Transit Vehicle Trip Determination for Schedule Adherence
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Solution Overview
Problem
Transit vehicles often fail to adhere to published schedules, leading to rider inconvenience and potential decline in ridership due to late arrivals or early departures, which existing traffic control systems do not effectively address.
Innovation Solution
A method and system utilizing a GPS module on transit vehicles to determine their current location and heading, communicating this data to a computer processor to select the appropriate trip schedule from a database, and outputting signals to indicate if the vehicle is ahead of or behind schedule, triggering actions such as enabling or disabling traffic signal priority requests, displaying scheduling information, or communicating with dispatchers or other vehicles.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traffic control preemption systems are used to assist transit vehicles through signalized intersections, then speed and schedule efficiency are improved, but transit vehicles still fail to adhere to published schedules due to lack of real-time schedule adherence monitoring
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the transit vehicle's current location via GPS, compares it against the scheduled location at the current time, and provides real-time feedback on schedule adherence. This feedback loop enables the system to detect when the vehicle is ahead or behind schedule and trigger appropriate actions, such as enabling or disabling preemption requests, to maintain schedule compliance.
Solution Approach 2:
The transit vehicle system automatically determines its own schedule adherence status by comparing GPS-derived location and time data against the published schedule. The system self-regulates by automatically enabling or disabling preemption requests based on its own performance, without requiring external manual intervention or monitoring.
2Loss of time
If preemption requests are continuously enabled to maintain schedule adherence, then punctuality improves, but unnecessary preemption requests may be generated when the vehicle is already ahead of schedule
Solution Approach 1:
The preemption request status is dynamically adjusted based on real-time schedule adherence conditions. The system transitions the preemption enablement state according to whether the vehicle is ahead of, on, or behind schedule, optimizing the use of preemption requests to only when necessary for maintaining punctuality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the operational parameter of preemption request enablement based on the schedule adherence parameter. When the vehicle is ahead of schedule, the preemption parameter is set to disabled; when behind schedule, it is enabled. This parameter adjustment ensures preemption requests are generated only when needed to correct schedule deviations.
3Reliability
If manual monitoring and adjustment of trip schedules is performed, then schedule adherence can be maintained, but labor costs increase and human error may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors its own schedule adherence by comparing GPS-derived location and time data against the published schedule without requiring external manual monitoring. The system self-regulates by automatically enabling or disabling preemption requests based on its own performance, eliminating the need for manual intervention and reducing human error while maintaining high reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The manual mechanical monitoring and adjustment process is replaced with an automated electronic system that uses GPS receivers, computer processors, and communication networks to continuously track vehicle location, calculate schedule adherence, and adjust preemption requests automatically, eliminating the need for human operators.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Automatically determines and configures trip information, reducing errors and ensuring transit vehicles operate according to schedules, thereby improving punctuality and maintaining ridership by enabling or disabling traffic signal priority requests based on real-time schedule adherence.
Implementation Method 1
determining a current location and current heading of a transit vehicle by a global positioning system (GPS) module aboard the transit vehicle
Data Source
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AI summary
Approaches for managing transit vehicle schedules. The method includes determining a current location and current heading of a transit vehicle by a global positioning system (GPS) module aboard the transit vehicle and communicating the current location and current heading to a computer processor. The computer processor determines a current time and current day, and a trip schedule is selected from a plurality of trip schedules in a database. The selected trip schedule has attributes consistent with the current location, current heading, current time, and current day. The method determines whether the transit vehicle is ahead of the selected trip schedule or behind the selected trip schedule. An output signal indicates whether the transit vehicle is ahead of or behind schedule.