National Academies Press: OpenBook
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2008. Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13917.
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TRANSPORTAT ION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2008 www.TRB.org T R A N S I T C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M TCRP REPORT 126 Research sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in cooperation with the Transit Development Corporation Subject Areas Public Transit Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner’s Guidebook James G. Strathman Thomas J. Kimpel Joseph Broach Paul Wachana CENTER FOR URBAN STUDIES PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY Portland, OR Kathryn Coffel KITTELSON AND ASSOCIATES, INC. Portland, OR Steve Callas TRIMET Portland, OR Bart Elliot ENSPIRIA SOLUTIONS, INC. Greenwood Village, CO Rebecca Elmore-Yalch NORTHWEST RESEARCH GROUP, INC. Boise, ID

TCRP REPORT 126 Project B-29 ISSN 1073-4872 ISBN: 978-0-309-09942-4 Library of Congress Control Number 2008929050 © 2008 Transportation Research Board COPYRIGHT PERMISSION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their materials and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to reproduce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit purposes. Permission is given with the understanding that none of the material will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMCSA, FTA, or Transit Development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any reprinted or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the Transit Cooperative Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the project concerned is appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical advisory panel selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical panel, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the Transit Development Corporation, or the Federal Transit Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical panel according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Transit Development Corporation, and the Federal Transit Administration (sponsor of the Transit Cooperative Research Program) do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the clarity and completeness of the project reporting. TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM The nation’s growth and the need to meet mobility, environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, to adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and to intro- duce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it. The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need for local, problem- solving research. TCRP, modeled after the longstanding and success- ful National Cooperative Highway Research Program, undertakes research and other technical activities in response to the needs of tran- sit service providers. The scope of TCRP includes a variety of transit research fields including planning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human resources, maintenance, policy, and administrative practices. TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. Pro- posed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was autho- rized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum agreement out- lining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the three cooper- ating organizations: FTA, the National Academies, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB); and the Transit Development Corporation, Inc. (TDC), a nonprofit educational and research orga- nization established by APTA. TDC is responsible for forming the independent governing board, designated as the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Committee. Research problem statements for TCRP are solicited periodically but may be submitted to TRB by anyone at any time. It is the responsibility of the TOPS Committee to formulate the research program by identi- fying the highest priority projects. As part of the evaluation, the TOPS Committee defines funding levels and expected products. Once selected, each project is assigned to an expert panel, appointed by the Transportation Research Board. The panels prepare project state- ments (requests for proposals), select contractors, and provide techni- cal guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The process for developing research problem statements and selecting research agencies has been used by TRB in managing cooperative research pro- grams since 1962. As in other TRB activities, TCRP project panels serve voluntarily without compensation. Because research cannot have the desired impact if products fail to reach the intended audience, special emphasis is placed on dissemi- nating TCRP results to the intended end users of the research: tran- sit agencies, service providers, and suppliers. TRB provides a series of research reports, syntheses of transit practice, and other support- ing material developed by TCRP research. APTA will arrange for workshops, training aids, field visits, and other activities to ensure that results are implemented by urban and rural transit industry practitioners. The TCRP provides a forum where transit agencies can cooperatively address common operational problems. The TCRP results support and complement other ongoing transit research and training programs. Published reports of the TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America

CRP STAFF FOR TCRP REPORT 126 Christopher W. Jenks, Director, Cooperative Research Programs Crawford F. Jencks, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs Gwen Chisholm Smith, Senior Program Officer Eileen P. Delaney, Director of Publications Kami Cabral, Editor Ellen M. Chafee, Assistant Editor TCRP PROJECT B-29 PANEL Field of Service Configuration Minnie Fells Johnson, Plantation, FL (Chair) Susan S. Altshuler, Alternate Concepts, Inc., Boston, MA Paul Casey, Big Blue Bus, Santa Monica, CA David Faria, Technology Solution Providers, Fairfax Station, VA Jane Glascock, Seattle METRO, Shoreline, WA Loren “Ben” Herr, Texas Transit Association, Austin, TX Elizabeth G. Jones, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Omaha, NE Johanna Zmud, NuStats LLC, Austin, TX Eric Pihl, FTA Liaison Sean Ricketson, FTA Liaison Fred L. Williams, FTA Liaison Thomas Palmerlee, TRB Liaison AUTHOR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research reported herein was performed under TCRP Project B-29 by the Center for Urban Stud- ies at Portland State University (PSU). PSU was the contractor for this study and also served as the fiscal administrator. James G. Strathman, Director of the Center for Urban Studies and Professor of Urban Studies and Plan- ning, PSU, was the Project Director and Principal Investigator. The other authors of this report include Thomas J. Kimpel, Research Associate in the Center for Urban Studies; Joseph Broach and Paul Wachana, Graduate Assistants in the Center for Urban Studies and Urban Studies Ph.D. students at PSU; Kathryn Coffel, Associate Planner, Kittelson and Associates, Inc.; Steve Callas, Manager of Service Performance and Analysis, TriMet; Bart Elliot, Strategic Account Manager, Enspiria Solutions, Inc.; and Rebecca Elmore- Yalch, President and CEO, Northwest Research Group, Inc. C O O P E R A T I V E R E S E A R C H P R O G R A M S

TCRP Report 126: Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner’s Guide- book, describes currently used intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and Transit ITS technologies that have the greatest promise for transit market research. This guidebook documents ITS and Transit ITS technologies currently in use, assesses their potential to pro- vide market research data, and presents methods for collecting and analyzing these data. Also, the guidebook provides three in-depth case studies that illustrate how ITS data have been successfully used to improve market research practices. The guide should be useful to small, medium, and large transit agencies. Transit agencies use market research for a variety of purposes—scheduling and opera- tions planning, long-range planning and design, performance analyses, market penetration and market segmentation analyses, and gathering data on mode choice and travel patterns, consumer perceptions, consumer preferences, pricing elasticity, customer satisfaction, mar- ket segmentation, market usage, scheduling, trip planning, supply and demand, crime mapping, and new product and service evaluations. Also, market research can show where to target resources to have the greatest impact on maintaining and increasing ridership. Because the data are used extensively throughout the major departments within transit agencies, reliable and cost-effective market research is a priority. While transit market research is becoming more expensive, intelligent transportation sys- tems (ITS), including Transit ITS (formerly known as advanced public transportation systems, or APTS), are transforming the way transportation and transit agencies operate. Because ITS and Transit ITS involve real-time data capture, these technologies have poten- tial to inexpensively capture objective market information at high levels of data accuracy and completeness. Transit agencies should be prepared to capitalize on these efficiencies for transit market research. The use of these data by transit operators, transportation planners, and transit marketers presents significant opportunities for both short-term and long-term gains in transit use. In addition, transit properties that leverage objective customer infor- mation from these systems may be able to be more proactive in serving transit customers. Currently, little information exists about the types of ITS and Transit ITS data best suited for market research or about the extent of ITS and Transit ITS data use for this purpose by transit agencies in the United States. This guidebook provides information on the technolo- gies with the greatest potential for recovering data to support market research activity. The guidebook also addresses issues that need to be resolved to ensure easier and more effective use of data within transit organizations. Under TCRP Project B-29, “Transit Market Research: Leveraging ITS and Transit ITS Data,” the research team conducted a comprehensive review of literature, practice, and F O R E W O R D By Gwen Chisholm Smith Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

findings related to ITS and Transit ITS deployments potentially related to market research opportunities. The research team collected data from a representative sample of transit agencies about known and potential uses of ITS and Transit ITS data either as substitutes for, or in conjunction with, primary market research activities. For the data collected, the research team identified the market research purpose, type of data used, the data validation process, and how data were collected and analyzed to fulfill the market research objective. The research team conducted case studies that include a summary of the ITS and Tran- sit ITS technologies and applicable data used within transit agencies and assess the impacts of the use of ITS and Transit ITS data on market research practices.

C O N T E N T S 1 Summary 3 Chapter 1 Introduction 4 Definition and Benefits of Market Research in an ITS Environment 6 What the Guidebook Covers 7 Chapter 2 Introduction to Market Research and ITS Data 7 Understanding Customers: Traditional Market Research Techniques 11 Inventory of ITS Data for Market Research 15 Benefits and Limitations of Combining Traditional and ITS Data 20 Chapter 3 ITS Data Applications in Market Research 20 ITS Data Applications: Monitoring Service Delivery 25 ITS Data Applications: Leveraging Traditional Market Research 28 Chapter 4 Data Management, Reporting, and Staffing Considerations 28 Enterprise Database Architecture Supporting the Use of ITS Data 31 Architectures Supporting Data Integration 33 Implementing Enterprise Data Management and Integration 34 ITS Data Validation 34 Reporting and Analysis Tools 37 Institutional Issues 40 Staffing Issues 43 Chapter 5 Lessons Learned, Issues, and Concerns 48 References 50 Appendix A Chicago Transit Authority Case Study 61 Appendix B City of Madison—Metro Transit Case Study 67 Appendix C TriMet Case Study

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TRB's Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Report 126: Leveraging ITS Data for Transit Market Research: A Practitioner's Guidebook examines intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and Transit ITS technologies currently in use, explores their potential to provide market research data, and presents methods for collecting and analyzing these data. The guidebook also highlights three case studies that illustrate how ITS data have been used to improve market research practices.

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