Travel Assistance Device (TAD) to Help Transit Riders

This Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) project enhanced the travel assistance device (TAD), a global positioning system (GPS)-enabled mobile phone application, by integrating communication with an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system for transit vehicles into the system to aid the use of transit by the cognitively disabled and other riders. Potential benefits of the TAD include increased transit ridership, decreased costs to the transit agency by enabling riders to use fixed-route transit that would have otherwise used paratransit, increased independence for people with cognitive disabilities, improved quality of life for transit riders, and increased productivity of transit agencies’ travel trainers whose job is to provide one-on-one instruction for new riders or existing paratransit riders on how to use fixed-route transit. While riders with cognitive disabilities are the initial target market for this application, TAD could be used by any traveler. Efforts to commercialize the TAD system are ongoing.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/idea/finalreports/transit/transit52_final_report.pdf
• 
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This Transit IDEA project was conducted by the University of South Florida, Tampa. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Winters, Philip L
  • Barbeau, Sean J
  • Georggi, Nevine Labib
• Publication Date: 2010-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 42p
• Serial:
  • TRANSIT-IDEA Program Project Final Report
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
• Publication flags:

  Open Access (libre)

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automatic vehicle location; Benefits; Cellular telephones; Cognitive impairment; Global Positioning System; Public transit; Ridership; Technological innovations; Transit riders
• Identifier Terms: Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) (Program)
• Uncontrolled Terms: Travel assistance devices
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01163182
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Transit IDEA Project 52
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Jul 20 2010 3:47PM