Real-time bus arrival information systems return-on-investment study.

Abstract

This reference document was prepared for the Office of Research, Demonstration and Innovation of the Federal Transit Administration. The objectives of the study include developing a methodology for determining the return on investment of real-time information systems for bus services, examining the relevant technologies, system boundaries, unit costs and benefits of such systems, and then presenting them within a benefit-cost evaluation structure. This study includes the input of an Expert Panel Workshop to refine the individual cost and benefit elements, and to obtain information from transit agency representatives on how transit agencies measure or would measure a return on investment of these systems. Two approaches are examined for calculating the costs--direct costs, which would only give a model useful for incremental cost calculations, and a fully-allocated approach, which would be more useful for modeling larger deployments. This evaluation also applies the return-on-investment study on an operational system using the evaluation elements and methodology developed for the project. This application of the benefit-cost methodology served as the initial validation of the methodology and its elements. The demonstration concludes with an outline of the types of information required to conduct a benefit-cost analysis of a real-time information system.

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