Vehicle-Infrastructure Integration (VII) is a federally sponsored initiative to enhance safety and mobility through the use of wireless vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. Although VII research has been focused on light vehicles, the VII concept also holds the potential for significant benefits for transit agencies. This paper presents an overview of the ways in which VII technology could be used to support public transit and paratransit services. It concludes with a summary of the outcomes from a conference call discussion among technology experts from ten U.S. transit agencies regarding their priorities and perspectives on VII. In the near term, transit agencies are primarily interested in applications of VII that yield operational improvements, cost savings, and improvements to the customer experience: namely, enhanced traveler information, traffic signal control, and incident management. Over the longer term, there is strong interest in pursuing VIIs capabilities for fleet management and electronic payment. There was also a general consensus that transit interests should work toward getting a seat at the table, wherever possible, as the technical specifications for VII are developed. This will ensure that the VII system architecture does not preclude transit applications and that transit agencies and their customers will be able to reap the benefits of VII. This paper can serve as a point of departure for those discussions with the VII community.
Samenvatting