Results from TCRP Synthesis Report 83.
Florida, United States
Houston, Texas, United States
Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationwide, United States
San Jose, California, United States
California, United States
San Francisco, California, United States
Sacramento, California, United States
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Tacoma, Washington, United States
Washington, United States
Background
Transit preferential treatments have been deployed across the United States and around the world in order to improve travel times and reliability of bus and light rail routes. Examples of transit preferential treatments include exclusive lanes and median transitways, transit signal priority, queue jumps and bypass lanes, curb extensions, and stop consolidation. The costs of transit signal priority (TSP) systems are reported below. These costs are from a synthesis report on Bus and Rail Preferential Treatments in Mixed Traffic, conducted as part of the Transit Cooperative Research Program, and as such, the costs are compiled from multiple deployment locations.
System | Technology | Equipment Cost / Intersection | Equipment Cost / Bus | Operating and Maintenance Costs | Jurisdictions using this detection |
Optical | Optical Emitters | Moderate ($8,000 - $10,000) | Moderate ($1,000) | Emitter Replacement ($1,000) | Portland; San Francisco; Tacoma; Kennewick, WA; Houston; Sacramento; and others |
Wayside Reader | Radio frequency technology. Uses vehicle-mounted tags and wayside antenna, which must be located within 35 ft of transit vehicle. Radio transmits and decoder reads rebound message. | High ($20,000 - $40,000) | Low ($50) | Tag Replacement ($50) | King County, WA |
"Smart" Loops | Loop amplifier detects transmitter powered by vehicle's electrical system. | Low ($2,500 per amplifier; use existing loop detector) | Low ($200) | Same as loop detector | Los Angeles; Pittsburgh; San Mateo County, CA; |
GPS | GPS receivers mounted on transit vehicle. Line of sight not required for detection | Moderate ($6,000 - $10,000) | High ($2,500) | N/A | Broward County, FL; San Jose |
Wireless | Applies unused bandwidth. Use of mesh networking. | Moderate (Under $10,000) - Dependent on number of access points | Moderate (Under $1,000) | High if Cellular Digital Packet, low if LAN | Los Angeles County |
Table 19: Costs of Different TSP Detection Systems (page 63)
TCRP Synthesis 83: Bus and Rail Transit Preferential Treatments in Mixed Traffic
See Table