The term “public transportation technology” covers a vast amount of ground, from advanced navigation systems to enhanced ways of providing customer information. The rapid pace of change means that public transit agencies and businesses must make plans far in advance to stay ahead of the coming changes.

Angela Miller, founder, ecology.IT, Oceanside, CA, who chairs the APTA Information Technology (IT) Committee and Emerging Technologies Subcommittee, spoke about the growing importance of buses and rail vehicles made out of composite materials such as carbon fiber or fiberglass. “Composite buses would meet safety and security standards but would also be much lighter than a traditional bus, which would mean saving fuel,” she explained.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry is going to be testing and certifying these new materials,” Miller continued, citing alternative fuels as well as composite bodies. “For example, if electric buses are going to enter the market, an agency can’t just put one or two of them in the field and call it a success. We need market penetration in a variety of climates and operational scenarios so we will know how the technology is going to work.” She also pointed to the importance of research and technology funding at all steps of development, saying: “If we don’t have the budget, we’re not going to innovate.”

Here are a few representative views from the current landscape in public transit.

Fueling Innovations
New and innovative fuels are critical to effective and cost-efficient operation of a public transit system. (See related story.)

King County Metro Transit in Seattle has seen both environmental and economic benefits through the addition of electric-powered vehicles to its rideshare program.

Last year, King County Metro Transit Rideshare Operations in Seattle eliminated almost 50 million vehicle miles traveled and reduced more than 20,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide through its extensive public rideshare commuter van program (vanpool, vanshare, and metropool). For the past 15 months, the agency has operated a fleet of 20 all-electric, zero-emission Nissan Leaf sedans—the “Metropool” fleet—to help deliver a cleaner, greener commute to the region. Each sedan holds five people.

“Our Metropool purpose is threefold,” said Syd Pawlowski, King County Metro Rideshare Operations supervisor. “First, we wanted to test all-electric vehicles in an urban setting to find out how well they operate; second, to ascertain if these vehicles could be more economical to maintain; and third, we wanted to find out how our customers and the community could benefit from this program.”

Each Metropool vehicle saves more than 2,400 gallons of gas per month, nearly double what participants save from sharing the ride in a traditional vanpool. Each Metropool vehicle prevents 22 metric tons of greenhouse gases from entering the air each month, compared to 14 tons saved by sharing the ride in a vanpool.

The electric vehicles are just one component of King County Metro’s commuter van program. It also operates vanpools for five to 15 commuters who pay monthly fares, driven by a volunteer who rides for free, and VanShare, which connects commuters between their workplaces or homes and public transit hubs or terminals. In 2012 the program operated more than 1,280 vans in revenue service, providing more than 3.5 million passenger trips.

In Kent, OH, the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority (PARTA) has gone in a different direction. While many public transportation agencies have experimented with biodiesel fuel, PARTA has incorporated bio-based engine products—renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable—throughout its 67-vehicle fleet.

Under Ohio’s Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, federal agencies working in the state are required to buy bio-based products to the maximum extent practicable. Frank Hairston, PARTA marketing director, explained that a manufacturer in Portage County supplies the product.

In addition to biodiesel in fuel, PARTA uses bio-based engine oil, gear oil, hydraulic fluid, fuel additive to clean carbon deposits, and penetrating fluid to aid in the removal of lugs attaching bus wheels to axles. This technology has led to a $50,000 savings in fuel and maintenance costs in the past year, as well as significantly reduced exhaust emissions.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a popular alternative fuel solution for public transit, and the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) decided back in the 1980s to convert its fleet to CNG operation. The process began three decades ago with three vehicles powered by a Cummins L-10 engine and one early compressor, compared with today’s fleet of nearly 200 CNG-powered buses and vans and an in-house fueling station with five compressors.

Since beginning its conversion to CNG, The T has operated more than 100 million miles on the fuel and estimates a reduction to date of 1,500 tons of nitrous oxide and 12 tons of particulate matter.

Ron Anderson, assistant vice president of maintenance, has worked with The T’s fleet since the beginning of CNG implementation. “In the early days, it was a challenge retraining employees and finding experts to help troubleshoot. Today, The T seeks employees with automotive and electronics training needed for CNG technology,” he explained.

Because of Anderson’s extensive experience with CNG technology, he has been contacted by numerous public transit agencies, vendors, and manufacturers for information and to answer questions. He and Ruddell also established the Natural Gas Transit Coalition, which meets annually at the APTA Bus & Paratransit Conference, which will be held May 5-8 in Indianapolis.

Another public transit agency—the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) in Columbus—is currently transitioning its fleet from ultra-low sulfur diesel to CNG. Construction is underway on a CNG fueling station at the authority’s McKinley Operations facility which is scheduled to begin operations this spring.

COTA is preparing for the arrival of the first of 30 CNG buses. These buses will be integrated into the fleet’s rotation following the necessary vehicle maintenance training and certifications. The transition to a completely CNG fleet will be a 12-year process that will occur as the agency retires and replaces coaches and purchases new ones as part of its ongoing service expansion program. The transition will also require remodeling with upgrades for CNG at several COTA facilities, including a second fueling station at its Fields Avenue Fixed Route Bus Facility.

The CNG fleet will supplement six hybrid-electric passenger buses that joined the COTA fleet in 2010 and remain in service.

New Ideas in Fare Collection
“One place we have a lot of traction in technology today is in new, more open means of fare collection,” said the APTA IT Committee’s Miller. “We’re seeing the emergence of technology that will allow for more sophisticated mobile payments, using a mobile phone as the payment device. That’s going to drive a lot of things for the industry. First, it’s an easier, more seamless, quicker way of processing payments and getting people on board. It will also help public transit agencies better understand our passengers’ travel patterns. Mobile phone fare collection has a lot of promise for the industry.”

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) in Salt Lake City is working with a consortium of Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile on a pilot project to test its ISIS Mobile Wallet app. By launching the app, users can enter a code, select a debit or credit card as a mode of payment, then tap the phone as if it were a contactless card. During the pilot period, ISIS users can ride free on UTA services.

“Rather than new technologies, we’re working with new applications of technology,” said UTA spokesman Gerry Carpenter. “Our current electronic fare system is an open system that accepts a variety of contactless credit and debit cards.”
 He noted that future fare collection projects include a prepaid contactless card that can be purchased off site and research into a possible distance-based fare system based on phones equipped with Global Positioning Satellite software.

Passenger Information
Another issue of importance to public transit agencies is effective customer service, specifically providing passengers with current information about routes and arrival times. Valley Metro in Phoenix has added NextRide—a real-time public transportation arrival information service that uses several electronic platforms—to its menu of passenger amenities.

NextRide allows users to access bus and light rail arrival information via SMS text, interactive voice response, or online.

Since the launch of this service in August 2011 and its full implementation in February 2012, Valley Metro has reported receiving 1.9 million SMS text messages from customers requesting information. The use of this tool means that the agency’s Customer Service Department received 515,600 fewer calls during that period, resulting in shorter wait times for customers and the elimination of four full-time agent positions.

Passengers can use this service by texting or saying the unique stop identification number on the bus or rail stop/station sign to receive the next three arrival times. NextRide is also accessible on the Valley Metro website by typing in the stop ID number.

Implementing software systems that manage scheduling, operations, vehicle location, next vehicle arrival, fare collection, and incident management can be both expensive and difficult to expand when needed. Rob Ayers, president, Ayers Electronic Systems LLC, described how APTA’s Transit Communications Interface Profiles (TCIP), developed as part of the standards program, help public transit agencies save money and effort during this process.

Traditionally, an agency implementing new technologies would work with a proprietary interface that only works with a specific supplier, and pay for updates and adaptations to incorporate other uses. With the TCIP standard, public transit agencies would be able to work together with more cost-effective solutions and greater control over the evolution of the architecture of mission-critical business systems. This standard covers a wide array of public transit business activities, including scheduling, operations, vehicle location, next vehicle arrival, fare collection, and incident management.

“Transit agency leaders can do a great deal to bring about this change,” Ayers said. “Several agencies have taken the plunge and adopted standards-based interfaces in their procurements. These initial steps have been quite successful. The next step is for agencies to educate their technical folks about standards, and then to follow up with procurement documents that require the use of standards in projects where it makes sense.”

State-of-the-Art Railcars
Perhaps the most visible changes in public transit technology can be found in the vehicles themselves—railcars and buses. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is preparing to introduce its new 7000 series of railcars next year.

David Kubicek, deputy general manager, operations, for WMATA, noted that the new vehicles will have a different interior appearance from the current Metrorail car, such as stainless steel seats in a new ergonomic design; easy-to-clean flooring instead of carpet; and additional grab points for standing riders. To aid seniors and persons with disabilities, the new cars will mark the location of priority seating and wheelchairs with a different color of flooring.

“We want to make the trip as uneventful as possible: a seamless, positive experience for our customers,” he explained.

Of course, the changes in the new Metro cars are far more than skin deep. Instead of the current two-car sets, the new “quad cars” have a cab car at either end and two passenger-only cars with no cabs in the middle. This eliminates the cabs in half the cars in the fleet, allowing increased passenger room. And the cars are Ethernet-based, what Kubicek called “rolling computers, dependent upon electronics and well supported by the industry.”

Amenities in the new cars include a linear display screen that shows the current route and highlights the current and next stops; LCD screens that will show station descriptors and have a capability for video use in the future; and automated announcements rather than requiring operators to announce the next station. In addition, doors in the new cars are synchronized rather than operating individually. “If a door doesn’t close properly, the operator will be alerted as to its exact location,” Kubicek said.

Improving Connections
And older transportation technologies can always benefit from new ideas. Electric light rail and streetcar systems can only operate properly with balance weight assemblies (BWA) to maintain proper tension of the overhead power wires, or catenary.

IMPulse NC worked with Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) in Hampton, VA, to test its automated Catenary Safety Monitoring System along HRT’s “The Tide” light rail line. This patent pending technology uses a magnetic linear sensor to allow for remote and constant BWA monitoring, saving time on monitoring and maintenance. If it detects a variance between actual and predicted positions, it automatically sends an alert that identifies the anomaly, including catastrophic wire failures such as a break or cut wire due to theft. All information is stored for maintenance records. It can operate with solar power or receive power directly from the overhead system line.

Jon McDonald, chair, APTA Research and Technology Committee, and vice president, practice leader-transit & rail, with Atkins in San Francisco, said: “Technology is a tool. Like all tools, technology is not a cure-all, but a catalyst to enable smart public transit providers to optimize their systems, gather information to make better decisions, improve their safety and security, and improve customer interaction and the experience that those customers have.”

He also noted: “Public transit has reached a tipping point when people no longer vote for it to get other people off the road, but vote for transit for themselves to use. As we get to this point, technology will play a pivotal role in delivering the transit that people want to use.”

Photo by Jessie Lin, Washington State DOT One of King County Metro Transit’s all-electric Metropool vehicles charging in a Seattle parking lot near a transit hub, south downtown core, waterfront, and sports arenas.	The online entry screen for Valley Metro’s NextRide service, which also allows users to access bus and light rail arrival information via SMS text or interactive voice response.