Stretching Transportation Anatomy: FlexBus Services in Central Florida

In this paper, the authors discuss the need for, the challenges, and the opportunities of providing efficient transit in suburban areas. A review of the development of ‘flexible’ transit services is presented. Recent developments with the application of new, user-based and ubiquitous technology, such as smartphones and tablets, is discussed. This paper describes how recent developments in the application of new technology holds promise for viable and efficient means to serve suburban mobility. The discussion is based on the example of FlexBus, a public transit concept recently approved and funded by the Federal Transit Administration for a 12-month live revenue service demonstration in Central Florida. Similar to Uber and Lyft, FlexBus will provide real-time, dynamic mobility in response to user requests. Unlike these private ventures, FlexBus is designed as an affordable shared-ride public transit service. FlexBus uses the technology in tablets plus advanced routing, vehicle assignment, and predictive vehicle location algorithms to provide an app-based point-to-point service with a response time to user requests of 15 minutes or less. Development of the FlexBus operating concept is completed, a two-month field operational test of the technology is completed, the technology vendor is secured, and a solicitation for the operating contractor is ready to be released. This paper describes the operational model and operating requirements for the demonstration.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP020 Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technologies.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Campbell, Morgan
  • Farwell, Randall
  • Weinberger, Rachel
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Demand responsive transportation; Demonstration projects; Mobility; Public transit; Ridesharing; Technological innovations
• Identifier Terms: FlexBus
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01556541
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-5570
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 9 2015 7:53AM