Standards: For Transit, By Transit

Eva Lerner-Lam, PresidentPalisades Consulting Group, Inc.

Presentation at the1999 Fall Conference of the New York Public Transit Association

Saratoga Springs, NY

November 17-18, 1999

Why Are ITS Standards Important to Transit?

• Reduce capital and operating costs (increase benefit/cost of technology)

• Increase flexibility (plug-and-play compatibility)

• Assist in meeting future funding eligibility requirements

What’s Happening to Help Make Transit ITS Standards a Reality?

• National Architecture for ITS

• “Base” and “Critical” Standards

• National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocols– Center-To-Center

• Dedicated Short-Range Communications

• Location Referencing and Messaging Standard

• International ITS Standards

• Transit-specific standards:– Bus Vehicle Area Network– Transit Communications Interface Profiles– Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards– Smart Card Standards

TCIP is . . .

• A “FRAMEWORK” AND A “SUITE OF BUSINESS AREA DATA OBJECTS”. The framework defines how TCIP fits into the ITS and other standards arenas, and the data objects can be specified in procurements by transit agencies to enable data exchange between transit departments and among transit and other traffic and transportation management agencies.

• TRANSIT INDUSTRY-DRIVEN. Consensus-based standards developed by the transit industry, facilitated by technical support consultants with both transit and ITS expertise.

TCIP is . . .

• MOVING QUICKLY. Recently approved for balloting as Recommended Standards by Standards Development Organizations (ITE, NEMA and AASHTO).

• IMPETUS FOR A TRANSIT STANDARDS CONSORTIUM. User subgroups were a strong foundation for a permanent consortium.

Status of TCIP Standards

Name of Standard

Document Number

Committee Constituted

User Comment

Draft Approved

Proposed Standard Approved by NTCIP

Joint Committee

Balloting by NTCIP

Partners

Publication

Framework NTCIP 1400 X X X X Business Areas

CPT NTCIP 1401 X X X X CC NTCIP 1406 X X X X FC NTCIP 1408 X X X X IM NTCIP 1402 X X X X OB NTCIP 1406 X X X X PI NTCIP 1403 X X X X

SCH NTCIP 1404 X X X X SP NTCIP 1405 X X X X TM X In process,

pending balloting of

TMDD

What does TCIP do?

• Refines Advanced Public Transportation System (APTS) data flows

• Defines a Transit Data (Interface) Dictionary (composed of relevantdata objects)

• Defines a Transit Message Set (composed of transit business objects or entities)

• Allows flexibility by providing a mechanism for “marshaling” data flows

History

• Funded by US DOT FTA and Joint Program Office for ITS in October 1996

• Developed as an ITS standard under auspices of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE)

• The Transit component of the National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP)

Unanticipated Odyssey

• Began as an “ITS standard”; now firmly rooted in the transit arena

• Because of the “information engineering” focus on transit as a business enterprise, and acknowledgement of the different user groups within that enterprise, the project team had solid buy-in on the effort from the transit user community, vendors and agencies alike.

APTS ITS System Architecture

ParkingServiceProvider

Recommended by Transit Industry.

ParkingManagement

PMS

Remote TravelerSupport

RTS

Financial Institution

Traffic Management

TMS

Information ServiceProvider

ISP

TransitManagement

TRMS

PS

PersonalInformation

Access

PAIS

RoadwaySubsystem

RS

Transit Vehicle

Emergency Vehicle

Subsystem

EMVS

TransportationPlanners

Multimodal

(J1708/J1587)

Crossing

Tr GMS

EmergencyManagement

EM

PlanningSubsystem

PS

GovernmentAdministrators

Other TRM

Transit VehicleSubsystem

TRVS

IntermodalTransportation

Service Provider

Transit GarageManagement

System

Transit’s Interface Problem

APP

APP

APP APP

APP

APP

TCIP Solution

APP APP APPAPP APP APP

TCIP Object Bus

TCIP Architecture

GIS

Spatial Analysis

Network Analysis

Display/Mapping

Scheduling System

Runcutting/ Planning

Blocking

Work Rule Policies Procedure

CORE Business Data

Bus Stop Time Pt.

Route Architecture

Rolling Stack VIP

Map Database/ Network

Roster

Control Center

Dispatch

Incident Management

RT Display

Schedule Adherance

On-Board

Annunciator

Fare Collection Unit

Passenger Unit/ Radio

APC VMS

Comm. Center

TCIP "Object" Bus

Business Area Subgroups• Passenger Information (PI)

• Scheduling/Runcutting (SCH)

• Incident Management (IM)

• Vehicle On-Board (OB)

• Transit Control Center (CC)

• Fare Collection (FC)

• Traffic Management (TM)

• Spatial Representation (SP)

• Common Public Transportation Objects (CPT)

• Rail Transit Vehicle (RTV)

• Paratransit [as yet unfunded]

• Dynamic scheduling/transfer connection protection [as yet unfunded]

• Transit garage management [as yet unfunded]

Integrating TCIP with the ITS National Architecture

Transit ITS Data Flows andDeliverables

B.PTV to/from TrMS and other transit facilities

C.TrMS to/from Other ITS Centers (TMC, EMSC, ISP, selected transit facilities, financial organizations)

D.TrMS to/from Kiosks

A.Public Transit Vehicles

Integrating TCIP with the ITS National Architecture

On-Board

Transit Control Center

Passenger Information

Traffic Management

Incident Management

Fare Collection

Scheduling/Runcutting

Common Public Transportation Objects

TCIP Subgroups/Object

Message Sets

Spatial Representation

Transit ITS Data Flows andDeliverables

On-Board

B.PTV to/from TrMS and other transit facilities

Transit Control Center

Passenger Information

C.TrMS to/from Other ITS Centers (TMC, EMSC, ISP, selected transit facilities, financial organizations)

Traffic Management

D.TrMS to/from Kiosks

Incident Management

A.Public Transit Vehicles

Fare Collection

Scheduling/Runcutting

Common Public Transportation Objects

TCIP Subgroups/Objects

Integrating TCIP with the ITS National Architecture

Spatial Representation

TCIP Approach

Strategize

Analyze

Design

Construct

TCIP2: ACTIVITIES

TCIP1: DATA

Strategic overview of business area (BA) information needs.

Data concept and flow (messaging) needs.

Development of data dictionary and message set standards

Integration of TCIP DD and MS in application.

Strategic overview of Transit ITS Architecture (extracted from National Architecture) and transit BA decomposition.

Dialogs or processes (functional interaction between components).

Specification of dialog processing standard

Implementation by users.

Adaptation of Information Engineering Model to TCIP standards development activities

Data Dictionary & Message Set Component Definition & Dialog Processing

Transit Communications Interface ProfileProject Organization

Standard Development OrganizationJames Cheeks

Institute of Transportation Engineers

US Department of TransportationFTA/ITS Joint Program Office for ITS

Project DirectorEva Lerner-Lam

Palisades Consulting Group, Inc.

Working Subgroups

NTCIP’s TCIP Technical Working GroupIsaac Takyi

NYC Transit Authority

TCIP Steering GroupJames Cheeks, Eva Lerner-Lam,

Polly Okunieff, Isaac Takyi

Technical Project ManagerPolly Okunieff

ARINC, Inc.

Transit Communications Interface ProfilesWithin the ITS Standards Development Structure

NTCIP Joint Standards CommitteeEd Seymour, Chair

AASHTO, ITE, and NEMAIndividual NTCIP Partner Balloting Groups

NTCIP Standards ReviewAASHTO, ITE and NEMA Committees

Other NTCIP Working Groups

TCIP Working Subgroups

TCIP Technical Working GroupIsaac Takyi, Chair

Transit Standards Review GroupExisting APTA, IEEE and ITE Committees

TCIP Current Status• Framework Standard and first 8 business area standards in final

balloting stages (Traffic Management pending final TMDD ballot)

• Series of 15 White Papers describing in detail specific approaches and issues

• Participation by more than 800 volunteers on the TCIP TWG (transit staff, vendors, consultants, academics)

• 6,700 volunteer hours contributed at 53 face-to-face subgroup meetings

• Original work plan included 4 regional workshops; completed 11, hosted by transit agencies

• All documentation posted at the TCIP Website: www.tcip.org

Data Interface Standards, at last

• Awakening, not to the problem (which was always present and acknowledged), but to the solution

• Rapidly growing sense of empowerment and self-determination by the user community

• Strengthened by coordination and cooperation with IEEE Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards Committee

The Future

• How to fund testing of TCIP and development of more transit standards?

• Transit Standards (TS) Consortium– A nationwide, grass-roots, transit industry

initiative

TSC Mission

“To provide a transit industry forum for comprehensive and integrated

research, development, testing, training and maintenance of transit standards in

order to improve cost effectiveness, customer service and employee

satisfaction.”

Organizational Structure

• Independent, non-profit organization • IRS-certified under Sec. 501 ( c ) 3 • Twelve-member Board of Trustees• Technical Council and Education/Outreach Council• Technical Working Groups for Functional Areas (e.g.,

data standards, hardware standards, reporting standards, etc.)

• Task Committees for specific standards-related activities

Member-Driven

• Equal representation at all levels of TSC– Operators– Vendors– Other

• University Transportation Research Centers

• State and local DOT’s

• System Integrators

• Etc.

Funding

• Three sources: – Member dues– Grants from governmental agencies– Stakeholder contributions to specific functional

areas

Status of TSC Effort

• White Paper published, December 1997• First Board constituted and corporate entity legally

established, March 1998• Interim Technical Council constituted and Interim

Executive Director appointed, March 1998• First Annual Meeting, October 4, 1998• FTA grant for start up activities: June 1999• Charter Membership Drive until early October 1999• Second Annual Meeting, October 25, 1999

Current Activities

• Assisting FTA with planning and programming of all transit standards activities, including ITS standards

• Facilitating coordinated transit ITS standards activities involving JPO, ITE, AASHTO, NEMA, SAE, IEEE, TRB and ITSA

• TCIP, Other Recommended Practices (e.g., Bus Stop Inventory, Y2K Aftermath, Transit Signal Priority, etc.)

• Transit ITS Outreach coordination• Newsletters, email subscriber updates,

teleconferences, forums, etc.

Future Strategic Alliances

• Society of Automotive Engineers

• APTA

• ITS America

• Object Management Group

• Open GIS Consortium

For more information...

TCIP: www.tcip.org

TSC: www.tsconsortium.org