Locating and Costing Congestion for School Buses and Public Transportation, Phase II
Research Team
Kai Monast, Ph.D.. NCSU/ITRE
What did this research produce? A practitioner tool that allows transportation planners and engineers to model the relationship between traffic flow and congestion data using RITIS with public transportation (GTFS) and school travel data (Edulog). For example, it will help transportation practitioners figure out where traffic jams are causing issues for buses and public transportation. The tool also estimates the costs incurred due to the delays. By utilizing the three data sets, the researchers were able to find out when and where the buses and public transportation were getting stuck in traffic. The tool identified bottlenecks, slow segments, and congested/clogged times and suggested ways to avoid delays. The researchers also calculated how much money the delays were costing public agencies and municipalities to understand where the problems were occurring and how to find solutions.