EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: September 20, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Patrick Heisinger, Interim City Manager
BY: Batool Zaro, Assistant Civil Engineer
Humza Javed, City Engineer
SUBJECT: Intelligent Transit Signal Priority Project Update Recommendation
Receive Presentation.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
Funded by City/ County Association of Governments (C/CAG) of San Mateo County, and managed by Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) and technology partner SinWaves, Inc. (doing business as LYT), the intelligent Transit Signal Priority (iTSP) pilot leverages a powerful coalition of project partners, including the City of East Palo Alto (EPA) and the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans). This partnership is committed to the shared goal of improving the on-time performance and travel time of buses within San Mateo County. EPA, a major traffic corridor in San Mateo County and also an Equity Priority Community, was chosen by the project team as an ideal location for this pilot.
The objective of the iTSP pilot project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a cloud-based, Artificial Intelligence-powered transit signal priority system. SSV’s technology partner LYT created and deployed an intelligent, cloud-based iTSP system named LYT.speed. This system combines asset management, automation and machine learning to provide services to an entire region. Unlike hardware-based TSP systems, LYT.speed leverages pre-existing equipment and utilizes cloud technology and Computer-Aided Dispatch / Automatic Vehicles Location (CAD/AVL). This removes the need for vehicle detection hardware at the intersections, because the vehicle location is known through the CAD/AVL system.
The location chosen for the iTSP pilot project is the highly-congested section of University Ave. in East Palo Alto (EPA) that is just over a half mile (0.65 miles) in length. This corridor is a subsection of SamTrans route 281 and includes the following intersections:
• University Ave. & Bay Rd.
• University Ave. & Runnymede St.
• University Ave. & Bell St.
• University Ave. & Donohoe St.
This six-month project involved the four intersections and utilized a fleet of 40 SamTrans buses equipped with low-cost wireless GPS devices. The LYT software dynamically adjusts the phase and timing of traffic signals to provide sufficient green clearance time, improving transit throughput and reducing travel time along the route, while minimally impacting cross traffic.
Analysis
Key results from the program include the following metrics and findings:
• TSP has reduced northbound intersection delay by 45% (40s) and southbound intersection delay by 19% (7s).
• These reductions translate to 18% and 7% reductions in travel time for northbound and southbound respectively.
• TSP increased green light success rates by 10% and 5% for northbound and southbound travel respectively.
• TSP allowed bus to travel 11% and 4% faster along University Ave for northbound and southbound respectively.
The lessons and experience from this project will inform a countywide TSP plan, which will serve as a blueprint for future capital investments in TSP throughout San Mateo County.
Additional information may be found on the City website here:
https://www.cityofepa.org/publicworks/page/deploying-intelligent-transit-signal-priority-projectsamtrans-east-palo-alto Fiscal Impact
No fiscal impact.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo Co. Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
Awarding this contract is not a project under The California Environmental Quality Act (Section 21000, et. seq. of the California Public Resources Code, hereafter CEQA) because the action has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
Attachments
A. iTSP Fact Sheet