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More than $12,000/year in San Francisco and $9,000 in Washington, DC

Public transportation riders can save on average $9,242 annually based on the January 11, 2010 national average gas price and the national unreserved monthly parking rate.  Of course, they also miss traffic jams—and when NextBus is available as in San Francisco and Washington, DC, they can travel quickly and reliably, too.

Compared to last year at this time, the average cost per gallon of gas was $1.79 which is nearly $1 less than the current price of gas at $2.75 per gallon.  This increase in cost equates to an additional $600 in savings per year for transit commuters as compared to last year’s savings amount at this same time.

“The Transit Savings Report” released monthly by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) calculates the average annual and monthly savings for public transit users.  The report examines how an individual in a two-person household can save money by taking public transportation and living with one less car.

Transit riders can save on average $770 per month.  The savings amount is based on the cost of the national averages for parking and driving, as well as the January 11 national average gas price of $2.75 per gallon for self-serve regular gasoline as reported by AAA.

Taking public transportation provides a safe and affordable way for individuals and families to cut costs, according to APTA.  In addition, local public transit offers a travel option that has an immediate positive impact in reducing an individual’s overall carbon footprint while helping reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

The national average for a monthly unreserved parking space in a downtown business district is $154.23, according to the 2009 Colliers International Parking Rate Study.  Over the course of a year, parking costs for a vehicle can amount to an average of $1,850.

The top 20 cities with the highest transit ridership are ranked in order of their transit savings based on the purchase of a monthly public transit pass and factoring in local gas prices for January 11, 2010 and the local monthly unreserved parking rate.*

 

Top Twenty Cities – Transit Savings Report

	City	Monthly Savings	Annual Savings
1	New York	$ 1,147	$ 13,765
2	Boston	$ 1,030	$ 12,362
3	San Francisco	$ 1,013	$ 12,156
4	Chicago	$  946	$ 11,357
5	Seattle	$ 932	$ 11,185
6	Philadelphia	$ 927	$ 11,121
7	Honolulu	$ 887	$ 10,639
8	Los Angeles	$ 838	$ 10,052
9	San Diego	$ 824	$ 9,894
10	Minneapolis	$ 824	$ 9,884
11	Cleveland	$ 803	$ 9,639
12	Portland	$ 798	$  9,581
13	Denver	$ 795	$ 9,539
14	Baltimore	$ 782	$ 9,383
15	Miami	$ 752	$ 9,022
16	Washington, DC	$ 751	$ 9,015
17	Dallas	$730	$ 8,756
18	Atlanta	$722	$ 8,658
19	Las Vegas	$716	$ 8,591
20	Pittsburgh	$ 680	$ 8,162

 *Based on gasoline prices as reported by AAA on 1/11/10.

Easy explanations of how to use NextBus for Efficient Public Transit Travel

The San Francisco Bay area boasts excellent public transit systems in the city itself and in surrounding counties. AC Transit is notable not only for a well-run system, but for its effectiveness in marketing the benefits of public transit to its passengers.

AC Transit is the third-largest bus-only transit system in California, serving over 400 square miles of the East Bay. For over forty years, AC Transit has been dedicated to providing quality mass transit. Every weekday, over 230,000 people ride their fleet of nearly 800 buses.  They run buses on 105 routes with more than 6500 stops.

They have committed to NextBus to improve bus travel for their millions of annual passengers.  To make the most of their NextBus implementation, they have recently added advertising to their bus shelters.  Now, even passersby get the message about how easy it is to use public transit and to stay on time.

Learn about More Examples of Effective Marketing from AC Transit

AC Transit has created ACT for Me as “Your Guide to the Future of Public Transit.”  They illustrate why AC Transit should be an integral part of your life by sharing a creative range of content—from user-generated videos, to a savings calculator, to a discussion of community and environment benefits, and the exciting future of transit. Click here to read more about ACTforMe.org

35% Growth Includes 7 New Municipal and 15 University Systems

Real-time passenger information systems pioneer strengthens its leadership role in the United States and Canada.  Millions of passengers,  thousands of buses, and hundreds of new routes now benefit from NextBus technology.  Total installations approach 65 with more on the way.

Here is the list of 22 new NextBus installations

California-Northern	Unitrans ASUCD/City of Davis
California-Southern	UCLA
District of Columbia	WMATA Washington
Florida	Nova Southeastern University
Maryland	Charm City Circulator
Maryland	Towson University
Maryland	University of Maryland
Maryland	University of Baltimore
Massachusetts	MBTA
New Jersey	New Jersey Transit
New Jersey	Rutgers Univ. Newark College Town Shuttle
North Carolina	East Carolina University
North Carolina	University of North Carolina
Ontario	Niagara Falls Transit
Ontario	Toronto Transit Commission
Pennsylvania	Allegheny College
Pennsylvania	Slippery Rock University
Quebec	Societe de transport de Laval
Texas	University of Houston
Texas	Texas State University

The Happy Bus System Will Now Make Riders Even Happier By Getting Them Where They Want to Go On-Time

Faculty and staff, as well as Slippery Rock University students, are now just one phone call away from tracking the arrival of the next bus. The Student Government Association(SGA) recently installed the GPS-based NextBus passenger information system on the campus buses it operates to help SRU become more environmentally friendly while providing up-to-date bus stop information.

The SGA Shuttle made its debut route around the campus loop in January of 1994. The Shuttle, or the "Happy Bus" as it’s affectionately known to many students, has been a Slippery Rock icon ever since.

The Shuttle takes trips to various regional shopping centers throughout the year.  In August of 2008, a second Shuttle was added and new routes were created to get students where they need to be.

The nine-stop, on-campus 20-minute route runs 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays; the 12-stop, off-campus 30-minute loop runs 7:20 a.m. to 4:20 p.m. The evening route runs 4:30-9 p.m., and the late-night bus, operated Thursday through Saturday, runs 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.

Passengers can now access information about the popular “Happy Bus” schedules either by a dedicated phone line or by selecting “Slippery Rock University” on the NextBus.com website. The system tracks both the on-campus bus and its off-campus cousin that travels to area apartment complexes and stores.

Improving Sustainability with Leading Edge Technology

Tyson Johnston, SGA vice president for public relations, said the idea for the bus schedule computer systems was submitted by SGA to the Green Fund last spring.

“We applied for a Green Fund Grant for $20,000 to help pay for the system, and were selected to receive funding,” Johnston said.

The new systems cost $40,000 with SGA funds covering the remaining half.

“They can hop on a nice warm bus and come to campus,” Johnston said. In addition to saving time, riding the bus will also help faculty and staff save money on gasoline.

Johnston said the system also allows the SGA to count the number of passengers on the buses at any given time as well as track at which stops passengers are getting off.

“Those reports are helpful because it lets us know which stops are being used, which aren’t, and it allows us to make our schedule better,” Johnston said.

One commenter to a NextBus article in the student news site,TheOnlineRocket.com indicated how useful the new system can be:

You can use your Smartphone to get the arrivals information, you can use SMS Texting, you can set alarms that tell you when the bus is coming a set number of minutes before it is predicted to arrive, i.e. send an alert 12 minutes before the bus is predicted in real time to arrive at my stop every weekday morning.

NextBus Info Simplifies System Management

Reporting tools enable efficient operation of the shuttle system. For example, SGA’s Johnston noted that the system also allows the SGA to count the number of passengers on the buses at any given time as well as track at which stops passengers are getting off.

“Those reports are helpful because it lets us know which stops are being used, which aren’t, and it allows us to make our schedule better,” Johnston said.

All in all, the NextBus system will improve transportation life for both riders and managers.

Bus Information Anywhere Proves Life Changing for DC Area Bus Commuter

In the 3 months since its official launch in the Washington DC metro, the NextBus real-time passenger information solution has proved invaluable for 1000s of busy commuters who have to negotiate the complex local transit system.

Blogger, Eyder Peralta, is an NPR associate producer on social media and has grown to love the NextBus service and the related iPhone application. As he writes in a recent post, Practical Technology Can Be Sexy:

Having used it for more than a month, I haven’t waited for a bus more than three minutes.

It has literally changed my life. It means an extra 10 minutes playing with my baby in the morning. It means finishing off my cup of coffee, when in the past I’d drop it off in the sink completely full. It means that I don’t have to curse under my breath when a bus — 30 minutes delayed — finally arrives with three others right behind it. It means I don’t have to agonize about whether I just missed a bus by a minute so I’m stuck.

Eyder is particularly fond of a DC-specific iPhone application, NextBusDC that provides a rich variety of functions:

• The ability to find nearby bus stops instantly
• Bookmarking of favorite stops and routes for convenience
• Interactive route maps, zoom and click on a stop for bus times
• Supports arrival predictions for WMATA buses

Eyder concludes, “Most technology now is about coolness; it’s about ways to entertain your eyes and ears and hardly ever about the simple, practical things in life. But what something like NextBus taught me is that practical tech is the sexiest tech.”

There’s nothing better than technology that makes daily life easier.  At NextBus, that’s our objective: To make life easier for transit execs and riders alike. It sure looks like we’ve achieved our objective for Eyder Peralta.

Investment in Real-time Passenger Information Systems Can Maintain Service Quality

2009 has seen dramatic cuts in funding for public transit systems across the United States. This comes at a time when Americans are opting increasingly for public transit as a sustainable and affordable alternative to private automobiles.  Fortunately, NextBus can provide affordable solutions that deliver tangible operational benefits in these challenging times.

As Transportation for America recently described the dramatic increase in demand:

Americans took nearly 10.7 billion trips on public transportation in 2008, a four percent increase over 2007 and the highest level since 1956, according to the American Public Transportation Association. Public transportation use has increased 38 percent since 1995 — nearly triple the growth rate of the population of the United States. Contrast this with a 3.6 percent drop in vehicle-miles traveled in 2008 according to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Public transportation advocates like Transportation for America work to persuade Congress of the need for adequate, predictable funding. Director, James Corless emphasized: “As employers and commuters everywhere know only too well, public transportation is an essential service that is critical to our economy.”

And, yet, cost cuts are making it difficult to meet this increased demand with existing processes and technology.

Affordable Options from NextBus to Maximize Operational Efficiencies in Spite of Cost Cuts

Because the realities of strained resources that face public transit executives will like persist for the medium term, they can mitigate the negative effects by implementing advanced passenger information technologies.

1. Run an efficient, on-time system. A myriad of problems confront transit executives as they work to achieve on-time results both consistently and cost effectively. Intelligent transportation technologies from NextBus empower executives by showing them what is working well and what is working poorly for every vehicle and every route. In addition,
   easy to generate reports point the way to facilitating changes that improve on-time performance on all routes.
2. Provide a highly predictable route system. An efficient transit system requires a high degree of predictability. It is extremely difficult to provide that predictability without AVL
   & APC systems that provide continuous updates—and takes into consideration random factors such as vehicle breakdowns, traffic jams, and unexpected emergencies. NextBus was designed from the ground up to provide accurate arrival times across a variety of routes.
3. Gather highly accurate ridership and other operations performance data. Optimal transit efficiency depends not only on getting buses and trains to each stop in time, but also on the balancing of passenger loads to prevent both overcrowding and empty vehicles. Our passenger counting capabilities smooth passenger demand spikes throughout the day and reduce demand for additional vehicles during peak periods.
4. Cope with high cost of fuel. Realtime passenger information enables you to minimize the
   use of expensive fuel without compromising service levels. You can make a broad range of operational changes from major to minor, all of which improve efficiencies. Thus, you can serve more passengers and more routes without needing to add more buses.

Effective Use of  NextBus Technology Can Overcome Cost and Passenger Pressure in Major Transit Systems.

The financial challenges that face our municipalities are unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Nor is the increased use of public transportation.

NextBus real-time passenger information systems are enabling more than 65 municipal, university, and corporate transit systems to operate at peak efficiency in spite of tough financial and rider pressure.

Goal to Make One of Most Efficient Systems in the U.S. Even More Efficient.

Real-time Data Available in Multiple Formats for Passengers

The real-time data is available to passengers in several formats.  Stop predictions and real-time location maps are available on the web – linked from www.unitrans.com or directly at www.nextbus.com.  The real-time information is also available in an automated phone system, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. 

This system can be accessed through the standard Unitrans telephone information number 752-BUSS or dialed directly at 530-204-5529.  To use the phone system, riders only need to know the 3-digit stop number for the stop they are using.  This stop number is now included next to the Unitrans logo on all bus stop signs and is also available through the NextBus web site. 

NextBus also offers rider alerts, to provide riders an automated message when their bus is a selected number of minutes away.  The web site provides instructions on how to use this feature for SMS text messaging, PDAs, iPhones, or standard email.  Additional features will be added in the future, such as displays at major terminals and stops.

Unitrans Operations Improved with Real-time Passenger Data

More detailed real time information is provided to Unitrans dispatchers to assist in handling disruptions in the schedule and to assess where problems are with buses being overcrowded or running late.  The system also provides archived data that Unitrans can use to evaluate existing services and proposed changes. 

The ultimate goal of the real-time system is to make Unitrans easier to use for both regular and occasional riders and to make the one of the nation’s most efficient transit systems even more productive. 

History of the Unitrans System

Unitrans was founded in 1968 as the University Transport System, when the Associated Students of UC Davis purchased two vintage London double-decker buses to operate on two routes.

In 1972, Unitrans was opened to the general public, with partial funding from the City of Davis. Since that time the ASUCD/City of Davis partnership has continued, and now Unitrans provides public transportation service to the entire city with 50 buses on 14 routes, carrying over 3 million passengers a year.

All Unitrans drivers and supervisors, as well as most support staff, are UC Davis students working part-time. Their drivers undergo extensive training and testing prior to going into service. Unitrans safety record is among the best among public transit systems in the U.S. All of their employees pride themselves on providing safe and friendly service.

Summing Up:

Both riders and transit executives will benefit from NextBus real-time passenger information.  Riders can plan their travel efficiently because they can count on accurate arrival times. Unitrans executives can optimize their operations to be both cost efficient and environmentally friendly by getting maximum use from minimum resources.

The System Run in Partnership with the U. of North Carolina Has Leveraged NextBus Technology Since 2006.

Chapel Hill won top honors in the category for cities with populations of under 100,000 for creating the fare-free transit program.

Sponsored by Waste Management, Inc., and the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the City Livability Award Program recognizes mayors for exemplary leadership in developing and implementing programs that improve the quality of life in their cities.

Since Chapel Hill Transit became fare free in 2002, it has become the second-largest transit system in North Carolina. Since that time, ridership has risen from 3 million riders a year to over 7 million riders annually projected for 2009.

This program is unique in that while some university transit systems provide fare free service for university students, faculty and staff, very few communities provide free transit service to all riders. The commitment in this community went beyond the University to all citizens in the community in an effort to encourage greater usage of public transportation and reduction of reliance on the single occupancy automobile.

“The Chapel Hill Public Transit system is the foundation of our sustainable future,” said Mayor Foy. “This bus system makes Chapel Hill continue to be the kind of place people love; for us it is an investment and it has paid off big time.”

The University is a full financial partner in the transit system which operates a total of 31 routes with 83 buses and 11 lift equipped vans.

The Chapel Hill community has long encouraged the use of transit over automobile use in central areas of Chapel Hill, including the University. 

Since 2006, the system has employed NextBus technology to simplify operations and improve service for all riders throughout the community.

In Major Metropolitan Areas, Detailed and Current Maps with All Routes Can Improve on What’s Available in Print and PDF Format

When using large, complex public transportation systems, passengers often find it challenging to understand unfamiliar routes and bus stops.  But, as they increase their reliance on public transportation they need to obtain accurate location information so that they can be in the right place at the right time in order to keep to their schedules.

The well-known DC transportation blogger, Dr. Gridlock, suggested to a frustrated rider, who found print or PDF versions unhelpful, that he consider using NextBus Google maps as his primary guide to figuring out where he was and where he wanted to go: “But you might get some satisfaction out of Metro’s NextBus page online. I’ve been using it to help track down the location of stops, in addition to its primary purpose of telling people when the next bus is going to arrive there.”

As an example, this map of the route in Chevy Chase, Maryland, enables you to drill down for find the exact location of the bus stop nearest you.  It incorporates Google’s hybrid mapping capability so that you can identify landmarks to better orient yourself.  Of course, it also shows you the precise location of the next bus as well.

 

The map is easy to navigate and to manipulate so that riders can position themselves precisely.  That’s a lot simpler than trying to work with a paper map or taking the time to view or print out a static PDF file.  And, that makes for a lot more happy public transit passengers.

Click here to link to the page that will generate your example map.

 

 

WMATA launched production version of NextBus July 1 in the Washington metropolitan region

NextBus is now making it even simpler for area residents to use public transport.  The system serves a local population of more than 3.5 million with a massive system incorporating 1500 buses and 366 routes.

WMATA had already provided a useful tool called Trip Planner that helped commuters figure out the best way to get to their destination via a variety of public transit options ranging from the Metro to surface buses.

Now regular riders are finding it even easier to plan their travel because of accurate predictions on the arrival time of their bus anywhere in the Washington, DC area at any one of 12,000 stops.

As the Washington Post noted in a July 12 article, “This new GPS-based service provides some real-time information for Metrobus riders that Trip Planner can’t…This is a real breakthrough, because it takes a lot of the uncertainty out of bus travel.”

Perhaps, even more encouraging was first person article in the online community journal, Examiner by Jeffrey Amato, a local Web content developer who is a regular public transportation user.  He admits that he began as a skeptic but wound up being a true believer in the NextBus passenger information system:

To all those naysayers out there, let me just say, I was hesitant at first to accept that this system works, but it DOES! The system routinely provides accurate timing for when the bus will arrive at your stop within a 1 to 2 minute margin of error. Pretty darn good for such an expansive transportation system, if I do say myself.

I embrace this new application though. It lets me know exactly when I need to appear, and has cut down on wasted moments of my life, spent in the various weather conditions in the DC area. Thank you metro!

And, in the brave new world of social media and Twitter, NextBus seems to be making the grade.  As one DC native tweeted happily in 140 characters of praise:

RegBazile: #Nextbus also aced the arrival of my Wisc ave connection. Face it, the system works! #wmata 

Get a good look at the new WMATA NextBus technology working in real-time. Click now on the WMATA.NextBus.com site.

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