Document Type

Report

Publication Date

8-2014

Subjects

Traffic signs and signals -- Control systems, Intelligent transportation systems

Abstract

Transportation and transit agencies have implemented advanced technologies like transit signal priority (TSP) and Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) to reduce travel times and improve reliability. However, due to the lack of detailed empirical data, the joint impact of these factors and improvement strategies on bus travel time has not been studied at the stop-to-stop segment level. With the aim of assessing the performance of an existing TSP/SCATS system, this study had access to a unique set of high-resolution bus and traffic signal data. Novel algorithms and performance measures to measure TSP performance are proposed. Results indicate that a timely and effective TSP system requires a high degree of sophistication, monitoring and maintenance. Empirical data suggest that most TSP phase adjustments were granted in time (i.e., within a cycle) to buses that requested priority, but that only a small proportion resulted in reduced delay. In this study, many green extension phases were granted late, making them less effective than early green signal phases. Despite this, the TSP system did not increase delays for passengers and vehicles when side-street traffic is also considered.

Description

This is a final report, NITC-RR-579, from the NITC program of TREC at Portland State University, and can be found online at: http://nitc.trec.pdx.edu/research/project/579

The research brief associated with this report can be found at http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/trec_briefs/10

The final report for Phase 2 of this research project can be accessed at http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/19535.

DOI

10.15760/trec.117

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/13350

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