THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF TRANSIT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Traditionally transit information systems (TS) were designed to guide travelers who were unfamiliar with the characteristics of a transit network. Recently, the mobile phone with Internet access has provided travelers with a tool to receive guidance information at anywhere and at any time. Thus if TIS can provide transit passengers with good guidance information generated in real time, they have the potential to attract even regular users of the transit system to subscribe to their services. This new generation transit information system could establish a permanent and regular channel of communication with its subscribers and, knowing their daily travel requirements, would send them timely personalized travel advisory reports when needed. With increased market penetration, this system could accumulate data on the travel habits of travelers and use this data for the operational planning of the transit system. Additionally, when the transit system is suffering from unexpected service disruptions or severe congestion, it could generate passenger diversion strategies and implement emergency transit service changes to match the new travel pattern. The time is ripe to start the research needed for the development of this type of TIS with new objectives and functions. This paper reviews the current theory and practice of TIS and suggests areas warranting further research and development.