AI-Based Transit Signal Prioritization Helps Silicon Valley Buses Get Residents in Zero-Vehicle Households to Destinations Quicker

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County C/CAG) and the Intelligent Transit Signal Prioritization (iTSP) project partners have successfully completed a pilot project that demonstrated a positive impact on improved transit performance in East Palo Alto, Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) announced today.

* Without iTSP, buses stop at traffic signals 70% of the time.

* With iTSP deployed at key traffic intersections, buses spent less time idling and got riders to their destinations faster and more efficiently.

* Fact Sheet about the iTSP project – https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1-nIZmFkuuJ-Ow0W5MInB2zu4_eGYtu8l

CREDIT: Photo courtesy of SamTrans.

With funding from C/CAG, Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) formed a coalition of public and private stakeholders including San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans), the City of East Palo Alto and technology company LYT, to deliver intelligent transit priority along congested arteries in transit-dependent communities. The City of East Palo Alto is a place where such improvements are most needed and can potentially improve the quality of life for residents.

SSV successfully led the pilot project, creating a blueprint for future investments in regional bus systems. The SSV/ LYT team will present the project findings in a Special Presentation to the City of East Palo Alto City Council at the September 20th, 2022, City Council meeting.

The efficiency of local transit has a direct impact on communities such as East Palo Alto which is designated as an Equity Priority Community by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). This designation is in part due to the number of Zero-Vehicle Households, meaning households that do not own a personal vehicle making it a challenge to get to work, school, etc. In East Palo Atlo, 9% of households do not have a vehicle compared to 6% countywide in San Mateo.

For the pilot project, the coalition deployed LYT’s Artificial Intelligence-powered Transit Signal Priority (TSP) technology, called LYT.transit, on a corridor consisting of four signalized intersections in East Palo Alto. This corridor is a subsection of SamTrans route 281 and includes the following intersections: University Ave. at Bay Rd., Runnymede St., Bell St., and Donohoe St.

The iTSP deployment on University Ave. yielded a significant positive impact on several key performance indicators:

* iTSP reduced northbound intersection delays by 45% and southbound intersection delays by 19%.

* These reductions translate to 18% and 7% reductions in travel time for northbound and southbound respectively.

Bringing cities, agencies and tech together around some of the big challenges facing under-represented communities is itself a powerful tool.

“SSV is recognized for creating unique partnerships and we are pleased to identify a solution for a systemic transit issue in East Palo Alto with LYT’s innovative technology and introduce SamTrans to an AI-powered TSP solution that scales for wider deployment,” said SSV Board Chair Andrew (Drew) Clark.

LYT is a cloud-based software platform that uses state-of-the-art connected vehicle and machine learning technologies to prioritize the flow of vehicles in a city and across a corridor. By optimizing public transport, emergency and other vehicles it enables shorter travel times, less congestion, improved air quality and more reliable mass transit.

To learn more about the iTSP project and SSV, contact Drew Clark at AirQuality@sustainablesv.org.

About Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV):

Sustainable Silicon Valley ( https://www.sustainablesv.org/ ) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit “think and do tank” that has a well-deserved reputation for coalescing Silicon Valley residents, government, agencies, leading tech companies, and start-ups around tough sustainability issues such as equity, transit, decarbonization, building electrification and water reuse.

Twitter: @SustainableSV – https://twitter.com/SustainableSV

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainable-silicon-valley/

MULTIMEDIA:

PHOTO Link for Media: https://smctd.canto.com/v/SamTransMedia/album/V2LIS?viewIndex=0&display=fitView&column=image&id=f7224u8fr529t3176orqkb0t4b

Photo Caption: SamTrans buses get residents living in Zero-Vehicle households to their destinations faster and more efficiently using AI-based Transit Signal Prioritization through a project led by Sustainable Silicon Valley and a coalition of partners including C/CAG, City of East Palo Alto, and LYT. Photo courtesy of SamTrans.