EVALUATION PLAN FOR AVL IMPLEMENTATION IN FOUR U.S. CITIES

Some early applications involving automatic vehicle location (AVL) and computerized dispatching were tested and evaluated in a previous Federal Transit Administration (FTA) research program. To assist the development and evaluation of these opportunities through in-service operational tests, FTA has established the Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS) program as a component of an overall U.S. DOT initiative in Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS). This document describes the process, criteria, and requirements for a thorough evaluation of AVL sites. This evaluation will address all the major issues concerned with the implementation and operation of AVL and related integrated systems, which are about to begin at four sites: Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, and Milwaukee.