For Immediate Release
November 27, 2000

A New Kind of Information Highway: Urban Transit Systems Would Take Advantage of State-of-the-Art Computing and Communications Technology.

Georgia Tech Professor Steve Dickerson has proposed a plan for an Information Intensive Transit System that will take advantage of digital and wireless communication technology and possibly reduce traffic congestion. Photo by Gary Meek (300-dpi JPEG version - 225k)

In the past, all an urban commuter needed to get to work was a car and a highway. But now, metropolitan area highways have become clogged with rush-hour traffic, and commuters need more than their ride and the road. What they need, according to a Georgia Institute of Technology professor, is the power of computing and wireless digital communication.

"Advances in communications, primarily wireless, and computing have made it feasible to make massive substitutions of information technologies for hardware -- such as roads, cars and rails - and energy, such as gasoline," says Dr. Steve Dickerson, a professor emeritus of mechanical engineering.

Dickerson has devised a plan that calls for commuters to use digital wireless devices to communicate with a central computer system that automates, and thus improves the efficiency and convenience of, mass transit systems, such as Atlanta's MARTA, and carpooling.

The Information Intensive Transit System (IITS) aims to reduce the uncertainty of pick up and trip times (estimates would be within 60 seconds of the actual time), and also give commuters mobility once they arrive at work. The system is based on digital wireless communication, global positioning system (GPS) locating technology and high-powered computers to provide real-time service for passengers and vehicle drivers. Dickerson and Georgia Tech applied for a provisional patent on the system in the spring of 2000, although by agreement any use in Georgia would be royalty free.

"The fundamental premise is that the technology needed for real-time service has become very cheap particularly in terms of additional investment," Dickerson says. "A lot of the infrastructure is already in place."

The IITS would: (1) work with existing systems, such as rail and bus transit, vanpooling and carpooling; (2) create additional ride sharing; (3) provide convenient, low-cost car rentals throughout the metro area; and (4) feature electronic automatic billing and user identification.

Though his mechanical engineering research is not related to transportation, Dickerson has experience in the field. He served a year with the office of the Secretary for the U.S. Department of Transportation and started two successful bus and vanpool services in metro Atlanta. Now retired from Tech, he wants to find a mechanism to fully implement the IITS. It will dramatically reduce congestion on roadways and reduce air pollution, Dickerson says.

"We just have to do this. It just makes so much sense," he adds.

The IITS would work this way. Participants would pre-register for standard trips -- such as a ride to work -- which would be associated with defined origins and destinations. Then, participants could request a standard trip by pressing a single-digit code on a cellular phone or two-way pager.

Using an off-the-shelf telecommunications technology, the scheduling computer would know from the sending unit's signal the participant's name and what trip was being requested. The scheduling computer would then use GPS data, vehicle schedules and other information to find one or more trip alternatives (which would vary daily for increased ride-time flexibility) and tell the user the pickup point, pick up time and arrival time at the destination. The computer would notify the passenger via cell phone or pager, and the passenger could accept a ride or ask for more choices. If the passenger accepted a carpool or vanpool trip, the system would notify the driver via a hands-free, in-vehicle display and/or audio system. The passenger's telecommunications device would identify the approaching ride vehicle by a tone on the cell phone, for example.

"This system would make a shared ride more attractive, particularly for commuting trips," Dickerson says. ". . . To make shared rides attractive, you must reduce the uncertainty of the trip time and provide flexibility, which this system would do."

Once at work, commuters still need mobility at times, Dickerson says. So commuters need automated, low-cost access to rental cars, which could also be carpool vehicles during commuting hours. Other vehicles would be available to commuters who would need to rent a vehicle overnight.

Participants needing a car rental would also be registered for standard originations for rental trips. When a participant requested a rental, the system would ask the user for an estimate of time for the rental and then tell the user which car to take from the pool. Rental cars would not require a key, but rather be authorized for a particular user through the IITS telecommunications system.

Under Dickerson's plan, every IITS participant would have to be a subscriber who undergoes screening for criminal history, credit worthiness, and, in the case of drivers, both driving record and insurance coverage. Safety features of the system would: (1) give drivers a description of riders and vice versa prior to pick up; (2) track participants' actual pick up and arrival times; (3) give all participants the ability to notify the system and authorities of an emergency via pager and/or cell phone.

Scheduling and billing for rides, including mass transit, and rentals would be totally automated, so there would be minimal costs for operating the IITS. Dickerson estimates the cost per participant transaction with the system would be less than one cent for computing and communications.

Because ride sharing adds little to no cost for a driver who is already making the trip anyway, drivers would not be paid for driving. They would, however, receive a stipend from the system for their vehicle's operating and capital costs, depending on the average number of passengers hauled and flexibility in their schedules.

Dickerson cautions, however, that the IITS likely would need a public subsidy. He justifies it this way: "When you use mass transit or a ride share system, you create a benefit for other drivers using the road. You decrease congestion. It's called an economic externality. The benefits did not all accrue to participants in the ride-sharing system, but rather to all users of the road."

Also, Dickerson points out that the IITS would not compete with existing bus and rail transit. Rather the system would increase ridership at less cost per additional passenger than a conventional expansion in terms of miles of rail or expanded bus routes. "The cost of additional passenger trips, on rail particularly, is very small if all that is required are longer trains," he explains. "The trick is to make such trips attractive in terms of certainty of schedule, mobility without a car at the destination, safety and ease of payment."

As for getting the IITS plan off the ground, Dickerson believes a pilot implementation in a target area of metro Atlanta would prove its worth for car rental and pooling. MARTA schedules could be included metro-wide without much difficulty, he adds.

"Atlanta is a great place for a pilot study," Dickerson says. "It has the right traffic conditions, population density and strong expertise in telecommunications and wireless service."

It would cost about $1 million to implement an IITS pilot program. Most of that cost would be for software development. If funding became available by the end of 2000 - perhaps through a corporate and government partnership - software development could begin early in 2001, and a pilot study might get started by the end of 2001. Full implementation of the system could begin as early as 2002, Dickerson says.

Getting leaders to "buy in" to the IITS is more of a challenge than funding, Dickerson admits. He hopes several groups will form a non-profit corporation representing a partnership between Georgia Tech, regional transportation and planning authorities, mass transit providers, cellular providers, communication technology suppliers and vehicle suppliers.

As for getting commuters' support, Dickerson estimates that 10 percent of them would initially participate in the IITS. After the system proved itself beneficial, more commuters would participate, he predicts. He likens short-term and long-term participation in the system to drivers' response to increased gas prices. In the short term, there has been little change in people's driving patterns. However, in the long-term, people will buy fewer gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles and be more receptive to mass transit -- particularly if it has good performance.

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