes

• Monitor Bus Occupancy• Show numerical count of how full each bus is• Stream video of bus stops

• Online Route Finder

GPS (Bus Tracking)• Satellites

• 27 in orbit (24 in use, 3 in case of loss)• Always at least 4 in view• Circle globe twice a day

• Trilateration• Uses the distance from 3 know points to calculate location

• Measurements• Radio waves• Time difference

Bus Occupancy• Manual Count Taken by Driver

• Accurate, inexpensive, driver isn’t doing anything else

• Sensor Placed by Exit• Subtracts from positive passenger count on each activation

• Streaming Video• Shows how crowded the bus is

Wireless Internet• Transfers all Bus Information to Central Computer

• Computer does all of the calculations

• Cell phone network based• Works almost anywhere • No need to build citywide infrastructure

• Reliable• Maintained by experienced company

• Allows for upgrades• Adequate bandwidth for additional services

Bus Stops• Live Video Feed

Estimated Upgrade Cost• 83 Buses

• $1200 per bus– Year of wireless internet $600 – GPS $500– Camera $100

• Approximately 50 Major Bus Stops• $300 per stop

– Internet installation $200– Camera $100

• Total $114,600• Annual bus budget $12.3 million• .9% of annual budget

Problem Solved