A new report — which MTC contributed to — concludes data sharing through standardized software is an important step in making transportation networks more efficient, reliable, and user-friendly for senior, disabled and low-income riders.
The report was sponsored by the Shared-Use Mobility Center and AARP Public Policy Institute. Nisar Ahmed, Principal, Traveler Information Technology Manager at MTC was a main contributor to the report, which focuses on demand-responsive transportation (DRT).
When someone needs a ride, but buses and other standard methods of public transportation are not an option, demand-responsive transportation (DRT) providers fill the need.
Currently, many fixed-route systems have strong open-source data infrastructure via widely deployed data standards like General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS).
The report concludes it's equally important to consider the benefits that a transactional data standard can bring to other modes. Transactional Data Specification (TDS) is a free, open-source data exchange standard that allows for the scheduling, requesting, and fulfilling of on-demand trips. TDS, which is specifically geared toward DRT, can support coordination among multiple service providers and facilitate trip information exchange.
The report notes TDS has gained traction in the industry. TDS-related demonstration projects are in various planning and implementation phases around the nation, including one at MTC that is in development.
In the Bay Area, paratransit customers face significant barriers when attempting to cross county boundaries. They report complex and lengthy coordination processes to book a cross-jurisdictional trip. Paratransit providers also struggle to coordinate cross-jurisdictional paratransit trips as it involves a manual time-consuming process.
The goal of the MTC-led Federal Transit Administration (FTA)-funded project is to demonstrate that the paratransit customers’ experience can be enhanced by significantly automating multijurisdictional and multi-provider trip booking processes when a single provider cannot offer point-to-point service. Enhanced technology will enable communication between multiple paratransit scheduling software, making the process significantly more streamlined for the rider and the transit agencies.
MTC’s Regional Access and Mobility Planner, Drennen Shelton, and Ahmed are working with partner paratransit operators, East Bay Paratransit (a joint paratransit service provider for AC Transit and BART in the East Bay) and VTA Access (paratransit service provider in the Santa Clara County) to successfully deploy the demonstration technology.
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