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APPENDIX B
Survey Questionnaire
Synthesis Questionnaire
Use and Deployment of Mobile Device Technology for
Real-Time Transit Information
Date: _________________________________________________________
Name and Title of Respondent: _____________________________________
Transit Agency Name: ___________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Phone Number: _________________________________________________
Fax Number: ___________________________________________________
Respondent’s E-mail Address: _____________________________________
Purpose of this survey: Increasingly, transportation agencies are deploying real-time transit infor-
mation on mobile devices via techniques such as text messaging, mobile Internet and smartphone
applications. There are several components of providing this information that include not only the
underlying technology (e.g., automatic vehicle location) needed to generate the information, and capa-
bilities of mobile telephones and smartphones, but also the types, content, and format of mobile real-
time information, methods of dissemination, and how providing this information contributes to an
overall customer information strategy. This survey focuses on collecting information about providing
real-time information on mobile devices. Once the survey results are reviewed, key agencies that are
providing real-time information using mobile technology will be selected for telephone interviews to
gather more in-depth information. All survey responses will be confidential. The final results of the
survey will be synthesized into a report that will be published by the Transportation Research Board
(TRB). Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey!
Transit System Characteristics:
1. W hich modes does your agency either directly operate or operate using a contractor?
Light rail/streetcar
Fixed-route bus
Bus rapid transit
Paratransit
Commuter rail
Heavy rail/subway
Other (please specify): ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Ferry
2. How many total riders does your system carry on an annual basis? ––––––––––––––––
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3. How many riders do you carry on each mode on an annual basis?
Fixed-route bus: _______________________________
Light rail/streetcar: __________________
Paratransit: ___________________________________
Bus rapid transit: ____________________
Heavy rail/subway: _____________________________
Commuter rail: ______________________
Other (please specify): ___________________________
Ferry: _____________________________
4. W hat percent change in total annual ridership has your agency experienced over the past five years (2005–2010)?
_________________%
5. Does your agency have goal to increase ridership in 2010?
YES NO
If YES, what is that goal? _________________%
6. Do you see providing real-time information on mobile devices as a way to maintain or increase ridership?
YES NO
Underlying Technology and Real-time Mobile Message Types:
7. W hat underlying software, hardware, and communications systems do you utilize to generate and disseminate real-
time information? Please check all that apply.
Computer-aided dispatch (CAD)
Automatic vehicle location (AVL)
Real-time arrival prediction software
Schedule adherence functionality
On-board next stop announcements (audio)
On-board next stop announcements (visual)
Dynamic message sign (DMS) at bus stop (electronic visual sign).
Please indicate type of DMS and how many of each:
Light-emitting diode (LED) ________________
How many with audio capability (e.g., using a push-button or infrared device to “read” DMS display)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Liquid crystal display (LCD) _______________ How many with audio capability
Other: Please specify: _____________________ How many with audio capability _________
DMS in station or on platform.
Please indicate type of DMS and how many of each:
Light-emitting diode (LED) ______________________ How many with audio capability (e.g., using a
push-button or infrared device to “read” DMS display) _______________________________________
Liquid crystal display (LCD) _______________ How many with audio capability _________
Other: Please specify: _____________________ How many with audio capability _________
On-board data communication system
On-board driver voice communication system
Two-way messaging capability (e.g., using short
Real-time map display at stop/station
message service (SMS) [text messaging])
Near-field communication (NFC) capability
Alert subscription system
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Mobile tagging software (e.g., Microsoft Tag, Other (please specify): ______________
Semacode, 2D/3D barcodes) ________________________________
8. Please note the types of real-time transit information you provide to customers and how often you provide it (check all
that apply):
Type of Real-time Information Real-time Information Frequency
Provide?
Update on an Update when dis- Update when no Update as per When requested
(Y/N)
ongoing basis semination media information defined by customers
is not functioning available threshold (on-demand)
Next vehicle arrival/departure prediction
time
Real-time vehicle location
Availability of information and dissemina-
tion media
Identification of service disruptions
Information on planned detours
Schedule information during special events
(e.g., Boston Marathon)
Emergency information (e.g., evacuation
due to fire)
Vehicles/routes available for transfer
Display/announcement of the current route
and destination
Real-time information on availability of
elevators and escalators
Number of cars on the next train
Wi-Fi access points and real-time informa-
tion on availability
Parking availability
Other (please specify): _______________
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9. How is this real-time information provided to your customers?
Type of Real-time Dissemination Media
Information
DMS Internet Mobile Web/ Interactive Smartphone Two-way Subscription Mobile NFC
Provide?
accessed by Internet Voice applications SMS Alerts tagging
(Y/N)
PC Response
(IVR)
Next vehicle arrival/depar-
ture prediction time
Real-time vehicle location
Availability of information
and dissemination media
Identification of service
disruptions
Information on planned
detours
Schedule information dur-
ing special events (e.g.,
sports event)
Emergency information
(e.g., evacuation due to fire)
Vehicles/routes available
for transfer
Display/announcement of
the current route and
destination
Real time information on
availability of elevators and
escalators
Number of cars on the next
train
Wi-Fi access points and
real time information on
availability
Parking availability
Other (please specify):
_______________
Mobile Technology:
10. Did your agency decide to deploy real-time transit information on mobile devices to augment providing real-time
information via other dissemination media (e.g., DMS, Internet)?
NO
YES
11. Did your agency decide to deploy real-time transit information on mobile devices as a more cost-effective way of pro-
viding real-time information?
NO
YES
12. Did your agency conduct a study to determine whether or not to deploy real-time transit information on mobile devices?
NO
YES
If YES, what type of study was conducted (e.g., return on investment, business case analysis)?
___________________________________________________________________________________
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13. Does your agency provide real-time information (and related information) to third parties for the purposes of develop-
ing mobile applications?
NO
YES
If YES, do developers have to register with your agency? _____________________________________
NO
YES
If YES, do developers have to agree to specific terms of use? __________________________________
NO
YES
If YES, please provide the terms of use. ___________________________________________________
If YES, does your agency set a threshold on the usage of the third-party applications (to not overwhelm your agency’s
resources)?
NO
YES
14. W hat mobile services does your agency use to provide real-time transit information? Please check all that apply.
Mobile web/Internet
Two-way messaging (e.g., SMS)
Smartphone applications developed by third parties
Smartphone applications developed by the agency
Near-field communications (NFC)
Location-based services (LBS)
Mobile tagging (e.g., Microsoft Tag)
15. On which type of mobile phones do your agency’s mobile services work?
Smartphones (e.g., BlackBerry®, iPhone)
Conventional mobile phones
Near-field communication (NFC) phones
16. W hich mobile operating system(s) do your agency’s mobile services use? Please check all that apply.
Research in Motion (RIM)
Windows Mobile
iPhone OS
Pocket PC
Symbian OS
Palm OS/Palm webOS
Android
Mobile Linux
Maemo (Nokia)
bada (Samsung)
17. Does the software that your agency uses to provide real-time information on mobile devices automatically detect the
operating system of the customer’s mobile device?
NO
YES
18. Have you partnered with a specific mobile phone service provider(s) (e.g., VerizonWireless, Sprint, AT&T) to provide
real-time information?
NO
YES
If YES, which service provider(s) and what is the nature of the partnership?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
19. Does your agency have specific contracts and/or agreements with mobile phone service providers, Internet service
providers, or information service providers? For example, Transport for London has arrangements with orange™, O2,
T-Mobile, and vodafone™ to provide a variety of mobile Internet services.
NO
YES
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If YES, what service providers does your agency have contracts/arrangements with?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Characteristics of Real-time Transit Information Provided on Mobile Devices:
20. For real-time information provided via SMS, please provide the format of the messages sent by customers to request
the information. For example, “Send ctabus 14624 to 41411.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please translate the message(s) sent by customers to request the information. For example, “Send ctabus 14624 to
41411” means that the customer is requesting the next two real-time arrival times for CTA buses at stop ID 14624.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
21. For real-time information provided via SMS, please provide the format of the messages sent from the agency back to
customers. For example:
From 41411
5:07 PM
14624) Pulaski & Fullerton
53 to 31st DUE & 11 minutes
Reply S)ervice Bulletins
R)efresh
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please translate the message(s) sent by the agency to customers. For example, the above example is translated as “as
of 5:07 PM, at stop 14624 (at Pulaski & Fullerton), Bus Tracker estimates that a #53 bus to 31st is due to arrive, and
then another one should arrive in about 11 minutes.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
22. For additional real-time information provided via mobile services, please provide the answers to questions 19 and 20
on the additional pages provided at the end of the questionnaire.
23. For real-time information provided via the mobile Internet, please provide the mobile website address to access real-
time information:
___________________________________________________________________________________
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24. How does your agency ensure that real-time information is accessible to everyone who owns or uses a mobile device?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
25. Does your agency believe that real-time information should be provided on mobile devices via a “pull” action (e.g.,
accessing a mobile website and making a selection) or a “push” action (e.g., pushing out an SMS or e-mail with real-
time information when new information is available) or both?
Push
Both
Pul
Why has your agency chosen this approach?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
26. W hat standards does your agency use to provide real-time information via mobile devices?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
27. How does your agency ensure the reliability of the real-time information provided via mobile devices?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
28. How does your agency ensure the accuracy of the real-time information provided via mobile devices?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Required Resources:
29. W hat are the capital, and annual operations and maintenance costs of providing real-time information to customers?
Other (please specify):
Total annual operating
Total number of units
and maintenance cost
Total capital cost
__________
Real-time Information Dissemination Media/
Channels and Other Cost Items
Dynamic Message Signs (DMS):
At transit stop/station
On-board transit vehicle
Internet accessed by PC
Mobile web/Internet
Interactive voice response (IVR) system
Smartphone applications developed by the agency
Subscription alert system
Mobile tagging system
Near-field communication (NFC) system
Contract/agreement with wireless carrier
Information service provider
Mobile application software
SMS (text) message system
Internet-based text message system
E-mail software
Other hardware (please specify):
_______________________________
Other software (please specify):
_______________________________
30. Does your agency charge for the customer to receive an SMS from your agency?
NO
YES
If YES, what are the charges associated with receiving an SMS?
___________________________________________________________________________________
31. Does the mobile phone service provider(s) offer your agency a special pricing plan for providing real-time information
on mobile devices?
NO
YES
If YES, please describe the pricing plan(s): ________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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32. Is your agency aware of the cost to customers to send an SMS message to request real-time information?
NO
YES
If YES, please describe the pricing plan(s):
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
33. W hich departments/staff are involved in the deployment and use of mobile technology to provide real-time informa-
tion? Please check all that apply.
Planning
Information technology
Maintenance
Operations
Procurement/legal
Training
Customer service
Marketing/communication
Other (please specify): ______________
Human resources/training
34. W hat are the training requirements for each department/staff that are involved in the deployment and use of mobile
technology to provide real-time information? Please indicate the requirements in number of labor hours per month.
Information technology: __________________________
Planning: _____________________________
Operations: ____________________________________
Maintenance: _________________________
Training: ______________________________________
Procurement/legal: _____________________
Marketing/communication: _______________________
Customer service: ______________________
Other (please specify): __________________
Human resources/training:
______________________________________
______________________ hours
35. How many labor hours are spent by each department/staff that are involved in the deployment and use of mobile tech-
nology to provide real-time information? Please indicate the number of labor hours per month.
Information technology: __________________________
Planning: _____________________________
Operations: ____________________________________
Maintenance: _________________________
Training: ______________________________________
Procurement/legal: _____________________
Marketing/communication: _______________________
Customer service: ______________________
Human resources/training: ________________________
Other (please specify): __________________
______________________________________
______________________ hours
Contribution of Providing Real-time Transit Information on Mobile Devices to Agency Communications Strategy
36. Of all dissemination media that your agency uses to provide real-time information, what is the percentage of usage of
each type of media? All responses should add up to 100%.
Internet accessed by PC: _______________ %
DMS: ________________________ %
Interactive voice response (IVR): _________ %
Mobile web/Internet: ____________ %
Two-way messaging (e.g., SMS): _________ %
Smartphone applications: ________ %
Mobile tagging: ______________________ %
Subscription alerts: _____________ %
Other (please specify): _________________
NFC: ________________________ %
____________________________________ %
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37. Does your agency have a Communications Strategy?
NO
YES
If YES, is providing real-time information via mobile devices a part of that Strategy?
NO
YES
38. Does your agency consider “information equity” when it chooses specific media/channels for the dissemination of
real-time information? Here, information equity means providing real-time information via at least two dissemination
media and in both audio and visual formats.
NO
YES
If NO, what factors are used in choosing specific dissemination media/channels?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
39. Does your agency consider providing real-time information on mobile devices as a way to attract “choice” riders?
NO
YES
40. Did the deployment of real-time transit information on mobile devices result in an increase in ridership?
NO
YES
If YES, how much did ridership increase as a result of disseminating information via mobile devices? _________ %
41. If you have conducted surveys and/or focus groups to determine the usage of mobile communication among your rider-
ship, can you provide the survey results for this Synthesis project?
NO
YES
42. Have you developed a marketing campaign specifically about the use of mobile devices to obtain transit information?
NO
YES
If YES, may we obtain copies of the marketing campaign?
43. W hat is your agency’s opinion regarding collecting advertising revenue though mobile content? For example, is your
agency interested in context-sensitive advertising based on the current location of the mobile device?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
44. W hat is the one biggest problem associated with providing real-time information on mobile devices?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
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45. If your agency provides real-time information for third-party development of mobile phone applications, what is the
one biggest problem associated with managing such a program?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
46. What is the one biggest problem associated with operating and maintaining the hardware and software necessary to
generate and disseminate real-time information via mobile devices?
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
47. Please describe any additional “lessons learned” that would benefit transit agencies that are considering providing real-
time information on mobile devices.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
48. Are there other agencies that you know of that we should speak to regarding “best practices” in terms of providing
real-time information via mobile devices? If so, please provide contact information.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please return the completed questionnaire by February 15, 2010 to:
Ms. Carol L. Schweiger
Vice President
TranSystems Corporation
38 Chauncy Street, Suite 200
Boston, MA 02111 U.S.A.
Telephone: 857-453-5511
Fax: 857-453-5451
E-mail address: clschweiger@transystems.com
We encourage you to return your completed survey to Ms. Schweiger via e-mail at clschweiger@transystems.com. If you
have any questions on the survey or the project, please do not hesitate to call Ms. Schweiger. Thank you very much for your
participation in this important project.
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Format of Additional Real-time Information Provided on Mobile Devices:
1. For real-time information provided via SMS, please provide the format of the messages sent by customers to request
the information. For example, “Send ctabus 14624 to 41411.”
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please translate the message(s) sent by customers to request the information. For example, “Send ctabus 14624 to
41411” means that the customer is requesting the next two real-time arrival times for CTA buses at stop ID 14624.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. For real-time information provided via SMS, please provide the format of the messages sent from the agency back to
customers. For example:
From 41411
5:07 PM
14624) Pulaski & Fullerton
53 to 31st DUE & 11 minutes
Reply S)ervice Bulletins
R)efresh
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Please translate the message(s) sent by the agency to customers. For example, the above example is translated as “as
of 5:07 PM, at stop 14624 (at Pulaski & Fullerton), Bus Tracker estimates that a #53 bus to 31st is due to arrive, and
then another one should arrive in about 11 minutes.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________