The Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Program Was Found to Be a Critical Enabler for Unifying Public Transit Agencies Around Data Standards and Data-sharing Expectations.

TriMet Offered Key Lessons Learned on the Extension of their Open Trip Planner Tool in the Portland Region.

Date Posted
06/21/2021
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Identifier
2021-L01033

Below is a summary of lessons learned acquired from the expert interviews and the implementation of the project. 

  • The MOD Sandbox Program was found to be a critical enabler for bringing diverse public agency interests together to approach the private sector with unified data standards and data-sharing expectations.
  • Strong communication among project partners was important to establish a clear timeline of deliverables and foster discussions about how to visually represent certain trip planning concepts such as customer expectations for pickup location markers.
  • Field tests revealed that although the City requires accessible transportation network company (TNC) vehicles, that does not necessarily result in accessible vehicle availability. Trip planning options for people requiring wheelchair-accessible TNC vehicles were ultimately removed, as it would be inappropriate to allow a user to plan a trip with a TNC connection if that connection was unreliable for users. 
  • Replicating the exact trips during the testing interview was difficult because testers were attempting to plan a trip further into the future. This is a result of future trips being based on public transit schedules and not accounting for real-time vehicle availability (of both public transit and TNC vehicles).
  • Accurate curb-level data can improve pedestrian routing for people with disabilities and older adults, but it would have required a great deal of field work and been cost prohibitive for the agency.
  • It was technically challenging for the geocoder to interpret varied inputs in and appropriately geocode them.
  • Allowing flexible timelines to accommodate different types of project demonstrations was suggested.

Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstration: Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) OpenTripPlanner (OTP) Shared-Use Mobility, Evaluation Report

Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox Demonstration: Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet) OpenTripPlanner (OTP) Shared-Use Mobility, Evaluation Report
Source Publication Date
07/01/2020
Author
Martin, Elliot W.; Evan Magsig; Adam P. Cohen; Susan A. Shaheen; and Les Brown
Publisher
Transportation Sustainability Research Center (TSRC) at University of California, Berkeley for FTA, USDOT and ITSJPO, FTA Report No. 0170
Other Reference Number
FTA Report No. 0170

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