Strategic Plan for Advanced Public Transportation Systems for the Metro-Dade Transit Agency

Transportation Research (CUTR) to develop an Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS) Research and Development Program.The specific purpose of this document is to serve as the overall strategic plan for the implementation of APTS at MDTA.This document is intended to be dynamic and ever-changing in order to provide the proper guidance and direction to MDTA in development of its APTS program.As MDTA, Federal Transit Administration (FT A) and IVHS America policies and priorities change, this document must also be modified to reflect those changes.This document outlines a suggested plan of action concentrated over five areas of need, as currently identified by MDTA, which lend themselves to APTS technology application.All APTS applications implemented by MDTA will reflect a multi-disciplinary approach involving MDTA staff teams, composed of customer service, information management, system operations, communications, and planning expertise.MDTA has identified five areas of need which lend themselves to applications of APTS.These areas will be expanded further within this Strategic Plan.Priority has not yet been established among the five areas of need, however, this document is intended to supplement and complement the first demonstration grant application regarding Passenger Information Displays (PIDs).A completed grant application for an operational test of PIDs is included as a companion to this document.Furthermore, all subsequent APTS grant applications should be accompanied by this document, or an appropriately updated version, as necessary.This strategic plan document contains an overview of APTS from a national and local perspective, a suggested research and development program approach for each area of need, a discussion of available funding options, conclusion, a list of key external APTS.contacts and a detailed listing of related APTS vendors. Ill.BACKGROUNDAdvanced technologies are used in transit systems for a variety of reasons, such as expanding the customer base, increasing passenger convenience, improving fleet management, and increasing both the speed and volume of high occupancy vehicles.The following section summarizes the !VHS-related projects which were examined for possible integration with the MDTA-APTS program, and examines current MOTA "problem areas", and outlines general areas of FT A evaluation criteria and national APTS applications. A. Current IVHS Activity in Dade CountySeveral IVHS projects are already underway in South Florida, such as electronic toll collection on several Dade County bridges, automatic monitoring of courtesy vans at the Miami airport, automatic vehicle location of county-owned vehicles, and an extensive operational test of IVHS technologies to encourage use of the wide range of transportation modes available throughout South Florida.lt is important to consider the regional aspects of these projects when developing MDTA's APTS program. Miami Airport AVI SystemMiami International Airport is using IVHS technology to reduce congestion and increase revenue in their passenger pick-up lanes.These lanes have been set aside for courtesy vehicles, such as hotel and rental-car vans.Vehicle operators pay a fee for every pass through the restricted lane, however the responsibility for reporting the number of trips falls on the operators themselves.Payment is on the honor system, and Miami International Airport staff estimate that $1.2 million in revenue is lost due to lax enforcement.Installation was completed in August 1993.Automotive Vehicle Identification (AVI) technology is expected to provide a cost-effective means to improve enforcement.Only vehicles which have an AVI tag in their vehicle will be allowed into the lane.The tag uses wireless communications to automatically broadcast to a roadside computer which will control the access gate to courtesy lanes.Vehicles will be uniquely identified, so that the computer system keeps track of the number of trips (and amount 4 • Megadyne Information Systems brochure.