Abingdon VA Public Transit Dispatch Center - Transit Management Functionality
Subsystem Description
The Transit Management Subsystem (TRMS) manages transit vehicle fleets and coordinates with other modes and transportation services. It provides operations, maintenance, customer information, planning and management functions for the transit property. It spans distinct central dispatch and garage management systems and supports the spectrum of fixed route, flexible route, paratransit services, transit rail, and bus rapid transit (BRT) service. The subsystem's interfaces allow for communication between transit departments and with other operating entities such as emergency response services and traffic management systems. This subsystem receives special event and real-time incident data from the traffic management subsystem. It provides current transit operations data to other center subsystems. It interfaces with the Emergency Management Subsystem to allow coordinated use of transit vehicles to facilitate response to major emergencies or evacuations. The Transit Management Subsystem collects and stores accurate ridership levels and implements fare structures for use in electronic fare collection. It collects operational and maintenance data from transit vehicles, manages vehicle service histories, and assigns vehicle operators and maintenance personnel to vehicles and routes. The Transit Management Subsystem also provides the capability for automated planning and scheduling of public transit operations. The scheduling capability includes schedule writing, block building and runcutting. The subsystem furnishes travelers with real-time travel information, continuously updated schedules, schedule adherence information, transfer options, and transit routes and fares. In addition, the subsystem supports transit security features. This includes monitoring silent alarms, both passenger and operator initiated, on-board transit vehicles. It also includes the capability to support transit vehicle operator authentication and the capability to remotely disable a transit vehicle. The subsystem includes the capability to monitor for a transit vehicle being off the assigned route. The subsystem also includes the capability to alert operators and police to potential incidents identified by these security features.
Functional Area: Transit Center Fare Management
Management of fare collection at the center - includes setting and distributing fare information, central processing of fares for transit as well as other ITS services, links to financial institutions and enforcement agencies.
Functional Area: Transit Center Fixed-Route Operations
Management of fixed route transit operations. Planning, scheduling, and dispatch associated with fixed and flexible route transit services. Updates customer service operator systems, and provides current vehicle schedule adherence and optimum scenarios for schedule adjustment.
Functional Area: Transit Center Multi-Modal Coordination
Coordinate schedules with other agencies and modes, including transit transfer cluster and transfer point information.
Functional Area: Transit Center Paratransit Operations
Management of demand response transit services, including paratransit. Planning and scheduling of these services. Supports automated vehicle dispatch and automatically updates customer service operator systems.
Functional Area: Transit Center Passenger Counting
Receives and processes transit vehicle loading data using two-way communications from equipped transit vehicles.
Functional Area: Transit Center Security
Monitor transit vehicle operator or traveler activated alarms; authenticate transit vehicle operators; remotely disable a transit vehicle; alert operators, travelers, and police to potential incidents identified by these security features.
Functional Area: Transit Center Vehicle Tracking
Monitoring transit vehicle locations via interactions with on-board systems. Furnish users with real-time transit schedule information and maintain interface with digital map providers.
Functional Area: Transit Data Collection
Collection and storage of transit management data. For use by operations personnel or data archives in the region.
Functional Area: Transit Evacuation Support
Support evacuation and subsequent reentry of a population in the vicinity of a disaster or other emergency. Coordinate regional evacuation plans and resources including transit and school bus fleets.