PARATRANSIT:NOT 2ND CLASS INFORMATIONPresenting demand-responsive transit on an equal level as fixed-route transit

TRB International Conference on Demand Responsive Transit / 31-October-2014

Aaron Antrim, Trillium

Portland, Oregon

Paratransit information is buried, presented separately from fixed-route

The word “Paratransit” does not appear on this page.

Paratransit information is buried, presented separately from fixed-route

Better: Presented on an equal level

But, DRT is not in the fixed-route planner

Even better: Integrating presentation of fixed-route and DRT.

Allow customers to find and compare options.Plan multi-modal trips.

Douglas County, Oregondouglasrides.trilliumtransit.com

Even better: Integrating presentation of fixed-route and DRT.

Allow customers to find and compare options.Plan multi-modal trips.

Even better: Integrating presentation of fixed-route and DRT.

California’s Inland Empire is implementing a trip planner that uses open-source software for DRT and fixed-route trip planning.

• Open-source “OneClick” software(https://github.com/camsys/oneclick)

• Utilizes OpenTripPlanner for fixed-route planning (www.opentripplanner.org)

TOWARD FURTHER INTEGRATION&EASE-OF-USECHALLENGES to integration

Lessons from fixed-route transit• The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)

has become the de facto standard for fixed-route transit schedules(https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/reference)

• Many hundreds of GTFS feeds in the USA; hundreds more worldwide

• GTFS enables public transit information to be used in hundreds of applications, including:• Customer-facing applications such as

Google Maps, Rome2rio.com, OpenTripPlanner, Mobile apps

• Planning and management contexts

GTFS facilitates transit discoveryTransit directions can be everywhere

But, there is no equivalent standard for DRT services• OneClick uses its own approach to describe

DRT services and areas• Even General Service Dial-A-Ride and “Flex”

or Deviated Fixed-Route service do not show up in Google Maps (except Uber)

Adapting GTFS for DRT

• One possible approach is to adapt GTFS• One of the benefits of this approach is the

ability to describe related, and deviated services in the same dataset as fixed-route

• GTFS Flexible Transit Working Group(https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gtfs-flexible-wg)

• Data needs:• Geospatial• Schedule windows• Fares• Eligibility• Link to reservations mechanisms

Active proposal by Brian Ferrishttp://bit.ly/flexible-public-trans

• Route deviation: Resembles scheduled fixed-route, with geographic zone(s) allowing flexible routing

• Point deviation: Except for some established stops, the path of the vehicle is undetermined

• Dial-A-Ride and Demand-Responsive Connector• Request Stops (Hail-and-Ride)

Applications for flexible GTFS

• Taxis• Rural and suburban transit• Specialized & human service transportation • Developing world (jitneys)

Chicken and egg problem

• If no applications why create data? If no data, why create applications?

• Solution:• Implement apps and data at the same time

in a regional or interregional context

Aaron AntrimTrillium Solutions, Inc.aaron@trilliumtransit.comTwitter: @trilliumtransit+1 503-567-8422 ext 3