Mass Transit - 20

Occupany Data
The survey also asked about
real-time occupancy information
and its perceived value and impact
on riding habits. More than 70 percent of respondents said real-time
occupancy information would be
used to plan their trips differently, while 30 percent reported they
would use transit more often if
provided the information. Regarding value of occupancy information, the survey found more than
60 percent would ride transit more
often if real-time information was
provided versus less than 20 percent for crowdsourced occupancy
information and approximately 30
percent for historical information.
Automated passenger counters (APCs) provide the foundation of occupancy data. APCs are
growing in their adoption within
transit fleets. APTA tracks several
connected vehicle technologies in
its annual Public Transportation
Vehicle Database, which was most
recently published in July 2020.
The APTA 2020 Vehicle Database
reports that approximately 40
percent of all U.S. transit vehicles
have APCs installed, which is up
from 35.5 percent reported in the
2019 Vehicle Database. Bus rapid
transit fleets led with the most
vehicles with APCs followed by
bus fleets, commuter buses and
light-rail vehicles.
Having the right hardware is
one aspect of sharing occupancy
data; the second is how the information from APCs is collected,
processed and shared. For this, industry vendors have developed several solutions to fit agency needs.

Information Riders
Appreciate

Transit automatically integrates
real-time crowding information
into its app when this information
is provided by transit agencies. Stephen Miller, Transit's communications lead, explains the company
also recognizes that producing this
real-time feed from APC data can
be challenging for many agencies.
"To that end, we've begun work-

20 |

Long Island Rail Road

LIRR IS one of several providers to share vehicle
occupancy information with riders.

A EXAMPLE of
what MBTA
riders will see
displayed on
signs with
occupancy
information
incorporated.

ing with transit agencies to
analyze patterns in their
existing APC datasets and
produce predictions for
expected crowding. That
way, riders can know if the
trip they are interested in
taking is usually crowded
or typically has plenty of
space for physical distancing," said Miller.
L.A. Metro was the first
system to launch Transit's
MBTA
predictive crowding feature and Miller notes the crowding predictions provided by Transit had 88 percent accuracy when
compared to actual APC counts.
"We're working with other
transit agencies to bring crowding
predictions to their riders and will
soon be building in crowdsourced
crowding information to our GO
step-by-step navigation feature. By
asking riders directly about crowding on their trip, we'll be able to not
only fill in the gaps when real-time
data might be missing, but we can
also look at riders' experiences to
help inform our agency partners'
benchmarks," said Miller. "Crowdsourced crowding data can ensure
the definition of 'crowded' meets
not only public health guidance,
but also riders' own expressed
comfort level onboard."
Transit's crowdsourced crowding feature will launch in October
among 75 transit agencies and will

Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020

roll out later to all transit agencies.
Miller explains some agencies
have expressed concern about
potential negative attention that
may come from sharing which of
their services are experiencing
crowded levels. However, there
is also a recognition that riders
appreciate knowing the crowding
levels before they board a vehicle.
"In many ways, this echoes
debates from a decade ago about
providing real-time arrival estimates: riders appreciate knowing
if their bus is late and would rather
be informed in advance, instead
of being kept in the dark about
their journey. Today, real-time
countdowns are a must-have for
any transit agency and crowding
information is following a very
similar trajectory," said Miller.
Beyond the pandemic, Miller
says Transit sees crowding information continuing to be of use to
riders because it improves their
overall experience.
"For riders with wheelchairs,
strollers or large luggage, it helps
to know in advance if they'll have
enough space onboard for a comfortable trip or if they'd be better
off waiting for the next ride. And
even for riders taking the bus on
their everyday commute, crowding information provides peace
of mind," said Miller. "Improving the accessibility and experience of public transit always pays
dividends and that will be true of
crowding information when the
pandemic is behind us."

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