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8The telephone number reserved by the Federal Communica- tions Commission (FCC) for local telephone traveler informa- tion is 511. Many states and regions around the country have implemented 511 telephone systems for communicating trav- eler and transit information. This project investigated national experience with transit content and information on 511 tele- phone information systems (this project did not investigate the âco-brandedâ 511 websites that many 511 administrators have implemented). This study included the following: ⢠An examination of transit agency customer information strategies and the role of call centers in those strategies, ⢠Call center technologies and techniques utilized outside the transit industry, ⢠Experiences of transit agencies with 511 telephone systems, ⢠Experiences of 511 system administrators with transit con- tent, and ⢠Transit customer perceptions of automated telephone information in general and 511 in particular. This report synthesizes the results of these investigations to provide a comprehensive picture of the state of the practice and presents conclusions and recommendations that will assist both transit agencies and 511 system administrators in making decisions about transit content on 511. Chapter 1 of this report provides an overview of the research study. Chapter 2 summarizes the research methodology. Chap- ter 3 presents the study findings. Chapter 4 presents conclusions and recommendations. 1.1 Background The 511 telephone number is intended to become the na- tionwide, multimodal transportation (transit and traffic) telephone information resource. These systems are designed to provide improved customer information for travelers, in- cluding transit customers. The following excerpt is from the May 2005, 511 National Progress Report (1): In 1999, the U.S. DOT petitioned the FCC to designate a nation- wide three-digit telephone number for traveler information. At the time, over 300 different telephone numbers were found to be providing some sort of highway- or public-transportation- related information to the public. On July 21, 2000, the FCC des- ignated 511 as the national travel information number. The FCC ruling leaves nearly all implementation issues and schedules to state and local agencies and telecommunications carriers. There are no federal requirements and no mandated way to pay for 511. Consis- tent with the national designation of 511, the FCC expected that transportation agencies would provide the traveling public with a quality service that has a degree of uniformity across the country. Very few of the 511 systems currently in operation through- out the United States provide an option for a caller to speak with a live operator. Most of the systems are entirely automated and provide information either through voice recordings or computer-synthesized voice. The national 511 Deployment Coalition guidance recommends that all roadway information be automated. Their guidelines generally assume automated approaches to 511.(2) However, the details of 511 implemen- tation are left to local implementers. There is no mandate that 511 systems cannot include operators. Guidance from the 511 Deployment Coalition recommends that every 511 system include, at a minimum, the following information for every transit agency within the 511 service area: ⢠A description of the agencyâs service area, ⢠Schedule and fare information, ⢠Information about service disruptions, and ⢠A connection (call transfer) to the agencyâs customer service center. Some transit systems expressed concern that 511 deploy- ments could affect their call-center operations with a significant increase in calls, that is, from calls transferred from the 511 sys- tem to their call center. The concern was that these additional calls could either necessitate hiring additional staff members (thereby increasing costs) or result in degraded service quality and customer complaints. C H A P T E R 1 Overview
9In light of the concerns and uncertainties expressed by some transit agencies regarding participation in 511, and given the wide variation in how transit and 511 administra- tors around the country have chosen to address transit infor- mation, research was needed to document experiences and impacts. Further, guidance should be developed that will assist both transit agencies and 511 system administrators. 1.2 Objectives The objectives of this project were as follows: 1. To document transit agency experiences with 511 tele- phone traveler information systems, including costs, ben- efits, opportunities, and risks associated with integrating transit call centers with 511; and 2. To create guidance to assist transit decision makers in decid- ing whether to participate in 511 deployment and, if so, then how to do so. 1.3 Research Tasks The project consisted of eight research tasks, divided into two phases, as shown in Table 1. The original Tasks 7 and 8 were changed to those shown in Table 1 based on the results of the Phase I research and at the direction of the TCRP study panel. The original versions of these tasks focused on devel- oping and validating tools such as spreadsheets or software programs that transit agencies could use to evaluate alterna- tive 511 participation strategies and make decisions. Phase II of the study was revised in two ways, first to change âtoolsâ to âdecision-making guidanceâ after it became clear that the sorts of experiences that transit agencies have had with 511 do not warrant and would not support a tool or model per se, but would be best expressed in more general decision-making guidance. The second change was to add two new research activities that expanded the investigation of transit-511 issues to include 511 system operators and transit users (the origi- nal scope of work focused strictly on transit agencies). That change was made because the Phase I findings indicated that 511 system-administrator-related factors are at least as im- portant as transit agency considerations in explaining how transit-511 decisions have been made and the impacts of those decisions. Phase I included the following activities: ⢠Gather background information on the overall customer information strategies used by the transit industry and out- side organizations. ⢠Document the call center strategies employed by transit agencies, including their staffing, technologies, and metrics. ⢠Discuss the status of 511 system deployments across the United States and the transit participation and content in those 511 systems. ⢠Conduct and document 29 case studies on the experi- ences of 511 participating and non-participating transit agencies across the country. ⢠Outline 511 decision-making guidance for transit agencies. Phase II included the following activities: ⢠Conduct telephone interviews with 12 of the 511 system ad- ministrators across the country to investigate how they made their decisions regarding transit information on their systems and to document their experiences with transit. ⢠Conduct a focus group with transit riders to investigate their perceptions regarding automated telephone transit information in general and transit information on 511. ⢠Develop 511 decision-making guidance based on the results of the Phase I and Phase II study activities. ⢠Prepare the project final report documenting the entire study. Table 1. Research tasks. Phase Task Task 1 â Research transit traveler information practices Task 2 â Research transit call centers involvement in 511 Task 3 â Conduct transit agency case studies Task 4 â Outline decision tools (decision-making guidance) Task 5 â Develop interim report Phase I Task 6 â Revise work plan Task 7 â Complete 511 decision-making guidance Task 8 â Perform 511 system administrator interviews and conduct a transit rider focus group Phase II Task 9 â Develop final report